LANDSCAPE & GROUNDS MAINTENANCE
WISE UP TO THE VALUE OF PLANTS
Urban Planters’ new campaign reveals the many health and business benefits of office plants.
When you think of the point of office plants, what comes to mind? Maybe you think of indoor plants as something nice to look at in an otherwise drab workplace or empty corner.
It might be in your office that they are more of a handy screen between desks in an open plan set-up. They may even be used as a natural barrier to stop people walking through unsafe areas, such as under low stairways.
Perhaps they are even bit of a burden, especially if your role is to look after them. Facilities managers, for example, are busy enough without having to worry about ensuring the added greenery continues to look good.
However, have you ever thought of plants as being an important contributor to workplace productivity and the bottom line? Believe it or not, plants bring real value and business benefits to the workplace, which can outweigh any cost or labour.
Plants are important to indoor working environments in many ways, but most particularly in terms of helping the workforce to stay healthy, happy and productive. What’s more, if they are chosen correctly and cared for properly, they can easily flourish indoors, so they don’t have to create extra work for busy Facilities or Office Managers.
Urban Planters are launching a new campaign called ‘The Value of Plants’, to show how plants are an important part of any indoor workplace. Urban Planters’ Director Alan Page explains: “Like all interior landscapers, we see day in day out how office plants make a noticeable difference to workplace productivity and wellbeing, but it’s not always something a business thinks of when considering plants, so we wanted to spread the word.
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“Using a series of infographics, we have gathered a range of fascinating facts about the value of plants from a wide range of studies by universities, research foundations and even NASA, to get people thinking about plants in terms of a business benefit.
“Did you know, for example, that putting plants in a ‘lean’ (minimally decorated) office, can increase productivity by 15%? Or that plants can significantly reduce levels of Volatile Organic Compounds? This is something to bear in mind, given 40% of workforce absenteeism can be linked to indoor air pollution.”
Mental health is fast becoming the biggest issue facing workplaces across the UK. The Mental Health Foundation recently reported that 65% of us will suffer from a mental health problem in our lifetime, and this shocking statistic should have us all thinking about what can be done. Of course, mental health problems can be very complex and varied, but workplace stress is certainly one area that many of us will be familiar with to different degrees.
As we spend more and more time indoors, often at our desks, we are becoming less connected with nature and the great outdoors. This has a knock-on effect on our wellbeing, particularly stress levels. Studies have shown that stress can be helped by being near plants or views of nature. When we are considering office plant schemes for our clients, we often think about how we can put plants in the sightlines of desk-based workers, or create break-out areas and outdoor terraces with trees, flowers and plants to try and bring a more relaxing feel to workplaces.
Biophilic design is becoming a real industry buzzword but it simply
means finding ways to bring nature indoors to improve our wellbeing, and this can easily be done with indoor plants, trees and living walls, all of which bring life to the workplace, and the workforce.
Through the campaign, Urban Planters are hoping to show that the office plant does much more than simply look good. By cleaning our air, improving humidity and providing a connection to nature to improve stress levels and productivity, they work hard to boost our working day, and a business’s bottom line.
www.urbanplanters.co.uk twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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