Indoor plants promote happiness, wellbeing and productivity

In the 1980s, Professor Roger Ulrich and his colleagues in the USA showed that hospital patients recovering from major operations suffered fewer post-operative ill effects if they had a view of nature, as opposed to a view of buildings, through their window.

They were discharged sooner, had fewer post-operative side effects, such as nausea and headaches, needed fewer and weaker painkillers and were less demanding of nursing personnel.

Further studies, using volunteers and pictures of urban and rural landscapes, confirmed that scenes of nature lower stress levels, facts that have both economic and healthcare implications

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Get Creative with Bringing Nature Indoors – Indoor Aquariums are all the rage.

Australian Federal Pollie, Joe Hockey has one in his office even naming his favourite fish, ‘Big Kim’ and Tom Cruise sent one as a gift for Jennifer Lopez’s twins. Not sure about that but as the nursery is themed Pacific, I suppose I’ll let him get away with it. Indoor office aquariums are all the rage.

The point is getting close to nature in the office can take many creative and enjoyable forms. Working in cupboards with no elements of nature suurounding employees causes stress, anxiety and is un-natural.

And it’s not a new philosophy, according to the ancient art of Feng Shiu used by thousands of business people around the globe, aquariums help create balance between our lives and the environment, helping to restore harmony with our natural world. Fish keeping as it is known can energise your office with living colour and is beneficial in reducing stress. Here’s a few Feng Shui tips to get you started:

•Clean, flowing, well-lit water with fish is the ultimate way of transforming bad energy
•Black fish represent protection -- very handy to stave off the evil eye from your colleagues or loved ones. Goldfish are “baby dragons” in feng shui and considered very lucky.
•The Chinese word for fish, “yu”, is the same as the word for success.
•If fish are placed in the office or home, it is believed good fortune will follow.
•An aquarium on the left hand side of your front door (as you face it from inside) encourages good ‘chi’, the energy force that flows throughout the Universe.
•So if you have a business reception area for visitors that is the ideal position. Three fish symbolise “yang” energy. The best combination is two goldfish (representing good luck and energy) and one black fish (representing protection).

Your can hire a aquarium for your business from TPR GROUP. All aquariums are wall mounted, so take up very little space. They are installed for you and fully maintained. And reasonably priced too starting as little as $30.00 per week. Available through TPR GROUP in Sydney, Canberra, Ryde, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Townsville, Melbourne and Newcastle.

The Nature of Happiness

In my travels I am often surprised by how many of us work in workspaces, like cupboards. Internal, no views, void of calmness just a sole focus on doing business.

While that may work for a while, have you ever thought how 'un-natural' it is for man NOT to be around nature in the workplace. Our whole evolution as a species is inextricably linked to nature, yet we often try and remove it from our indoor environments.

Research indicates that we spend 90% of our time indoors, 7% travelling in a car and only 3% outdoors so today I'd like to try an experiment. Do something for yourself to stay grounded in nature. Go for a walk at lunch time, look at a view, water your pot plants, enjoy a garden and I'd love to hear your comments. How did this make you feel?

This has been prompted by Prof Mardie Townsend's (Deakin University) paper where she examined how plants affect people's health. She establishes not surprisingly that humans require contact with nature for many reasons including our general well being.

There is further evidence in the emerging science field of positive psychology where 'getting grounded' can often be used to managing stress in the workplace, even going so far as used in the treatment of patients with clinical depression. One study found that patients recovering from gall bladder operations recovered more quickly with a natural view (Ulrich 1984) and natural environments have been found to foster recovery from mental fatigue and are restorative. (Kaplan 1995)

So when you weigh up the evidence and our love of nature it is a bit strange that we introduce artificial plants to indoor offices or, devoid ourselves of the experience of working around nature. No longer should plants been seen as decorative add-ons, rather they are an important tool that aides in workplace happiness, well being and productivity. Next blog I'll examine some case studies of happy offices and why.

Blog written by Katy Patrick also known as @happinessatwork on twitter. Katy looks after TPR group clients in Ryde and Canberra. TPR is a national franchise network dedicated to providing healthy office corporate services for businesses around Australia with a focus on assisting employee happiness, well being and productivity in the workplace. For more information visit TPR Group

ArtVase - new trends in floral design for the office

Just had to show you all this, it's one of our new artvases, exclusive to TPR Group. A sculpture and living plant all in one, so now everyone can throw out all those artifical plants that are bad for the environment and use something stunning in your reception or boardrooms, ideal for weddings and events also. This one has a floral arrangement, most prefer a living orchid or similar. Artvases are really cost effective, start from $35.00 per week for hire. This one is about to be delivered to a client, but just had to show you. Very exciting as they have only just arrived, we spent months having them designed so check out our website for further designs and options.

Additional Resources : Do Plants in Offices promote Health?
How Plants Affect People's Health
Interior Plants for Sustainable facility ecology and workplace productivity

At TPR Group 9-5 is ‘Happy Hour’

I thought we'd share a little about TPR Group's amazing organisational culture. It is quite unique in the marketplace or we like to think so....Imagine a company in this tough economic climate whose sole focus is on happiness and wellbeing for businesses doing it tough.

The assumption that happiness and productivity go together seems hard to contest. Common sense suggests that psychologically healthy (as opposed to complacent) workers with a smile outshine the grouches.

Support for that view comes from a raft of research including a Kansas State University study that surfaced earlier this year, which found that staff with high wellbeing make better decisions, show superior interpersonal skills and are less inclined to quit.

That’s the philosophy of our organisation who provide a range of healthy office solutions and products to create a happy and productive office environment for their clients. Originally conceived as an indoor plant hire company more than 30 years ago when owner Stuart Swaddling had the foresight to bring ‘green’ indoors, the company has evolved in recent times to provide a suite of services that deliver happiness and wellbeing to its clients.

We like to say at TPR we’ve undergone a transformation, a happiness and wellbeing transformation! We help people feel connected to nature by providing everything from soothing water features, aquariums, living plants, eco-friendly heaters, sculptures and artvases.

Today, TPR is a network of some 35 franchisees nationwide and growing, many of whom have been in the business for over ten years. Most work less than 30 hours a week, and have extra time for their families and recreation too. That’s part of our happy culture. It is important that we make time for our families and recreational pursuits, to aid lifestyle balance.

This is embedded in the organisation’s culture. TPR regularly hosts ‘happy activities’: laughter yoga for franchisees; ‘Wollemi Club’ weekends away for franchisees and office staff with their families; optimism tools for franchisees to help them on ‘happy day sales calls’ and even a happy board where staff and visitors write a ‘happy’ message before leaving the office. We celebrate the arrival of a new franchisee into the system, part of the reason that many franchisees are attracted through friends and family. Staff at our Head Office share lunchtimes together every day as a group and Friday afternoons are sacred for coming together as a team at 3.30pm, to celebrate the past week with a drink.

Happiness is not just an elusive word but a critical component in producing a productive working environment, particularly when the pressure is on. This is supported by Harvard Business School Research, which indicates workers in a good mood on any given day are more likely to have creative ideas that day and the next. A positive cognitive process sets in, parking ‘flexible, fluent and original thinking’. One way to promote a ‘feel good’ glow in the workplace is for bosses to ensure the environment is anchored in ‘nature’. It makes people feel grounded even when the going gets tough.

It is well documented that employees who are constantly under pressure are more likely to have workplace related stress difficulties even sometimes resulting in clinical depression. Tools to assist reduce workplace stress include introducing time-out breaks, exercise activity and of course getting close to nature.

Bringing ‘green’ indoors is critical to this. Every employee should have a green living plant within their eyesight and preferably one on their desk too, to help them identify with nature and assist in staying grounded on difficult days. It is not an added cost but really a necessity to ensure absenteeism and workplace stress does not over-run your organization and affect productivity.

So in essence it seems ‘natural’ that we should all have plants within the office if it keeps us healthier and more productive.

The Margaret Burchett Papers
How Plants Affect People's Health
Reports and Fact Sheets
More about developments in the study of happiness and positive psychology from this TIME magazine article.
Ten Ways to be happy at work

You can't afford NOT to have plants in the office

Indoor plants go beyond just making an office environment feel warm, they clean the air of powerful toxins known as VOC's. These toxins are found in carpets, paints, cleaning agents etc. There are some 400 identified toxins known to be present in indoor office air.

My own office has plants everywhere. When I walk into work each morning I do notice the feeling of happiness the environment brings to me, but then again I work around nature, even our lunch room overlooks a lake.

Workcover Authority of NSW recommends plants be used in the workplace to help alleviate characteristics of Sick Building Syndrome. You only need 1 plant for each 10sq metres. So don't let absenteesim cost you money, for as little as $3.50 a week you can have a living mini garden on your own desk. Don't work in a cupboard, get close to nature to keep you happy and productive.

Are we missing the point about employee productivity?

I am continually astonished how many people I meet in my travels seem so unhappy at work. Stressed, uptight and overloaded. I suppose I shouldn't be, as times are tough and the pressures on us all has a flow effect to our own wellbeing, sense of purpose and ultimately happiness.

But on the other hand, do you ever just take the time to truly step out, to smell the roses, go for a walk, savour a beautiful sunrise or sunset. Sometimes the world seems to be racing just too fast that we all need to slow down. Tehnology has made us almost always 'on demand' rather than slowing the pace.

It is no mistake in the busy workforce world the best offices are those with views and outlooks: as the saying goes in real estate it's called position. position.position. The same should apply to the office rather than employees being 'contained' all of us should be able to enjoy something of nature. Even if it is only a pot plant on our desk, the sound of water or beautiful earthy music. It keeps us grounded.

One of the receommendations Dr's use in treating workplace stress is to encourage people to 'get grounded', get close to nature, like gardening, feeling connected with the earth. I think we need to go back to the basics and help employers understand that if you have a happy grounded workplace you have a productive workforce which equal more profits. And in tough times if you can't invest in your staff this way something is really wrong! Footnote: Interested in learning more, a good article from Forbes crossed my desk this morning

Ten Ways to be happy at work