Introducing flowers in your office can bring a much-needed change in your environment, some fantastic benefits. Since you don’t have a vast amount of space to work with, picking the proper office plants is decremental. Depending on the amount of space that you have available, you can work with small and medium-sized plants at best. If your office has the room, however, you can improve the air quality for you and your colleagues with a small office tree!
As important as the freshly mowed lawn outside the building, office plants should be an integral part of any office. Office plants are a great way to boost productivity at work while also improving air quality and reducing stress levels among employees. Choosing the right plant can be tricky; factors such as lighting conditions, maintenance needs, size, and growth rates must be considered.
You sure know that plants improve the quality of the air indoors. But along with this notable gain, you get other improvements that can benefit your physical and mental health. Some benefits of plants in the office can be:
A study by the Agricultural University of Norway showed that having plants in your office reduced health problems among workers by 25%! On top of that, just by placing flowers inside an office improved the concentration of employees and reduced eye irritations and dry skin.
Having plants in the office results in a positive change in the psychosocial working environment. This, in turn, affects how people assess their state of health. These results make placing plants in the office an inexpensive way to improve the health of employees.
We Australians have done our research on the topic of how plants can improve our work. A study by the University of Technology in Sydney concluded that plants improve health. And improved health means reduced stress levels among office workers.
When plants were introduced to a workspace, the results were astounding! A report by the American Psychological Association found that workers had a 37% decrease in stress and anxiety, a 45% fall in anger and hostility, and an almost 60% drop in depression. The calming green colours played a role in these positive results.
With modern jobs demanding more and more from people, creativity has become a must-have among employees. Introducing natural elements in offices results in an increase of 15% in overall team creativity. A Human Spaces report found that just by looking at nature puts the brain in a calmer and relaxed mode.
A 2014 research by the University of Exeter found that adding just one plant per m2 improves memory retention. On top of that, productivity increases by 15% when offices are introduced with a few plants. However, every employee must be able to see the plant from their desk. If you’re planning on improving the environment for the whole floor, you’ll have to prepare the placement of the plants in advance.
In 2015, a Human Spaces report (linked above) revealed that was known but not taken as necessary – one-third of people would decide if they would join a company based on the office space design.
Among the office space were tested such with and without natural elements in them. It turns out people would choose an office with natural elements over one without. Over an office painted in green paint and one with real plants, once again, people would prefer the office space with real plants.
As noted above, plants do improve your workspace and can benefit and improve the workflow of employees. But which are the best plants to place inside an office space? Do some plants work better than others?
Desk plants are all cool, but bigger plants around the office create an atmosphere that all workers can experience and benefit from. Bigger plants also double in role — as air purifiers and decorations.
Trees can be grown indoors as well. That is if the environment allows the plant to develop properly. While some small trees will need the proper office infrastructure, other trees are doing perfectly fine in large pots. Unlike outdoor trees, office trees have smaller trunks, and often don’t grow to be too large.
Of course, you can interchange all plants, as long as they’re fitting and aren’t too big to be placed on a shelf, or next to your computer screen. Improving your office space with plants is pretty easy, as most of them need little care in order to grow and they’re more than capable of transforming the everyday space around you.
For small office plants, that’d be a great addition to your desk, succulents seem to be the best option. The low-maintenance nature of the succulent allows for fresh looking plants with minimum care. Of course, for those of you who love spending 15 minutes a day destressing by caring for a plant, you can grow a succulent in water as well.
While they’re succulents, cactuses are among office workers’ favourites. They’re super low maintenance plants, and some of them don’t ever need repotting. Watering them once a month is more than enough for the plant to survive, so you don’t have an excuse not to add a real plant to your desk.
While Bonsai plants aren’t the easiest to grow, a Bonsai grass pot is an awesome way to add a bit of fun into your work life. Bonsai grass pots are usually shaped in some fun way, like a little human, and the grass is its hair, or they have a more intricate design.
Whatever the pot is, Bonsai grass is a refreshing, and not so common, way to bring a bit of life into your office. As the pots are quite small, they don’t require a lot of maintenance, making them a great desk plant.
The Viper’s bowstring hemp is an interesting plant that requires little maintenance to thrive. As long as the leaves of the plant are in dark green, the snake plant is doing well. While it can do fairly well in both high and low light conditions, the viper’s bowstring hemp is doing best in indirect light, making it a perfect option for low lit offices.
The spider plant is one of the most popular houseplant choices for offices. It is a very low maintenance plant that thrives in indirect light. During the summer months, the spider plant should be watered every 2-3 weeks, but during the winter it can get away with less. This plant will also help to purify the air in the office, making it a great choice for a desk.
Another indirect light loving plant that can be a great addition to your office. The Maranta leuconeura plant folds its leaves at night as if it’s praying, and that’s where it derives its name from.
The prayer plants enjoy being moist and should be watered every week or so for it to thrive in the office environment.
The Peace Lily is a low light plant which can be placed both on a shelf or on your desk. This lily is also known as an excellent air purifier, which can be great if your office is full of people.
If the plant wilts every few days repot it in a larger pot that doesn’t need to be watered as often.
The parlour palm is a dense palm plant that can be an awesome decoration in any office. They grow to about 1.5 metres which isn’t too tall, but it can be classified as a tree.
During the growing season of this small tree, you can water it freely. All of the time the Parlour palm should be in an evenly moist soil. This office tree prefers partial shade, so you can place it almost anywhere.
Another shrub-like office tree that has a trunk and a crown on top. The Yucca is able to withstand temperatures as low as -10 degrees Celsius. The Yucca tree grows a little over half a metre in length.
The plant will grow in any type of shading — being able to thrive in full sun, partial or full shade without a problem. The only thing that this plant needs is a specially formulated potting mix, as it needs good drainage and the right pH level.
You can grow rubber plants inside, and they can be great office trees for the first couple of years. Healthy trees can easily grow up to ten metres in ten years, which makes the average growth rate of healthy ficus about a metre per year. They’re very adaptable when it comes to growing conditions, so the fig tree can grow both in sunlight and in the shade without problems. During the spring and summer months, make sure to water the fig office tree normally, and sparingly during the winter period.
Now that you’ve taken care of inside the office, let us take care of the outside!
When choosing office plants you should consider the size of the plant, the conditions in the office, and the amount of care required for the plant. Such as:
Lighting conditions in the office space. Naturally, different plants require different levels of light in order to thrive. If the space is brightly lit, you should choose plants that can tolerate those conditions, such as succulents or cacti. If the office isn’t as bright, you may want to choose plants that do well in low light, like ferns or peace lilies.
Maintenance requirements. In addition to lighting, the amount of care the plant needs should be considered. Some plants require more frequent watering or repotting than others, which isn’t ideal for an office environment. So our advice is to select a plant that fits into your and your schedule. Luckily for those who don’t have much of a green thumb, there are a variety of plants that are low maintenance and require minimal care. Succulents, air plants, and cacti are some of the most popular low maintenance plants. These plants can be a great choice for an office setting since they require little water, can be placed on a desk or shelf, and are generally quite attractive.
Size and growth rate. Choose plants that are the right size for your office so they don’t overpower the room. Plants that require more space, such as fiddle leaf figs and rubber trees, can quickly outgrow their initial designated space. Consider plants like peace lilies, dracaenas, and ivy that remain small and compact. These plants are ideal for small offices because they can be easily repotted as they grow.
In conclusion, incorporating office plants into your workspace not only adds a touch of greenery to your environment but also provides numerous benefits for your health, and productivity. From improving air quality to reducing stress levels, these 10 best office plants are sure to make a positive impact on both you and your colleagues. So why not spruce up your space with some beautiful foliage today? Whether you opt for the easy-to-care-for snake plant or the vibrant peace lily. there’s no denying that bringing nature indoors is an excellent way to boost productivity in Australia’s busy workplaces. Remember, investing in yourself means investing in success!
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