The Effect of Live Plants and Window Views of Green Spaces on Employee Perceptions of Job Satisfaction

Abstract

A job satisfaction survey was posted on the Internet and administered to office workers in Texas and the Midwest. The survey included questions regarding job satisfaction, physical work environments, the presence or absence of live interior plants and windows, environmental preferences of the office workers, and demographic information. Approximately 450 completed responses were included in the final sample. Data were analyzed to compare levels of job satisfaction of employees who worked in office spaces with live interior plants or window views of exterior green spaces and employees who worked in office environments without live plants or windows. Statistically significant differences (P < 0.05) were found regarding perceptions of overall life quality, overall perceptions of job satisfaction, and in the job satisfaction subcategories of “nature of work,” “supervision,” and “coworkers” among employees who worked in office spaces with live interior plants or window views and those employees who worked in office environments without live plants or windows. Findings indicated that individuals who worked in offices with plants and windows reported that they felt better about their job and the work they performed. This study also provided evidence that those employees who worked in offices that had plants or windows reported higher overall quality-of-life scores. Multivariate analysis of variance comparisons indicated that there were no statistically significant differences among the categories of “age,” “ethnicity,” “salary,” “education levels,” and “position” among employees who worked in offices with or without plants or window views. However, there were gender differences in comparisons of males in that male participants in offices with plants rated job satisfaction statements higher when compared with males working in offices with no plants. No differences were found in comparisons of female respondents.