This Earth Week, Upflex is launching #GreenerWorkspace — a partnership with eco-conscious greenery start-up Zauben to give workspace providers free plants and free delivery and to help them cut costs on plant maintenance and care.
Mounds of research show that green spaces into offices, building lobbies, meeting rooms and amenity areas contribute to healthier and more inviting and uplifting work environments. Plants purify the air. Plants enhance design. And studies show green features like plants and green walls can boost mood and productivity. The hang-up? Plants can be wildly expensive — and effective plant maintenance can cost offices hundreds or thousands of dollars per month, putting these benefits out of reach for many workspaces.
NASA’s Clean Air Study found plants can contribute significantly to healthier indoor air, improving IAQ by as much as 85.8%.
That’s why we were so intrigued by Zauben, which leverages technology and smarter, more eco-conscious staffing approaches to solve these challenges for employers and workspace providers while supporting DE&I and keeping tabs on the measure of carbon emissions reduction.
“Coworking spaces often face the tough decision to remove plants due to high maintenance costs, with initial expenses per plant ranging from $350 to $750,” said Zauben CEO and cofounder Zachary Smith. “But our case studies with Industrious show that plants significantly enhance design, air quality, and employee well-being. We believe that a healthier office environment is a fundamental right, not a luxury. That’s why we are committed to providing plants to coworking spaces at no cost, helping them create greener, more vibrant spaces. And our dedication to sustainability and DEI is reflected in our operations; our technicians use bicycles or public transit, deeply connecting with and representing the communities they serve.”
Want some free plants — and a thoughtful plant maintenance plan customized for your workspace — from Zauben? Here’s the deal:
Here’s how it works:
- Fill out the plant order form with details about what kind of space you have, and what kind of plants you want.
- Stand by for a proposal from Zauben about the plant program they recommend.
- Opt in to Zauben’s technology-driven, cost-cutting monthly plant maintenance program through the Upflex partnership.
- Receive free plants (with the ability to choose the size and style based on the goals you hope to accomplish having plants in your space); free pots and planters, and free plant delivery.
- Your plants will be maintained by Zauben’s care technicians. And you’ll get a regular “plant care report” on watering, cleaning, pruning and more, making transparent how Zauben is upholding plant quality to their own high standards.
A University of Exeter study found
foliage in office settings creates a
47% boost in employee wellbeing.
Here’s who it’s for:
Workspace providers who are building out something new
If you’re building out new spaces, Zauben can help you design a plan.
Workspace providers looking to significantly cut costs on existing plant maintenance
If you’re looking to cut on your operations, this could help you renegotiate your contract and you’ll get free plants. (Zauben guarantees at least 20% savings on your existing contracts.)
Workspace providers looking to boost DE&I and sustainability goals
Zauben is helping spaces with plants and green walls to meet their sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion goals by eliminating extraneous transportation-related carbon emissions, and through boosting DE&I. For every 20 coworking spaces we reach through this partnership, we eliminate 5,000 metric tonnes of CO2 from landscaping trucks, according to Zauben’s data.
Zauben has rigorous social engagement and DE&I staffing policies that mean hiring great workers who live close to office buildings and who can commute via public transit, on foot, or by bike. Their plants are monitored through smart technology that senses plant health and humidity, so service comes when — and only when — it’s needed, saving costs and carbon. They work with local and independently owned nurseries — as opposed to buying plants that ship cross-country, and bringing landscaping trucks in from some distance for regular plant maintenance that may not even always be needed.
A Harvard study found 70%
of employees believe views of
nature improve their work performance.
“On the tech side, what each of these planters do is they have sensors and they’re connecting hotspots that measure humidity, temperature, moisture,” Smith said. “We can eliminate the guesswork as to whether the plant needs to be watered, but also, for our technicians, eliminate the unnecessary transportation.”
From day one, sustainability has been at the core of everything we’re building here at Upflex — from the technology we build to help employers cut commutes, use existing workspace more efficiently, and reduce energy waste, to our work to ensure a tree gets planted with every single Upflex workspace booking.
We’re excited to partner with Zauben to offer more workspaces access to plants and green walls — a known wellness enhancer in the workplace — in a strategic, efficient way that reduces a workspace’s environmental footprint, instead of expanding it.
Zauben anticipates the Upflex partnership will offset hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon emissions — and all participants will be part of the number-crunching and reporting for carbon offsets in the coming months.
Join Upflex and Zauben this Earth Week in greening your workspace and setting a better example for the industry in the process. Together, we can make a more inclusive and eco-conscious built world.
