Office plants can help business beat the recession

BUSINESSES that seek to reduce costs during the recession by cutting down on office plants are making a false economy, according to interior landscape specialists Urban Planters. Far from being an unnecessary luxury, indoor plants not only make for a brighter and calmer office environment, but detailed research has also established that they have a positive effect on staff health and well-being, potentially saving companies thousands of pounds every year by slashing rates of absenteeism.

We investigated the amount of self-reported sick leave 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.

Cutting sick days by up to 60 per cent translates into very real and substantial savings for our customers.

Somerset, United Kingdom (PRWeb UK/PRWEB ) May 6, 2009 -- BUSINESSES that seek to reduce costs during the recession by cutting down on office plants are making a false economy, according to interior landscape specialists Urban Planters.

Far from being an unnecessary luxury, indoor plants not only make for a brighter and calmer office environment, but detailed research has also established that they have a positive effect on staff health and well-being, potentially saving companies thousands of pounds every year by slashing rates of absenteeism.

Researchers at the Agricultural University of Norway found that office plants can help reduce the number of days individuals take off sick by up to a staggering 60 per cent.

Environmental Psychologist Tina Brinslimark studied the benefits of indoor office plants on 305 workers in three different offices for the Norwegian study.

She explained: "We investigated the amount of self-reported sick leave 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." ¹

Indoor plants have been proven to reduce the impact of stress, fatigue and common ailments. The plants themselves clean the air while microbes in the soil remove organisms that cause headaches, coughs and dry skin.

With the average office worker, earning £24,908 per annum², taking between 6.5 and 11.5 sick days every year³, a 60 per cent reduction in the amount of time taken off equates to an annual saving to business of between £622.70 and £1,101.70.

Alan Page, franchise director of Urban Planters, said: "Research has proven time and again that the relatively small cost of renting and maintaining interior plants is far outweighed by the health and psychological benefits to staff.

"Cutting sick days by up to 60 per cent translates into very real and substantial savings for our customers."

****Notes to editors:

Urban Planters specialise in the rental and maintenance of a range of office plants, including tropical plants and replica plants. Images are available. Telephone 0800 358 2245 or submit a request via http://www.urbanplanters.co.uk/

Sources:
¹ Psychological Benefits of Indoor Plants in Workplaces: Putting Experimental Results into Context - Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (View Abstract / Full Article: http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/42/3/581)
² Health and Safety Executive - 'The feasibility of comparing sickness absence surveys and the Labour Force Survey' (2008).
³ Office of National Statistics - '2008 Annual survey of hours and earnings' (2008)

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