Salary satisfaction of employees at workplace on a large area of planted land

Summary

This research investigated the impact of landscape attributes, specifically green and blue spaces (GBS), on employees' salary satisfaction (SS) within a workplace setting, a relationship previously underexplored. The study focused on 56 Chinese industrial parks, where employee satisfaction was indirectly assessed by analyzing facial expression scores (happy, sad, and neutral emotions) from photos publicly available on social media platforms like Sina Weibo and Douyin. The landscape characteristics of these GBSs were quantified using remote sensing techniques to measure their size, height, and green view index (GVI) within a 2 km radius around the workplaces. Additionally, street view images from Baidu Maps were utilized to estimate GVI with a pre-trained deep learning model, and botanical experts assessed the diversity of woody plants present. Contrary to common assumptions about the positive effects of green spaces, the study's findings revealed that a larger area of green space was associated with a decrease in salary satisfaction. The salary satisfaction was modeled using a maximum likelihood analysis against the "happy" facial expression scores, with estimated average salaries ranging from 8.37–18.38 thousand RMB. A regression model further confirmed that a larger green space area led to reduced salary satisfaction, aligning with lower "happy" scores. Moreover, increased "sad" scores were linked to highland areas featuring tall plants and greater plant diversity, indicating a depressive effect on positive emotions. The authors suggest that this unexpected outcome might be due to larger green spaces increasing the distance employees need to travel between constructions, thereby impacting accessibility to the workplace, or that a high diversity of certain plant species beyond a comfortable level could negatively affect emotional perceptions. The research concluded that blue spaces, such as water bodies, did not significantly influence this relationship. The implications of this study are significant for urban planning and workplace design, particularly in industrial contexts. It suggests that the perceived size and design of green spaces near workplaces should be carefully considered to avoid a decline in employee salary satisfaction. Designers should aim for a "comfortable level" of plant diversity, as an excessive variety, particularly of woody plants and tall vegetation in highland areas, was found to have a negative impact on positive emotions and, consequently, salary satisfaction. This challenges the conventional wisdom that "more green space is always better" and highlights the importance of nuanced, perception-based design in creating supportive work environments.