3 Tips For Creating A Green Office Space

Have you ever been in the situation where you’ve been undergoing renovation growing pains or you’re stuck in a decorating rut? This could occur in the comfort of your own home or in the office at work. Designing your own space can feel super overwhelming.

We've been focusing on how to make the office more welcoming, more inviting, and greener. Bringing some of mother nature’s vivid greenery into the workspace not only encapsulates everything we love about the great outdoors, but it promotes health and wellness, while offering a visually meditative effect to the workspace. In colour therapy, green is equivalent to ‘calm’.

Embrace Going Green

Companies in various industries are taking note on embracing indoor plant life, since research shows that it's leading to happier and healthier employees who are more productive. It’s an outstanding step in the overall health and wellbeing of employees.

At their Seattle headquarters, Amazon just unveiled 'The Spheres'; three glass dome greenhouses. The green space is intended for their employees to be in touch with nature throughout the workday. On a company page, Amazon states that plant-filled spaces "inspire imagination and even enhance brain function."

You need to know what is easy to maintain, so make sure to do some research. Take into consideration what will work for everyone at the office. During your plant selection process, consider these 3 factors when making a final decision:

Factor 1: Ease of Care

It’s essential to get plants for your office space that aren’t too needy or demanding to maintain. Try and aim for something that will thrive with a weekly watering routine, especially if you’re busy and don’t have much time.

Top 10 Easiest to Care for Indoor Plants, according to HGTV:

1.    Aloe

2.    Snake Plant

3.    Bromeliads

4.    Jade

5.    Pothos

6.    Kalanchoe

7.    Rubber Plant

8.    Dieffenbachia

9.    Philodendron

10.  Spider Plant

Factor 2: Allergies

You may want to avoid plants that trigger allergies for the sake of your coworkers. An allergic reaction occurs when a person’s immune system becomes hypersensitive to certain substances, so it was interesting to learn that certain houseplants can be the root cause of this. Allergic reactions range from sneezing to itchy and watery eyes.

Top 8 Worst Plants for Allergies, based on Bobvila.com:

1.    Chamomile

2.    Ficus

3.    Chrysanthemum

4.    Palm Tree

5.    African Violet

6.    Hyacinth

7.    Flowering Maple

8.    Gerbera Daisy

Factor 3: Avoid Toxicity

No, I’m not referring to eliminating toxic people from your life, but rather eliminate toxic plants from your workspace. It’s crucial that the plants you decide on aren’t poisonous in nature, especially if the office allows individuals to bring in dogs. Pets cannot be trusted around anything that looks tasty.

Top 10 Toxic Plants for Pets, according to Pet Poison Helpline: 

1.    Autumn Crocus

2.    Azalea

3.    Cyclamen

4.    Kalanchoe

5.    Lilies

6.    Oleander

7.    Dieffenbachia

8.    Daffodils

9.    Palm

10.  Tulips & Hyacinths

Cool Facts About Office Plants

o   Plants can reduce stress and sick days according to research. This goes hand-in-hand with brightening up the office environment.

o   According to a study at Chiba University in Japan, indoor plants can improve mood to help you turn that frown upside down. They are also known to calm anxiety and lower blood pressure, heart rate and cortisol levels.

o   As claimed by NASA, plants can remove up to 87% of air toxins in 24 hours, absorb carbon dioxide and emit fresh oxygen.

o   According to the Organization for Responsible Business, office plants minimize noise levels. “One plant for every three people is enough to see a profound effect, significantly reducing noise in the office”.

o   Plants reduced dirt and dust in the air by up to 20 percent in a study at Washington State University, since they can absorb airborne pollutants. This helps humidify office air to fit our human comfort zone by providing an indoor humidity level of 30-60 percent humidity.

o   Plant specialist Margaret Burchett reported that plants are known to reduce anger, depression, fatigue, and confusion. According to her studies, plants can also reduce the physical symptoms of stress by 50%.

According to this Business Insider article, houseplant sales have nearly doubled over the past three years, as of April of 2019, with millennials being the forefront of reviving the indoor plant market. There’s also cool office garden gadgets and apps that you can purchase to take your plant game to a whole other level!

Are you interested in developing or learning more about such apps? Get in contact with us today!

5 Ways to Ease Your Life with Automation

Do you have lots to organize, but not sure how to do it? SharePoint Workflows is a great solution. They will make your life significantly easier getting jobs done at prime efficiency, as well as making your manual tasks automatic.

Now you must be thinking…what are SharePoint Workflows?

Consider SharePoint workflows as an organizational system that’s integrated into the main SharePoint system. This is where jobs and approvals can be retrieved and kept on track as they are being completed.

The workflows make both these tasks as effortless as possible, while also offering consistent completion to tasks on the various platforms. 

Here are the Top 5 Most Frequently Chosen SharePoint Workflows:

1. Approval Workflows

• Most favoured workflow to work with within SharePoint – this workflow enables the user to begin the chain as soon as just one document is uploaded to the system.

• It starts when your sales team releases a project plan to their clients. However, before it goes to the clients, it must be approved, and with the approval workflows / process, it makes that effortless.

• Example: sales associate prepares the plan, then it gets transferred to the team for revision, next it is sent to the director for final review and approval

• This system works, because it is automatically able to manage where all the documents are and what status they are in, rather than manually

2. Status Workflows

• This workflow allows you to track the status of each document as they are uploaded to SharePoint

• When looking at the example from the approval workflows, you can use status workflows to track when the document has been sent to the team or the director for approval

• With the status workflows, they will mark the document after each stage of the approval workflows. After it is uploaded to SharePoint it is marked as “Draft” and after the additional stage it is marked respectively

3. Notification Workflows

• When a document has entered the SharePoint network, it will send off a message to specific members on the job of the workplace, which will then instruct them to complete a task

• Example: when the sales manager uploads the sales reports, with notification workflows enabled, it will force a message to the sales director saying that the sales report has been uploaded and is being reviewed

4. Automation Workflows

• This workflow enables you to make certain tasks automatic within the SharePoint network

• This typically works with the other workflows previously mentioned

5. Custom Workflows

• The Custom workflow gives you the ability to utilize features of the other 4, all integrated into one system

• With using SharePoint, it creates infinite options for organization and efficiency, especially when automation is added to the process

If you’re interested in learning more about setting up one of these automation workflows, reach out to us today for more information.

4 Elements to Ensure Your Uber-like App is Accessible for Disability Needs

Advancements in technology do not merely mean crazy new technologies associated with artificial intelligence or augmented reality. Advancements also must coincide with accessibility needs. Being disabled in today’s society, should no longer be deemed a struggle, as the world is developing more and more technologies to assist those in need.

When it comes to commuting and using popular apps like Uber, accessibility for the disabled must be a top priority. This should not extend to just wheelchair accessible options, but also sight and/or hearing-impaired accessibility. When building an app like Uber for instance, you must ensure you have a wide scope of needs that are able to be fulfilled. 

4 Ways to Develop an Accessible App: 

1. Voice Assistant 

This is a feature that is crucial for the blind population. Traveling should not be any more strenuous than it already is, thus Uber-like services must integrate easy access to bring down the stress. 

It is integral to implement an easy way to use such apps and to be able to easily book rides. The best way to do so is a feature like voice assistance to speak into the app where they wish to go and receive voice responses back confirming rides and arrival times. 

This would not solely benefit the blind population, but anyone with difficulty in operating a smartphone. 

2. Special Requests

Special requests must be handled appropriately with those who have a disability, as often there will be certain requirements for the ride. For example, wheelchair needs must be fulfilled; there should be numerous vehicles which are able to accommodate this.

Sometimes things like cushions are also required to make the ride as comfortable as possible. Having a disability should not be an inability for the rest of the world, adjust and evolve towards those who need it. 

3. Discounts 

Unfortunately, having a disability has caused discrimination in the workplace, or some are not able to work at all. Meaning relying on low income or government aid to live, but living also requires moving around from place to place; this is where these uber-like apps come in. 

Offering discounts to those with a disability is not only a convenience, but also a necessity oftentimes. Discounts would allow these riders to travel comfortably and independently, and of course continuously use your service - any form of great customer service is always a positive. 

Affordability should be a must in this industry. 

4. Safe and Supportive Measures 

Safety is always important, whether for disability needs or not, it should be the service’s top priority always. Features like location sharing should be implemented so the rider can feel safe while being driven by a stranger because they’re able to share real-time location with those they trust. 

An emergency feature like direct calling to 911 should also be integrated into your ride-sharing application. Supporting disability needs is crucial in today’s world. Make your app stand out and be the one to make those who need extra, feel safe. 

Ready to take the next step? 

These key aspects will not only benefit those with a disability, but anyone in general considering using your app. If you need assistance developing such an app, ISU Corp is ready to help you take your next step! Contact us today for the best custom software development.