{"id":5087,"date":"2020-01-30T07:13:59","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T12:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/?p=5087"},"modified":"2024-03-12T15:05:17","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T19:05:17","slug":"how-giving-plants-to-your-employees-can-transform-your-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.successories.com\/blog\/how-giving-plants-to-your-employees-can-transform-your-company\/","title":{"rendered":"How Giving Plants To Your Employees Can Transform Your Company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Mike Robinson and his wife run a small engineering firm in Canada that employs about twenty people.\u00a0 Mike handles the technical side of the business, and his wife handles the people.\u00a0 Several years ago, his wife, Suzanne, gave him an idea.\u00a0 Why not give every member of the company a plant they could keep at their desk?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike was skeptical.\u00a0 After all, twenty employees meant twenty plants, plus decorative pots and potting soil.\u00a0 It represented a completely unnecessary expense that ran a few hundred dollars.\u00a0 In addition, caring for the plants would eat into the company’s productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if each employee only took five minutes a day to care for their new plants, that amounted to 100 minutes a day, or more than four hundred hours over a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a lot of downtime for a small business to eat.  Then, of course, there was the idea that\nafter spending hundreds of dollars on plants, a significant percentage of them\nwould probably die anyway, which would mean that all the time and money spent\nwould literally have been wasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suzanne persisted and won the debate between them.\u00a0 The company gave live plants as gifts for employees<\/a>.\u00a0 In fact, Suzanne turned it into a fun event.\u00a0 She ordered a variety of plants and arranged them on a conference table.\u00a0 All of the employees were invited to go in and select their own plant but from the perspective OF the plants.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a bit like speed dating, but with plants, and the idea behind it was that these plants weren\u2019t going to be just bits of desktop d\u00e9cor but office mates.\u00a0 To that end, each plant got a little sign to go into its pot declaring, \u2018I\u2019m (Employee Name\u2019s) Friend.\u2019 To create a connection between a specific plant and a specific employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Employee<\/a>
We have the perfect gift for you or your employees. This lively planter<\/a> set will bring your desk to life while you watch it grow and sprout over weeks and months. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As predicted, employees did spend a bit of time every day\ntending to their plants and even showing them off, but the impromptu experiment\nhad a variety of other effects that neither Mike nor Suzanne had counted on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What they had hoped was that the presence of a few plants\nwould liven up the office space and do a little something to improve morale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plants Are The Perfect Employee Gift<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Did you know plants increase creativity and productivity while decreasing stress? This makes them ideal employee gifts. Find plants among Successories popular employee gifts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plants Increased Employee Productivity by 30% <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

They hadn\u2019t counted on the fact that employee productivity\nwould jump almost 30% and that the simple addition of plant life to the office\nwould have such a profound transformation, even resulting in people keeping\ntheir desks neater in a bid to better display and show off their chosen plant!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their experiment has been running for five years now and the\ncompany is doing better than it ever has. \nThey\u2019ve continued to expand and each new employee they hire gets to pick\nhis or her very own plant companion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exactly none of the plants died in the five years that the experiment was running.\u00a0 In fact, at the first sign of a plant in distress, the employees rally around, research and get to the bottom of it, determining if the trouble is too much water, not enough, too much light or not enough, or simply that the soil needs an infusion of nutrients in the form of fertilizer to keep the ailing plant healthy.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not Just Plants – They are Office Mates<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re not just plants, they\u2019re office mates.\u00a0 Friends and that fact has become an integral part of the company\u2019s culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Robinson was so impressed by the changes he noticed in his business that he wanted to share his experience with others, but to be fair, a lot was going on in his business and he couldn\u2019t be sure that the entirety of the productivity improvement was attributable to the addition of the plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To that end, he started doing research and what he found was\nvery much in line with his own experiences. \nAs it turns out, quite a lot of research has been done on the impact of\nadding plants in the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plants Decrease Stress & Increase Creativity <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In addition to bearing out the fact that adding plants results in a 20-30% increase in productivity, scientists uncovered a raft of other benefits, including a reduction in employee stress levels<\/a> and an increase in employee engagement<\/a>, creativity, and cooperation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems that we\u2019re genetically hardwired to cooperate in a\nnatural environment and the presence of plants in an office environment is\nsufficient to trigger a significant change in behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that Mike Robinson\u2019s company isn\u2019t unique.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a business owner and you\u2019re looking for a scientifically proven means of boosting employee productivity, creativity and morale, start by adding plants to your office space.\u00a0 Start by giving every employee who works for you their plant buddy, then stand back and watch the transformation at your firm.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If it\u2019s an idea that captures your imagination, here are a\nfew plant recommendations based on the amount of light your office space tends\nto get:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Best Plants For Low Light<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If your office environment doesn\u2019t get a lot of natural\nlight, then in order to ensure your plants stay healthy, you need to select\nvarieties that thrive in that type of environment.  Here are a few possibilities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Emerald Palm \u2013 With glossy, two-tone leaves, the Emerald Palm or Eternity Plant presents an attractive profile and is extremely easy to care for.\u00a0 It has a soft, welcoming appearance that many of your employees will love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Snake Plant \u2013 This one goes by a number of informal names,\nincluding Saint George\u2019s Sword and Mother-In-Law\u2019s Tongue, but they all refer\nto an attractive species of flowering plant that\u2019s native to West Africa.  It\u2019s both versatile and easy to care for,\nwhich makes it an excellent option to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aglaonema \u2013 An incredibly popular flowering houseplant that\nthrives in low light and is rumored to bring good luck to those who own them.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Best Plants For Medium Light<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Anthurium \u2013 Also called Laceleaf or The Flamingo Flower,\nthis brightly colored flowering plant grows in a range that extends from the\nnorthern part of Mexico, all the way to Argentina.  It\u2019s delightfully easy to care for and\ncertainly makes a bold statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monstera Deliciosa \u2013 How can you not fall in love with a\nplant that\u2019s also fondly called the Swiss Cheese Plant?  With its fern-like leaves and hardy nature,\nthis one belongs on your shortlist of options to consider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schefflera Arboricola \u2013 Also known as the Dwarf Umbrella\nTree, it\u2019s an attractive, easy to care for option that looks great in just\nabout any setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Best Plants For High Light<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are literally scores of great plant options open to\nyou if your office has the advantage of ample sunlight, but among the top\ncontenders are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n