While we are always, understandably, singing the praises of plants and championing the many routes that research into their benefits has taken, businesses are interested in the bottom line first and foremost. As our members are all businessmen and women too, we understand this but we are also passionate about plants and what they can achieve. We want to share our knowledge.

image by Antoni Shkraba via pexels

A study from 2014 regularly gets referenced. One of the researchers, Dr Craig Knight of the University of Exeter who has worked with plants@work members Ambius and Indoor Garden Design in the past, has been quoted as saying, “There is a fashion for minimalist, monochrome styling which pleases managers because it gives them a sense of control.

“But in reality it crushes the human spirit and we can now measure that […] adding plants makes people happier and productive.”

The study was a collaboration between the University of Exeter, the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, and the University of Queensland, Australia. They considered two large commercial offices in the UK and The Netherlands and found 'that plants significantly increased workplace satisfaction, self-reported levels of focus, and perceived air quality'.

Just the simple addition of plants in a 'Spartan' environment, increased productivity by 15%.

image by George Milton via pexels

Dr Craig Knight in an interview for our 2018 book, Plants for Wellbeing, concluded, ‘Plants have been rather wonderful things. Our research has been robust over the past dozen or so years. Compared to a bare, or lean, environment adding plants increases a sense of well-being by up to 50% and increases productivity by up to 17%.

'This is extraordinary. The effect is constant. In other words, the type of plants make no difference to the psychological effect observed. The key thing is that plants need to be in the line of sight to have an effect.

'Remember that a lean bare space is the commonest office space in the western world. So there is quite a market to exploit here.'