The Benefits of Nature Contact at Work and Home on Well-Being: A Path to Healthier and More Satisfied Employees

Details

• Journal Article:
  Ecopsychology
• Personal Author:
  Brossoit, Rebecca M. ; Stark, Hannah P. ; Bickley, Andrea L. ; Leslie, Jordyn J.
• Description:
  The workplace is a critical environment for harnessing nature's benefits, as organizations directly shape the extent to which employees engage with nature, both at work and at home. Data from two studies (Study 1 N = 545; Study 2 N = 380) were used to test whether nature contact is associated with employee personal well-being (i.e., physical health and mental health) and job well-being (i.e., job burnout, job satisfaction, satisfaction with the physical workspace, and turnover intentions) and whether these associations are stronger for employees with a greater personal connection to nature (i.e., nature relatedness). In both studies, outdoor nature contact at work and at home (e.g., spending breaks outside, eating meals outside) was associated with greater physical health and mental health. In Study 2, indoor nature contact at work (e.g., live plants, sunlight) was associated with greater physical health, mental health, job satisfaction, satisfaction with the physical workspace, and lower job burnout and turnover intentions. Indirect nature contact at work (e.g., nature in artwork) was associated with greater physical health, job satisfaction, and satisfaction with the physical workspace. Nature relatedness was positively correlated with nature contact and employee well-being but generally did not operate as a moderator that strengthened the associations between nature contact and well-being. The results were consistent even after accounting for control variables (i.e., access to public outdoor spaces at work and home, job type). Although most of the effect sizes were small, these findings offer straightforward and potentially low-cost practical implications for organizations interested in improving the health and retention of their employees. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Burnout, Professional
  • Mental Health
  • Occupational Health
  • Occupational Stress
  • Safety
• Keywords:
  • Work environment
  • Work organization
  • Job design
  • Employee satisfaction
  • Well-being
  • Health promotion
  • Mental health
  • Burnout
  • Rest periods
  • Worker health
  More +
• ISSN:
  1942-9347
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Birmingham Region OSHA ; Dallas Region OSHA ; Denver Region OSHA ; Louisiana ; Texas ; Utah
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  16 pdf pages
• Volume:
  17
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071781
• Citation:
  Ecopsychology 2025 Dec; 17(4):330-345
• Contact Point Address:
  Rebecca M. Brossoit, PhD, Rice University, 6100 Main St, Houston, TX 770055, USA
• Email:
  rbrossoit@rice.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2026
• Performing Organization:
  University of Utah
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  2005/07/01
• End Date:
  2028/06/30
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/260005/cdc_260005_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.04 MB]
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fd92c51ff62da6cd24b6e4ac6d5ee2c09361877c8414f663bae25a3b873cb92aac22588f75770d9f6708e74633760c8d5e69cb3fbfa91440f91a5d7ff1fec48c