What Access to Nature Does for the Workday

Most conversations about office productivity focus on what's inside the building, from desk setups and meeting rooms to Wi-Fi speed. But a growing body of research points to something else entirely as one of the most reliable drivers of focus, creativity and well-being at work. It's what's outside.

Access to nature during the workday, whether that means a view of green space, a walk along a trail or a few minutes in a park between meetings, has measurable effects on how people think, feel and perform. For companies evaluating where to locate their teams, this is no longer a soft consideration. It's a practical one.

Ballantyne's 535-acre campus was designed with this in mind. The combination of parks, trails, landscaped gathering spaces and buildings oriented toward natural views makes outdoor access a natural part of the workday rather than something employees have to seek out on their own time.

What the Research Says

The science behind nature and cognitive performance is well established. Studies consistently show that exposure to natural environments reduces cortisol levels, lowers heart rate and supports recovery from the kind of directed mental effort that office work demands.¹ In practical terms, this means employees who have access to green space during the workday return to their tasks with more focus and less accumulated stress than those who remain in built environments throughout the day.

Natural light plays a particularly significant role. Research published in Harvard Business Review found that access to natural light and outdoor views ranks as the top office amenity employees want, ahead of on-site cafeterias, fitness centers and childcare.² Employees in offices with natural light report better sleep, higher energy and improved mood, all of which translate directly into performance and engagement.

Biophilic design, which incorporates natural elements like greenery, water features and organic materials into the built environment, compounds these effects. Studies have found that biophilic workplaces reduce stress and support better overall well-being among employees who spend significant time in them.³

The benefits are meaningful, affecting how people experience the workday and, by extension, how they feel about the companies they work for.

Why Proximity to Nature Matters

Understanding the value of nature at work is one thing. Building a workplace where employees can access it is another.

Getting outside during a conventional workday takes more effort than it should. Most office environments offer few clear routes to green space, and the culture around outdoor breaks tends to be thin even when options technically exist. Employees end up inside for most of the day, under artificial light, missing the brief resets that make sustained focus possible.

Proximity is what determines whether outdoor space actually gets used. When green space sits at the edges of a campus or requires planning to reach, most employees skip it most of the time.

Ballantyne addresses this directly. The campus connects office buildings to parks, trails and landscaped outdoor areas through a walkable, well-designed environment that makes going outside feel easy and worthwhile. That proximity changes behavior. Employees are more likely to take an outdoor break, hold a walking meeting or eat lunch in a park when these options are steps away rather than a drive across town.

Outdoor Space as a Workplace Resource

At Ballantyne, the outdoor environment functions as an extension of the office rather than a separate amenity. Parks and green spaces across the campus offer quiet areas for focused thinking, informal settings for team conversations and open lawns for larger gatherings. The network of more than 20 miles of walking trails connects buildings to one another and to the broader greenway system, giving employees a meaningful range of options for how they spend time outside.

For more on the specific green spaces available across the campus, the Ballantyne signature green spaces post offers a useful overview of what's available and where.

Several buildings across the campus feature floor-to-ceiling windows, outdoor terraces and balconies, and direct sightlines to parks, ponds and greenways. These design choices mean that employees who remain inside throughout the workday still benefit from natural light and views of nature. The green building features built into Ballantyne's LEED-certified and ENERGY STAR-certified office buildings reinforce this further, with daylighting systems and biophilic design elements that bring the outside in.

Rethinking the Walking Meeting

One of the most practical applications of outdoor access at work is the walking meeting. Research from Stanford University found that walking consistently and significantly boosts creative thinking compared to sitting, with benefits that continue even after returning to a desk.⁴ This makes walking a genuinely useful format for brainstorming sessions, one-on-ones and informal check-ins rather than just a change of scenery.

Ballantyne's trail network and park spaces make this format easy to adopt. Teams can take discussions outside instead of defaulting to a conference room, covering ground while also clearing their heads. For managers looking to make one-on-one meetings feel less formal and more candid, a walking route through a campus park is a natural setting for the kind of open conversation that a conference room can make harder.

For teams that need a more structured setting, Ballantyne's top meeting spots include options that blend indoor convenience with outdoor access and natural surroundings.

What Outdoor Access Signals to Talent

Beyond individual performance, access to nature has meaningful implications for how companies attract and retain people. Younger employees in particular place significant value on workplaces that support their overall well-being, and the physical environment is a large part of that decision.

A campus that offers genuine outdoor access, parks, trails and green space woven into the daily experience signals something important to prospective employees. It says that the company, and the place it has chosen to locate, takes the working environment seriously.

This connects to the broader case for Ballantyne as a location choice. As explored in our post on creating a wellness-focused workplace, the campus integrates wellness into the daily work experience in ways that set it apart from traditional office environments. The outdoor environment is a central part of that.

For companies making the case for in-person work, nature access is also a practical draw. Employees are more willing to commute when the destination offers something a home office simply doesn't, and a campus with genuine outdoor spaces is a meaningful part of that offer. 

The Case for Working Outside

Breaks matter, and the quality of those breaks affects the quality of the work that follows. A few minutes outside, in a park or on a trail or simply in a space with natural light and greenery, is among the most effective resets available to knowledge workers.

At Ballantyne, that reset is part of how the campus is built. The trails, parks and outdoor spaces sit close enough to every building that using them during the workday is a natural choice rather than a planned excursion.

To learn more about available office space in Charlotte, view our current properties and contact our leasing team to schedule a tour.

Sources

1. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Urban Nature Experiences Reduce Stress in the Context of Daily Life Based on Salivary Biomarkers. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6334070/
2. Meister, J. C. (2018, September 3). The #1 office perk? Natural light. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/09/the-1-office-perk-natural-light
3. Huntsman, D. D., & Bulaj, G. (2022). Healthy dwelling: Design of biophilic interior environments fostering self-care practices for people living with migraines, chronic pain, and depression. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(4), 2248. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042248
4. Oppezzo, M., & Schwartz, D. L. (2014). Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 40(4), 1142-1152. https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2014/04/walking-vs-sitting-042414