Recently, researchers have discovered that enriching an office space with potted plants and other greenery can increase your employee's mood and their productivity by as much as 15% and their ability to retain memories by as much as 20%.
In recent years, the idea that a minimalist, or 'lean', office space with no distractions encourages efficiency has given way to the contemporary idea that 'green' offices, which have been enhanced with plants, improve the employee's mood and productivity.
Particularly in urban areas like Greater London, where there is less greenery, the addition of potted plants to an office interior could massively increase a business' efficiency.
One of the authors of the study, Craig Knight of the University of Exeter, said that 'Whatever the environment is, generally speaking, it's a better environment if it's enriched and plants are a very cost-effective way of enriching your space.'
Knight went on to explain that the idea of a 'lean' office, with all possible distractions removed and only the tools the employees need to do their job available, has no biological, psychological or neuroscientific reasoning behind it. The idea is that a lean office space reduces the possibility of distractions and, as such, should contribute to improving the employee's productivity.
Far from improving productivity, Knight claims that it is more likely to damage it. 'There is no animal on the planet that thrives in a lean space,' Knight then went on to say that, 'whether it's an ant or a gorilla, it doesn't matter; if you put anything in a lean space it suffers.'
Adding greenery to your office, like Twitter's famous 'living wall' or, more realistically, potted plants, offer a wide range of benefits over the lean office:
In order for plants to have these effects, however, they must be kept healthy. Unhealthy or dying plants have been proven to have an inverse relevance to productivity, with employees feeling depressed if surrounded by dead or dying greenery.
Here at Oaktree Interiors, we specialise in providing innovative office design and office refurbishment services which have been proven to increase employee health, happiness and productivity. With more than 30 years' experience in producing office refurbishments in Greater London and all over the UK, our professional team specialise in increasing your businesses efficiency with our intuitive, unique designs.
For more information, or to start designing your ideal office refurbishment in Greater London, call Oaktree Interiors today on 0845 474 3556, or email help@oaktreeoffice.com.