6 Benefits of Office Plants for Employee Happiness, Health, and Wellness

There are several reasons why having plants in the office can be good for employees. Research suggests that plants can help create a more pleasant place to work and may help with stress, concentration, creativity, and even productivity. They can also help absorb some background noise, although the effect of office plants on air quality is often overstated.

What Are the Benefits of Office Plants for Employees?

I am not sure if you are familiar with the term biophilia, but this term describes the idea that as humans, we have a natural inclination to relate to nature, including plants and other beings.

Indeed, there are a number of potential benefits of office plants, and you might well be wondering why you haven’t already embraced this idea before. Consider the fact, for example, that office plants and desk plants help to:

• May have a small effect on some indoor air pollutants, although ordinary numbers of office plants are unlikely to make a meaningful difference to overall air quality.
• Plants may help employee well-being and workplace satisfaction. Some studies report fewer health-related complaints, although research has not consistently shown that office plants directly reduce absenteeism.
• They may support workplace creativity by helping to create a more pleasant and restorative work environment.
• Plants may also help employees feel less stressed by making the workspace more pleasant and restorative.
• Make the office space look prettier and create a nicer work environment.
• May help with acoustics, as plants and planted surfaces can absorb some sound, although ordinary potted plants should not be treated as a substitute for proper acoustic measures.

Office plants are just one inexpensive way to support staff. For more ideas, see our 10 proven ways to improve employee well-being at work.

What Does Research Say About Office Plants?

Numerous studies have been conducted to determine the benefits of office plants for employee well-being and exactly what these effects are. Some such studies have found that:

“The effects of plants in the workplace on the opinions and attitudes of workers was assessed. Attitudes of employees regarding plants were favorable, and most surveyed agreed that plants in the office made it a more desirable place to work. Office workers were aware of the benefits such as improving air quality, that plants provide”.

However, this study reflected employees’ perceptions of office plants rather than demonstrating that potted plants substantially improve air quality in real-world offices.

Shoemaker, Candice A., et al. “Relationships between Plants, Behavior, and Attitudes in an Office Environment.” HortTechnology 2.2 (1992): 205–206.

“The …study confirms that natural elements can affect cognitive performance in an office work environment.

Raanaas, Ruth K., et al. “Benefits of indoor plants on attention capacity in an office setting.” Journal of Environmental Psychology 31.1 (2011): 99-105.

A Wageningen University study also found positive effects, including improved perceptions of the workplace and some health-related outcomes. It should be noted, though, that the researchers did not find significant direct effects across all measures studied.

Other research has also linked plant-enriched offices with higher workplace satisfaction, better concentration, and improved productivity, although findings have not been consistent across every study.

Overall, research suggests that office plants can have a positive influence on how employees perceive and experience their workplace.

What Is the Best Plant to Have in an Office?

Hopefully, the benefits of having plants in your office are clear, and you are ready to buy some plants.

So, the next consideration, once you are convinced that introducing plants to your office is a great idea, is to try to understand what the best plants for an office are. Here are some of my suggestions:

1. Devil’s Ivy (Pothos)

Devil’s ivy (Epipremnum aureum), also commonly called pothos or golden pothos, is well suited to office life because it can tolerate a range of conditions.

This plant can thrive in high or low light and humid conditions and is a heart-shaped plant that is easy to look after; i.e., it needs little watering.

It’s an easy, low-maintenance plant for employees to look after.

2. Bromeliads

One of my favorite office plants, Bromeliads, bursts into color for two to three months a year, and they work well with most office lighting.

To keep the bromeliad healthy, just make sure not to overwater it.

This is generally an easy-to-manage plant, and when it flowers, it looks fantastic.

3. Aloe Vera Plant

You cannot go wrong with an Aloe Vera plant on your desk or positioned around the office.

Aloe vera is one of my personal favorites. It is very easy to care for, needs minimal watering, and will normally do well as long as it gets sufficient light.

It looks great, and if you forget to water it for a week or two because you are away from work, it will manage just fine.

4. Peace Lily Plants

Another great plant for your office desk is a Peace Lily plant.

Peace lilies tolerate lower-light offices and are relatively low-maintenance, making them easy to care for.

They produce a white flower that looks beautiful, and overall, this is a fantastic option for an office space.

5. Snake Plant

Snake plants are one of the most popular office plants, and one of the reasons is that it’s an extremely resilient plant that only needs watering every few weeks, and it doesn’t need very much sunlight to survive.

Some snake plants grow quite tall, so for an office, I recommend choosing a snake plant that is:

• Whitney Snake Plant, or a
• Futura Superba Snake Plant

What Are the Best Freestanding Office Plants?

Now, if you are looking for office plants that are much larger, such as to place in the reception area or to really make the main office space look more tropical and bucolic, here are some great options for freestanding office plants.

1. Rubber Plant

You cannot go too far wrong with a rubber plant, as they grow vertically up to a reasonable medium-sized height of 6.5 feet (2 meters), and they look majestic in an office setting.

You can grow this from a baby-sized plant into the large office-sized freestanding plant you want, but it can be much easier just to buy them as large plants.

Rubber plants do prefer to have some daylight, but try to avoid direct sunlight on the plant if you can.

2. Areca Palm (Bamboo Palm)

The areca palm, also known as the bamboo palm or golden cane palm (Dypsis lutescens), is another attractive option for an office.

Give the palm plenty of bright, indirect light to help it thrive.

3. Kentia Palm

If you like a tropical look in your office, Kentia palms, which originate from the South Pacific, are perfect, and they look majestic.

They can grow quite tall (up to around 10 feet/3 meters in containers), but they grow very slowly and are low-maintenance. Kentia palms tolerate lower-light conditions and need relatively little watering.

4. Ponytail Palm

A Ponytail Palm is another delightful tree to add to a large office, and this plant can grow up to about 6.5 feet (2 meters).

It stores water in its swollen trunk, which makes it relatively drought-tolerant, even though it looks like a palm tree.

5. Weeping Fig

Weeping figs (also known as ‘Ficus benjamina’) are often seen in office reception areas as they can grow quite tall and look magnificent and graceful, with their slender leaves.

Weeping figs are attractive indoor plants and are not too difficult to care for. Give them lots of bright, but indirect light and make sure to water them regularly during the growing season.

What Is the Best Lucky Plant for an Office Desk?

Update: Since I first wrote this post, I have been asked several times by email what the best lucky plant is for an office.

One of the best plants that fit into this category, both in name and for historical purposes, is the Lucky Bamboo (or, using its Latin name, the ‘Dracaena sanderiana’).

Bamboo has long been considered (for thousands of years) to be good luck in Chinese culture, and hence the bamboo plant has been named Lucky Bamboo.

Even though the plant is named a bamboo plant, it is, in reality, a stalk that looks like bamboo.

Can Office Plants Help Reduce Noise and Improve Acoustics?

Having mentioned biophilia (in the introduction) and the innate sense we have as humans to gravitate toward interacting with other species and plant life, I will just expand a little further here on this before we bring this post to a close.

In urban design and in wayfinding, you will notice examples of how plant life is used to reduce noise. Trees and plants are often planted, for example, next to main roads, especially in suburban streets.

Applying biophilia design to the workplace and office spaces, the same concepts of sound and acoustics apply.

Looking for ways to make a large and noisy office quieter for employees?

Plants and planted surfaces can absorb and scatter some sound, so they may make a small contribution to office acoustics. In a large or particularly noisy office, though, they are best used alongside proper acoustic measures rather than as the main solution.

In addition to the benefits of office plants, are you interested in office training?

Also, take a look at our workplace wellness guides for managers and HR professionals.

If background noise and interruptions are affecting concentration too, see our guide to avoiding workplace distractions and improving focus.