When you think of office plants it’s easy to see a tired, wilted geranium or yucca which is rarely watered, let alone cared for sitting awkwardly on a desk looking out of place with the rest of the decor and the hubbub of the general office environment. Thankfully, office plants don’t have to look that way with many interior designers and architects now designing beautiful and eye catching plant displays to suit every office environment, whether it’s minimalist chic or a garden oasis there’s a foliage solution for every workplace.
Plants make People Feel Better
A recent study by Dr Tina Bringsilmark of the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Upscale University of Sweden showed that out of a control group of 385 office workers there was a significant decrease in the time taken off work with sicknesses when their office contained a plant/s. There was also a marked decline in the number of complaints about fatigue, stress and headaches. A similar study by Washington University also recently showed that a potted plant was particularly beneficial to a worker when they did not have a window. A further note to this is that workers tend to feel more motivated and valued by their employee when their working aces are attractively decorated and take on a homely feel and plants also give us oxygen.
Making the Right Impression
With very little work it’s easily possible to make the tired office plant say something about you and your business. Making a feature of plants, either in a car park, reception area or as a running theme throughout your business can show your customers that you care about not only providing an aesthetically pleasing environment for them and your staff but also that you have an environmental conscience. With carbon footprints and being ecologically friendly at the forefront of many people’s minds can you really afford not to invest in some foliage. Why not even go a step further and use a theme for your fauna; whether it’s tying the pots or colours to match your existing graphics or even using foliage indigenous to the local area your clients tend to come from; even the smallest of gestures is sure to make a big difference.