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Installing plants in your office decreases stress and enhances productivity by 12%
Research done by Dr. Roger S. Ulrich of Texas A&M University, Helen Russell, Surrey University, England, and Dr. Virginia Lohr of Washington State University show that plants significantly lower workplace stress and enhances productivity.
In Dr. Lohr’s study participants were 12% more productive and less stressed than those who worked in an environment with no plants. The study took place in a simulated office setting. Common interior plants were used in a computer laboratory with 27 computer workstations. A computer program to test productivity and induce stress was specifically designed for these experiments, which incorporated one hundred symbols and time-measured readings of participants’ reactions. They were presented in the same randomized sequence to each subject. Blood pressure readings recorded while using the program confirmed the program was effective in inducing stress.
Emotional states and pulses were also measured during the experiment. Plants present and plants not present were the only variables that participants experienced. When plants were present, they were positioned so that a cluster would be in the peripheral view of each subject sitting at a computer terminal, but would not interfere with the subject’s activity. In addition to demonstrating significant increases in their post-task attentiveness, subject reaction time in the presence of plants was 12% faster than those in the absence of plants.
The results indicating an influence of plants on blood pressure are consistent with research conducted by Dr. Ulrich. Visual exposure to plant settings has produced significant recovery from stress within five minutes.
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Plants help reduce distractions due to office noise
Strategically placed, plants quiet down an office. A small indoor hedge placed around a workspace will reduce noise by 5 decibels. The positive contribution of interior plants to sound absorption has been well documented in numerous studies including the work done by Dr. Helen Russell, Oxford, England and David Uzzell, University of Surrey, England. Although it would be difficult to measure the cost of productivity loss due to office noise pollution, one doesn’t have to go far to find examples! Almost anyone who works in an office can give account to being “annoyed” into a taking a break due to the common audible elements of a busy office. According to the Associated Landscape Contractors of America, landscape professionals are replacing stale cubicles for “tree walls” and other innovative plant groupings to reduce this costly “decibel distraction factor.”
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Plants in the workplace attract, retain and enhance attitude of today’s sought-after employee
Surveys conducted by Unifi Network, Westport, Conn. report numerous factors that assist in managing today's competitive workplace market. The data indicates that in order to attract and retain top employees, the workplace must include aspects of what inspires employees during “off” time.
Gallop polls indicate that two thirds of the American working force-cite gardening as their favorite hobby. Perhaps this “green thumb” passion explains why humanizing the workplace with green plants is a highly effective method to promote employee satisfaction.
Dramatic aesthetic value inherent in indoor landscaping continues to be the top return on interior plant investments
As reflected in The 2001 BOMA/CEL Tenant Satisfaction “A-List Award” (Building Owners and Managers Association), “appearance and condition of the property” is a top category of evaluation among tenants.
Similarly, studies out of England’s Oxford Brookes University reinforce that while indoor plants continue to cost less than most alternative corporate decor choices, they offer a guarantee of positively enhancing perception and contributing to well being. The same set of studies conclude that people (clients or employees) perceive a building with interior planting as more expensive- looking, more welcoming and more relaxed.
Conversely the studies prove that people’s perceptions of a building are less positive in the absence of plants.
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Plants help with bottom line savings on mounting sick leave expenses
It's finally possible to have an energy efficient building without "sick building syndrome."
“Sick Building Syndrome” develops into a serious and expensive liability when these toxins become concentrated inside sealed office buildings. NASA reports that the syndrome is widespread in these energy efficient buildings. The problem is that these sealed energy efficient buildings have less exchange of fresh outdoor air for stale indoor air. This causes higher concentrations of toxic chemicals in indoor environments, brought about by emissions from a great variety of building constituents. As energy efficient construction becomes absolutely essential, ‘green building’ designers have become justifiably concerned about this indoor air quality (IAQ) dilemma. Perhaps one of the most troubling reports comes from research published by Bio-Safe Incorporated (New Braunfels, Texas). Their data confirms that energy efficient, sealed office structures are often 10 times more polluted than the air outside!
Research shows that plant-filled rooms contain 50-60% fewer airborne molds and bacteria than rooms without plants. For almost twenty years Dr. Billy C. Wolverton and his aids in the Environmental Research Laboratory of John C. Stennis Space Center have been conducting innovative research employing natural biological processes for air purification. “We’ve found that plants have been found to suck these chemicals out of the air,” he says. “After some study, we’ve unraveled the mystery of how plants can act as the lungs and kidneys of these buildings.” The plants clean contaminated office air in two ways. They absorb office pollutants into their leaves and transmit the toxins to their roots, where they are transformed into a source of food for the plant.
Wolverton has found that plants are especially needed in office buildings in which sick building syndrome is common. He goes so far as to suggest that everyone have a plant on his or her desk, within what he calls the “personal breathing zone.” This is an area of six to eight cubic feet where you spend most of your working day. Jay Naar, author of Design for A Livable Planet, suggests 15 to 20 plants are enough to clean the air in a 1,500 square foot area.
Data provided by Plants At Work, a national information campaign working to inform professional about the numerous benefits of interior plants.
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Enjoy the healing effects of living plants.
Contact Innergreen!
For Greater Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio,
contact Mindy Moore
Tel: 513-398-3773 or 513-673-2984 (cell)
For Columbus, Ohio,
contact Christy Barnhart
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