Seasonal Office Decorations: Beat the Winter Blues and Match the Season’s Vibes

Did you know that over 66 percent of American workers report feeling more stressed around the winter and holiday seasons? And studies show that this holiday stress is beginning as early as October.

Between additional home and work obligations, general holiday stress, the days getting dark earlier, and the cold weather, it’s no wonder seasonal depression and anxiety spike around this time. While seasonal office decorations can’t fix everything, they can boost morale, decrease stress, and get people excited for the fun parts of the season instead of only focusing on the stressful parts.

Keep reading for a few tips on how to use office holiday decorations to improve your office!

1. Office Plants

Plants and greenery are amazing options for office decor all year round because of their ability to improve the health and wellness of your employees. Studies show that plants in office environments can reduce stress levels sometimes by as much as 60 percent!

Less sunlight and cold temperatures can lead to lowered productivity and focus with some estimates saying that the economy loses billions of dollars because of this decrease in productivity during the fall and winter months. That’s another benefit of using plant decorations since plants in the office have been shown to improve employee productivity by as much as 15 percent.

To get started, you can use traditional office holiday decorations like small pine trees, wreaths, garlands, and more. These can be real or fake, but if you go for the fake variety, put in some scented sticks or sprays to enhance the holiday effect.

Poinsettias, holly, and mistletoe are all common seasonal plants as well.

You should take your local environment into account when you choose plants as well. Think about it: an indoor landscaping Boston office project is going to be way different than a project for an office in Hawaii thanks to the differing climates and temperatures.

If you live in a colder environment, look for hardy plants that can survive in cold temperatures and lower light. Aloe, lavender, succulents, Chinese evergreen, and English ivy are all great choices that can both survive the winter and can help with seasonal depression. If you live in warmer places that aren’t impacted by winter weather, you’ll have more options.

Consider adding flowers and other local plants to add a unique twist to your seasonal office decorations.

One last note: nothing is more of a bummer than leaving for the weekend or for Thanksgiving vacation and coming back to an office filled with dead and dying plants. Indoor plant maintenance services are crucial during this time in order to keep the plants alive and thriving.

2. Keep It Simple

At the end of the day, the office is still a place of work. It doesn’t need to be loaded up with decor and trinkets; this can actually be distracting for many employees. You can keep things simple while still making a noticeable effort to decorate.

Here are a few ideas to get you started. Send and hang up holiday cards. Break out some festive or winter-themed mugs for the break room. Wrap some boxes with wrapping paper and put them under your office tree.

Hang up fairy lights around the office. Stock the office with hot chocolate, coffee, candy, and other holiday-themed snacks.

Even these small touches are going to help boost morale and show employees you care about their wellbeing during this time.

3. Color Is Key

As with the previous tip, color can be a great way to decorate. Green plants with red pots are a simple and easy way to get festive. Blue, white, and silver are great general colors to keep things from skewing too much towards “Christmas”.

White snowflakes, white fairy lights, blue and silver mugs, winter landscape paintings, red and green holiday cards, and more can add simple touches around the office.

4. Be Inclusive

We’ve touched upon this a little bit so far, but it’s important to remember that you shouldn’t skew all of your decorations towards Christmas. Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year, the Winter Solstice, and Diwali are just a few of the holidays celebrated in the winter months around Christmas.

Take the time to learn about your employees and what they celebrate.You can then cater your decor to be inclusive of everyone in the office. This idea applied to the others we’ve mentioned.

While holly and Christmas trees are great ideas for seasonal office plant decorations, if no one celebrates Christmas, it might not be the best call. Replace some trees with a few menorahs or candles, for example.

You can even have your employees send you suggestions on classic and traditional decorations for the holiday they celebrate to personalize the office even more!

Sources

https://www.amanet.org/articles/coping-with-holiday-stress-at-work/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/12/13/why-does-depression-tend-toincrease-during-the-holidays/

https://www.greenlifeindustry.com.au/Attachment?Action=Download&Attachment_id=1430

https://www.officevibe.com/blog/winter-affects-productivity

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/aug/31/plants-offices-workersproductive-minimalist-employees

https://www.gardenstreets.com/

https://www.plantsnap.com/blog/best-houseplants-for-seasonal-depression/