Salary Satisfaction of Employees at Workplace on a Large Area of Planted Land

Salary satisfaction (SS) perception by employees can be affected by psychological impacts from the workplace setting. Landscape attributes of green and blue spaces (GBS) may account for this effect, but relevant evidence is rarely verified. In this study, a total of 56 Chinese industrial parks were chosen as study sites, where employee satisfaction was assessed by rating facial expression scores (happy, sad, and neutral emotions) in photos obtained from social networks (Sina Weibo and Douyin). The structures of the GBSs were characterized remotely by largeness of size, height, and visible ratio of green view (GVI) in a 2 km radius buffer area around the workplace. Street view images from Baidu map were selected for estimating GVI using a pre-trained deep learning model and botanical experts evaluating woody plants’ diversity. The results indicated that SS can be estimated with the maximum likelihood analysis model against the happy score, which ranged within 8.37–18.38 (average: 13.30 ± 2.32) thousand RMB. A regression model indicated SS was lowered by a larger green space area in agreement with a reduced happy score. Further, sad scores in highland areas with tall plants and a strong depression on the happy score was associated with a greater plant diversity. Interesting from this study, the designed apparent size of green space should be considered in green space construction near a workplace to prevent perceptional decline towards SS, while blue space is irrelevant in this relationship. Similarly, the diversity of woody plants should be planned to control its negative impact on the perception of positive emotions, with plant diversity beyond a comfortable level perhaps further decreasing SS.