Are wellness rooms the key to a happy, healthy team?
Are wellness rooms the key to a happy, healthy team?
Staff sickness, stress and absence have a detrimental impact on business so it’s no surprise that more and more companies are creating greenery-filled ‘wellness rooms’ for their employees to escape to in the working day.
Under-utilised areas or unused rooms are increasingly being transformed into small, private spaces designed to provide an oasis of calm and peace where employees can retreat to for a mental break away from the day-to-day working environment.
The rooms are usually designed to be used by one person at a time. They often have a ‘no technology’ policy and are filled with comfortable furniture and natural greenery and plants, known for their health and well-being benefits and their sound absorbing qualities.
Studies have shown that people feel an innate connection to nature and benefit from feelings of enhanced well-being and calm by simply being around them. It gives people a mental health boost which, in turn, can reduce sick days and improve productivity.
Plants are also natural air purifiers, removing carbon dioxide and pumping out oxygen, so spaces with lots of plants tend to have cleaner, fresher feeling air too, which physically benefits us too.
Top tips for creating the perfect wellness room
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Choose the right plants
You don’t need a large space or a big budget to create something that staff will appreciate and benefit from. The key is choosing the right plants and layout for the space you have. Living walls are an excellent way to introduce the maximum number of plants and the greatest volume of greenery into an area without using up valuable floor space for comfortable seating, and other amenities like a drinks’ fridge or storage for books or blankets, for example.
If a living wall does not suit your space, look at different size potted plants, flowers and trees or hanging plants for that all-important injection of nature.
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Think about light
If you don’t have a lot of natural light, you’ll need to choose your plants for the wall a little more carefully, selecting ones that still thrive in low light and shadier areas. If there is no light at all, you can look at artificial living walls. Studies have shown that people still mentally benefit from the aesthetics of plants, whether they are real or fake.
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Keep it natural
Choosing neutral and earth-coloured furniture and furnishings also reinforces the grounding ‘close-to-nature’ aesthetic. A neutral palette of greens, browns and creams is very calming and not distracting.
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Make it multi-functional
Keep in mind that everyone has a different need from a wellness room so keep the space multi-functional. That way, it can be used for everything from meditation, prayer and reading, to a place to recuperate if an employee is feeling unwell or overly stressed.
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Talk to the experts
Sometimes some extra creativity and expert advice is needed to maximise the space you have, so it’s always best to speak to the professionals to ensure your room has the desired impact.
phs Greenleaf has been providing planting and landscaping services to businesses for nearly 30 years, including indoor and outdoor plants, artificial and live planting, living walls, grounds maintenance and Christmas trees and decorations. Our experienced and expert team are always on hand for advice and guidance, whatever the size of your business.
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