Nose Jobs

Mark Kohoot believes that the way to improving employee performance is through the nose. The 49-year-old Brooklyn Heights native founded Aeroscena a year ago to sell a line of diffusers and hypoallergenic fragrance oils produced by ScentCommunication, a German company whose clients include Procter & Gamble and Mercedes-Benz.

Kohoot, a former Kodak executive, says the same products that keep shoppers in stores longer and lure them into buying everything from food to cars can make workers more alert, calm and focused.

“Just a pleasant smell in the air makes people rate their work environments more favorably,” he says.

Kohoot points to a study by a large Japanese construction company that showed data-entry errors dropped by 55 percent when the faint aroma of lemon was released through the heating/air-conditioning system.

If you’d like a little boost for some common workplace hurdles, Kohoot recommends the following.

Creativity: “Energize,” with top notes of refreshing grapefruit and lemon. “Lemon has a tendency to sharpen focus,” Kohoot says.

Well-being: “Happy Enjoy,” with a top note of bergamot, a citrus fruit similar to a bitter orange. “It’s a mood-elevator,” Kohoot says. “It makes for a more productive environment.”

Reduce stress: “Vanilla Living,” with a top note of comforting, balancing vanilla. Kohoot points to research by the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center that showed the scent of vanilla was twice as effective as Valium at calming patients in a closed-chamber MRI.