How Office Plants Saved Our Company from Mass Exodus

In this day and age where telecommuting and working at home entices our country’s labor force by the hundreds of thousands, it’s a struggle for small business owners to recruit the country’s future movers and shakers away from the comforts of working in their couches, sans the heels and the make-up.

            When I sat down with our HR Manager a few months ago, we had a very thorough discussion on the mass exodus and migration of our employees, particularly those from the twenty-something and below. One of the most common reasons why they leave is the sheer comfort of having to work at home.

            Our software development company has implemented plenty of policies to counter balance this. We gave our people plenty of leeway regarding their work schedule. One other change we implemented was redesigning our office to become a homelier atmosphere.

            Up to a point, I think the project is a success. We owe a lot of that to our choice of office plants. In this post, I’d like to share what the things we did right, where we went wrong and what you can do about office plants, moving forward.

Begin by having a design or a look in mind.

            This is actually pretty basic but if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it’s hard to imagine how you could find a company with any degree of success, at all.

That look and feel doesn’t have to be a complex 3D rendering. If you’re handy with a pencil, start from there. If you can’t come up with rough drawings, you can at least try to put your concept into words.

            In our case, it was easy. We wanted our office to look and feel like home. More than comfy chairs and mood lighting, we tried to channel our limited resources into making each office look like a homely, college building. We wanted something to be as soothing as the freshman hall, but quiet enough to allow our people to work well.

Look for past portfolios.

            When you’re looking to hire a service provider to cater to your greenery inside your office, the first thing you should look for is your potential partner’s past portfolio, what they’ve done before and who they’ve serviced in the past.

If you can get in touch with these past clients, that’s better. Ask about your candidate, the services they offer and how they’re actually like to work with. There’s no better voucher than that that comes from a fellow business owner.

            Having a new look and feel for our office has helped mitigate the mass migration of our people back into working in their own homes. If you can plan what you want and find a good place to source your office plants, you don’t even have to spend too much.

            Have you tried a new look for your office? Share your tips or simply join the discussion in the comments below.

Beant Bajwa runs a software development company aimed at helping small business owners improve their productivity and make room for growth. In her spare time, she also writes for Phs Greenleaf, one of the country’s leading christmas tree rental and winter hanging baskets providers today.

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