Plants in the Workplace

Abstract

This experiment measures the effects of indoor plants on participants' productivity, attitude toward the workplace, and overall mood in the office environment. In an office randomly altered to include no plants, a moderate number of plants, and a high number of plants, paid participants (N = 81) performed timed productivity tasks and completed a survey questionnaire. Surprisingly, the results of the productivity task showed an inverse linear relationship to the number of plants in the office, but self-reported perceptions of performance increased relative to the number of plants in the office. Consistent with expectations, participants reported higher levels of mood, perceived office attractiveness, and (in some cases) perceived comfort when plants were present than when they were not present. Decreased productivity scores are linked to the influence of positive and negative affect on decision making and cognitive processing.