According to research published in the journal “Hortscience”, employees who worked in office environments providing either live indoor plants or window views of green spaces reported a better overall quality of life and job satisfaction than those whose office environments were without both plants and window views.

450 office workers completed a survey which included questions regarding job satisfaction, physical work environment and the presence or absence of live indoor plants and windows. Analysis of the data provided found that individuals who worked in office spaces with either live indoor plants or window views felt better about their jobs and the work they performed and reported higher overall quality of life scores than workers in environments lacking both live plants and window views.

The presence of live plants is not only aesthetically pleasing – it may also provide improved indoor air quality. While it is well known that, during the process of photosynthesis, plants remove carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen, NASA research by Bill Wolverton found that common indoor plants also removed toxins from indoor air. These toxins were then broken down by microbes that live on the plant roots.  Details of the plants tested and the chemicals that they were able to remove from the air are given in the book How to Grow Fresh Air listed below.

References

Dravigne, A., Waliczek, T., Lineberger, R. and Zajicek, J.  2008   The Effect of Live Plants and Window Views of Green Spaces on Employee Perceptions of Job Satisfaction    Hortscience 43: 6-279. Abstract available online at http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/43/1/183  (Viewed on 29.6.08)

Wolverton, B.  1996  How to Grow Fresh Air   Penguin Books, New York