Institute for the Study of Pointless Metrics

workplace·Published 2024-09

Office Houseplant Density and Peer-Rated Team Warmth: A Robust Positive Association

Principal investigator: Dr. Augustus Crane, Director of Advisory Services.

01.32.53.852843.859.575.391Houseplants per 100 sq ft of team workspace (plants per 100 sq ft)Peer-rated Team Warmth score (score, 0–100)r = 0.88p < 0.001n = 867
Figure 1. Houseplants per 100 sq ft of team workspace versus Peer-rated Team Warmth score. n = 867.
Teams whose office spaces contain more houseplants are rated measurably warmer by peers on the Institute's Team Warmth Instrument.

Methodology

Eight hundred and sixty-seven distinct team spaces across 204 organizations were surveyed over two field seasons. Institute fellows photographed each space and applied the Institute's Plant Density Protocol (PDP) to compute plants per 100 square feet, counting only living, rooted specimens and excluding cut flowers, artificial plants, and one cactus the team in question insisted was still alive. Peer-rated Team Warmth was assessed by having three adjacent teams complete the Institute's twelve-item Team Warmth Instrument for each target team, with results averaged across rater teams.

Funding disclosure: Funded by the Institute's Workplace Research Endowment. A participating organization donated twelve succulents to the Institute's research offices following publication.

Instruments cited in this study

Full citation

Crane, A. (2024). Office Houseplant Density and Peer-Rated Team Warmth: A Robust Positive Association. Institute for the Study of Pointless Metrics. r = 0.88, p < 0.001, n = 867.

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