At the Office: Green Plants and Open Windows

One such study was published in the February 2008 issue of "HortScience" magazine, a publication of the American Society for Horticultural Science.

Dr. Tina Marie Cade, associate professor of horticulture in the Department of Agriculture at Texas State University, did a survey to find out whether employees who worked in offices with windows and views of green spaces and those who had green plants in their offices perceived greater job satisfaction than employees who did not have such access.

Researchers posted a job satisfaction survey on the Internet and administered the survey to office workers in Texas and the Midwest. Questions about job satisfaction, physical work environments, the presence or absence of live interior plants and windows. Environmental preferences of the office workers were included along with demographic information.

Small plant in the big city of Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Ted Percival)

Survey data showed significant differences. Findings indicated that people who worked in offices with plants and windows reported that they felt better about their job and the work they performed.

Study results showed that employees in offices without plants rated their job satisfaction low, while employees who worked with offices with live plants rated their job satisfaction higher.

Employees in offices with plants rated their bosses, coworkers, and their overall nature of work more positively than employees in offices without plants.

The presence of green plants in their offices made employees tend to consider themselves happier or more content when compared to employees without plants in their offices.

Employees without either live plants or windows was the only group that stated they were "dissatisfied" with their quality of life.

Cade said, "there were no statistically significant differences among the categories of "age," "ethnicity," "salary," "education levels," and "position" among employees who worked in offices with or without plants or window views.

The survey did find gender differences. Males who worked in offices with plants rated their job satisfaction higher than males who worked in offices with no plants. But the study found no differences in level of job satisfaction between groups of female respondents.

The study supports previous research showing that adverse environmental conditions can have negative effects on employee perceptions of job satisfaction and overall well-being.

The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS HortScience electronic journal website. Click here.

Founded in 1903, the American Society for Horticultural Science is the largest organization dedicated to advancing all facets of horticultural research, education and application. More information at: http://ashs.org

Meanwhile, the indoor plants industry sees profits in this new level of understanding of the value of plants at the office. Green Plants for Green Buildings, GPGB, a self-described "national information campaign working in conjunction with the industry" exists to inform professionals and the public about the benefits of interior plants.

For their Give Plants a Chance campaign, GPGB says it will publish the stories of anyone who is willing to undertake this simple experiment.

Office plants (Photo by Kev Needham)

In support of your experiment, the GPGB office will provide free educational materials outlining the 10 best plants for this project by e-mail at: info@gpgb.org.

"We recommend keeping the plants in the same area and provide the minimal care necessary for four weeks," says GPGB.

At the end of the month participants are asked to either fax or e-mail their observations describing the impact the plants had in 500 words or less.

Fax GPGB at: 513.575.2536 or email observations to info@gpgb.org. GPGB will accept observations from May 22nd to July 22nd.

The Board of Directors of GPGB says they will conduct a review and assure that each valid, authentic observation is published in their international quarterly program newsletter. They require complete and verifiable full contact information on the fax or email. Call 800.347.9014 for more information.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.