Scandinavian research reveals worker productivity boost from plants

- by Dawn Gibbins MBE

Is that woman banging on about plants again? Anyone who has sat in on one of my presentations or browsed my website will know that I passionately believe in the health and 'wellbeing' benefits delivered by plants around the home and the workplace. This belief comes from my interest in Feng Shui and from practical experience. Well, in April an expert in environmental psychology has put her seal of approval on the subject.

Dr Tina Bringslimark of the Agricultural University of Norway and Terry Hartig, Associate Professor in Applied Psychology, Institute for Housing and Urban Research have just published a paper "Psychological Benefits of Indoor Plants in Workplaces".

They were following up previous lab experiments and studies that had documented beneficial effects of plants on 'psycho-pysiological' stress, task performance and symptoms of ill health.

Together, Bringlismark and Hartig observed nearly 400 office workers in three offices, with different amounts of greenery. "We investigated the amount of self-reported sick leave there was and compared it with the amount of plants they could see from their desk. The more plants they could see, then the less self-reported sick leave there was."

The research was very robust, taking into account other factors such as noise, temperature, lighting and air quality (all subjects close to the heart of Feng Shui practitioners, by the way). After allowing for these other factors they found, quote: "Reliable associations with sick leave and productivity... Such associations can have substantial practical significance over large numbers of office workers over time."

Worker stress is reduced by proximity to plants

When plants were added to the lab, the subjects were more productive (12% quicker reactions on the computer task) and less stressed (systolic blood pressure lower). They also reported feeling more attentive when the plants were present.

They are not the only academics to come to this conclusion. Washington State University have carried out a lab-based study of people performing boring tasks at computer screens. Quote: "Interior plants, when present, were placed around the sides of the room. Subjects' blood pressure and emotions were monitored while they performed a slightly stressful computer task that measured reaction times in response to seeing and decoding the shape of a simple object on the screen. When plants were added to the lab, the subjects were more productive (12% quicker reactions on the computer task) and less stressed (systolic blood pressure lower). They also reported feeling more attentive when the plants were present."

So, yet again, science has confirmed common sense!