Nature 9 To 5

Time Spent Outside Works In Everyone’s Favour. Here Are Some Easy to-Implement Ways To Clock In, Then Head Out

- Monique Mckenzie

Spending time outdoors brings many benefits: enhanced memory and reduced stress, to name two. But although we make an effort to head outside in our downtime, workdays see many of us stuck indoors – and most of us wish we weren’t. US company L.L. Bean’s recent survey of more than 1000 full-time indoor employees found 86 per cent of people would like to spend more time outdoors on workdays, and nearly all (96 per cent) support the idea of working outside more often.

It would be a good move for employees and employers. A recent study by Harvard University found that participants in offices who were exposed to nature in the form of a view or indoor plants, and those who saw images of nature via virtual reality headsets, all experienced lowered blood pressure, improved short-term memory, a decrease in negative emotions and an increase in positive ones. A 2011 study from the University of Oregon found that employees who had a view took less sick leave – 57 hours a year compared to 68 for employees without one.

Working outdoors also ups creativity. In 2014, researchers from Stanford University found that those who spent time walking outside produced the highest-quality and most novel ideas.

Happily, many forward thinking companies are beginning to embrace a shift. Earlier this year, Amazon opened The Spheres at its Seattle HQ, where employees can work in conservatories filled with plants, and Thinkgarden in Milan is a creative business space studded with real and simulated nature, including rock-shaped furniture.

KEEN TO WORK OUTDOORS? THESE IDEAS WILL GIVE YOU A NATURAL HIGH

Blue–sky brainstorming

Get your creative sessions out of the conference room and see what ideas you can come up with outside.

Walk and talk