Bringing plants into offices can improve well-being and make people feel happier at work.

Researchers from University of Exeter, University of Groningen in The Netherlands, and the University of Queensland, Australia, have come up with the finding that ‘Green’ offices with plants make staff happier and more productive than ‘lean’ designs stripped of greenery. The researchers monitored productivity levels over several months in two large commercial offices in the UK and The Netherlands.

Lead researcher Marlon Nieuwenhuis, from Cardiff University’s School of Psychology, said:  “Our research suggests that investing in landscaping the office with plants will pay off through an increase in office workers’ quality of life and productivity.

“Although previous laboratory research pointed in this direction, our research is, to our knowledge, the first to examine this in real offices, showing benefits over the long term. It directly challenges the widely accepted business philosophy that a lean office with clean desks is more productive.”

Co-author Dr Craig Knight, of Psychology at the University of Exeter, said: “Psychologically manipulating real workplaces and real jobs adds new depth to our understanding of what is right and what is wrong with existing workspace design and management.  We are now developing a template for a genuinely smart office.”

Professor Alex Haslam, from The University of Queensland’s School of Psychology, who also co-authored the study added: "The 'lean' philosophy has been influential across a wide range of organizational domains. Our research questions this widespread conviction that less is more. Sometimes less is just less".

Posted with inputs from University of Exeter