Not many employers think about the relationship between the office building and their employees. This link is vital to the health, wellbeing, and the productivity of employees. And since salaries and benefits typically account for 90% of a business’ or organization’s operational costs, the productivity of the staff should be a priority for any employer.
An experiment done in 2015 by UK researchers found out that employers are happier and more productive in offices with potted plants. This highlights the need for commercial landscaping services in New Braunfels, as more employees struggle to keep their focus in office spaces that do not let them “breathe” and relax.
This year’s Fellowes Workplace Wellness Trend Report stated that 87% of employees hope that their employers to provide healthy workplaces with the resources and facilities they need to stay healthy and productive. These include wellness rooms, healthy lunch options fitness benefits, and seating options that cater to the employees’ ergonomic needs. A whopping 93% of employees in tech companies also said they are less likely to leave a company that offers healthy workspace benefits.
Green spaces improve concentration and focus
In an eight-to-five job, employees are distracted by many things around the office space—the humming of the A/C system, the nonstop talk between co-workers, the whistling sound of the elevator, etc. Craig Knight of the University of Exeter wrote in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied said that green spaces can improve workers’ concentration and productivity by a number of mechanisms.
He believes that office space with potted plants is a “better environment” for workers because they are less distracted and they get to focus more on doing their work.
Some offices have also decided to incorporate indoor gardens in their office spaces. Quite a number of business owners in Texas have turned to commercial landscaping services in New Braunfels to hopefully improve the productivity of their employees through putting up a patch of garden space inside their offices.
Knight and his co-authors said that putting up plants in an office space makes employees more physically, cognitively, and emotionally prepared and involved in their work.
Another benefit of having indoor gardens or simple potted plants in office buildings is that plants “clean” the air by producing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide. A separate study by Charlie Hall of Texas A&M University in College Station, said that plants can also “remove” the presence of volatile organic compounds such as formaldehyde, benzene, and hexane. These are chemicals left in the air by paints and carpeting products.
In the last two decades, we have seen how office workspaces transformed from cubicles to open floorplans. In 2015, some office buildings incorporated a playroom and an indoor garden into their workspaces to make employees feel more comfortable, calmer, less stressful, and more productive.
Office design is such as an important and valuable component of any business that there’s even an international organization (The WELL Building Standard) that established requirements for a more productive indoor environment for office buildings.
