Why Use Indoor Plants?
If plants are vital to our earth, how much more important can they be to the closed spaces of our homes, office buildings, and health institutions? Plants all over the world, whether tropical or deciduous, are vital to filtering man-made toxins from emissions created by mankind to which they reintroduce oxygen into our atmosphere. If plants are so vital to the health and well being of every living thing on earth, then why not place the greatest of importance on healthy living breathing plants in our interior environment.
Plants in the Workplace
There are benefits to having plants in the workplace. You have cleaner air: when plants transpire water vapor from their leaves, they pull air down around their roots. You get improved health when working in an environment that includes plants; the plants reduce carbon dioxide levels and lower stress while improving our mental and physical health.
You also end up increasing productivity as plants and flowers inspire our creativity. Plants reduce stress, increase productivity by up to 12%, reduces sickness and absenteeism, they clean the air and make workspaces more desirable to customers, employees and job applicants.
Interior Plants Attract & Retain Employees
Studies from Oxford University indicate that plants have a positive effect on employee perceptions and dispositions. This can lead to increased employee retention for your business. Data from surveys conducted by Unified Network of Westport, CT, indicate that in order to attract and retain top employees, it is important for workplaces to include aspects of what inspires those employees during their time off.
Recent Gallop polls indicate that two-thirds of the American workforce cites gardening as their favorite off-time hobby. Logic would follow then that plants are an important part of the workplace when it comes to retaining top-tier employees.
Interior Plants Boost Comfort Levels & Reduce Operation & Maintenance Costs
According to a study coming out of Washington State University, plants release moisture in interior applications creating a humidity level that happens to match the recommended human comfort range of 30% to 60%. As any business manager can tell you, a comfortable office environment is more conducive to productivity.
Additionally, when office air humidity falls below the recommended range, materials such as wood can become cracked. When the humidity in your office exceeds the recommended range, condensation can begin to form on windows and exterior walls—leading to structural damage making your operation and maintenance costs higher than normal. Interior plants help you to avoid costly repairs by keeping office humidity levels within the proper comfort range.
Cleaner Air Reduces Employee Downtime
Plant-filled rooms contain 50% to 60% fewer airborne molds and bacteria than rooms without plants. That is an impressive figure to think about. By cleaning workplace air so efficiently, plants are able to significantly reduce the risk to your employees—thus reducing the amount of sick leave expenses in the process.
Common, but dangerous, microorganisms and toxins can become concentrated in today’s sealed, energy-efficient office environments. This is why when one person on your team gets sick it might seem to domino across the entire floor of your building. In fact, research published by Bio-Safe Incorporated confirms that energy-efficient office structures are often 10-times more polluted than the air outside.
Lacking an appropriate exchange of fresh outdoor air for stale indoor air, sealed office environments can lead to a marked increase in employee illnesses due to poor indoor air quality. Adding a plant is the key to cutting down this number. Plants simply absorb office pollutants into their leaves and then emit clean oxygen in their place. This is a great way to reduce employee downtime in your office due to sickness.
Outsourcing Your Interior Plantscaping Services to TPD
You know why you should add plants to your office space, but how do you go about actually doing it? By outsourcing interior plantscaping services, your key staff and management are able to focus more completely on task-specific company goals while our professionals handle the care and maintenance of your plants.
Many in-house staff members are spread so thin that they become unable to apply professional standards to their property. As a result, appearance and property value begin to suffer. Through outsourcing, the visual and bottom-line advantages of your property will be raised significantly.
Contact us with any questions you have about the benefits of indoor plants. We look forward to providing these wonderful additions to commercial properties located throughout Tulsa, Bartlesville, and Muskogee, Oklahoma, as well as throughout the communities of Rogers, Bentonville, and Fayetteville, Arkansas.