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.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the presence of live interior plants or window views of exterior green spaces on employee job satisfaction. A survey was administered through an online database. The survey included questions regarding physical work environment, the presence or absence of live interior plants, windows, exterior green spaces, environmental preferences, job satisfaction, and demographical information. About 600 office workers from Texas and the Midwest responded to the on-line workplace environment survey. Data were analyzed to compare levels of job satisfaction of employees that worked in office spaces that included live interior plants or window views of exterior green spaces and employees that worked in office environments without live plants or window views. Demographic information collected allowed controlling for salary, occupational level, educational level, age group, gender, and ethnicity. This research data can be particularly useful in urban planning, commercial property design and to encourage the incorporation of plants and green spaces in interior and exterior development projects.