Increase Your Work Productivity With a Desk Plant

We have good news that you didn’t know you needed to hear this week: Having a plant on your desk boosts your productivity by up to 50%, and we have the science to back that up.

We’ll begin with this insightful TED Talk, Why Every Desk Needs a Personal Plant by Mike Robinson, an engineer who investigated the science behind how personal plants help people thrive at work, and it comes at a minimal cost.

Robinson explores his theory by having his 12 person engineering business personally choose their own plants, or in this case have the plants choose them, and then name the plant with a tag “My name is {blank}”.

Four years down the road and a consistently thriving business later, Robinson decides to truly dive into the research behind office plants' correlation to productivity. He found that not only do people with personal office plants work 23% faster than those without, but there are a range of other benefits that include better memory retention, more teamwork, increased creativity, up to 50% less absenteeism, and you guessed it, more productivity.

If you’re still not fully convinced as to why you need a personal plant on your office desk, perhaps a study by Raytheon Technologies, a leading aerospace and defense corporation, who set out to move science out of public health journals and into the hands of decision-makers, will make you change your mind.

After examining 10 high-performing buildings across five U.S cities, the study found, “When we work in green-certified offices, we get a 26% boost in cognition, and 30% fewer sickness related absences.  What's more, respondents also reported a 6% rise in their sleep quality.”

Now that you’re most likely working from home, your health and well-being are more important than ever.

 

What type of plant should you get?

We’re by no means plant experts. But this article, Why Every Desk At Your Office Should Have A Plant, by Mary Halton and Daryl Chen will help you decide which plant is best for your home office based on the amount of light your office gets.

 

Where can you get one of these plants right now?

We’re all about supporting local businesses, so start by reaching out to your local nurseries (yes, some are actually open during quarantine!). If they are closed or you can’t find the specific plant that you’re looking for, you can try your closest home improvement store such as Home Depot or Lowes.

If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, you can search for that special home office plant on Amazon. If you decide to order your plant from Amazon, you may experience some shipping delays, but the wait will be completely worth it!

 

Once you get that new personal plant for your desk to boost your productivity, take the next step in your career by applying to a new role on CyberCoders.com.