Light It Up – Perfecting Workplace Lighting

“Everyone wants to be as productive, focussed and healthy as possible in the workplace. This is why businesses think a great deal about office design, layout and furniture. However, something that’s just as important but often overlooked is workplace lighting. The right workplace lighting can make all the difference in the office: if you don’t get it right, you could have a team that suffers from eye strain, headaches, or lack of productivity. Lighting can even affect the mood of those in the room.
But how can you make sure that you’re providing your employees with the best when it comes to workplace lighting? Thankfully, it’s not overly complicated. What’s more, many of these tips can be recreated by employees working at home as part of a remote workforce. Read on for our tips on perfecting workplace lighting.
Natural Light
Working near an open window which offers plenty of natural light is always the best form of lighting. Not only does this save costs on electrical lighting, but it’s also better for our mood and productivity. If possible, when planning your office layout, take windows into consideration. How can you take advantage of them and ensure that your office layout means most of your employees are near a window?
See if you can arrange things so that the main source of your office lighting consists of natural daylight. Of course, you’ll need to take things like glare into consideration, and also how you’ll provide light during the winter months when the days are shorter and your employees will rely more on artificial light.
When working from home, remote employees can easily relocate their work table or desk near a window to take advantage of natural light.
Swap Out Fluorescent
Most modern offices offer fluorescent lighting because it’s affordable and straightforward. However, if not handled carefully, fluorescent bulbs can actually be harmful, and even when they are handled properly, fluorescent lighting is known to contribute to eye strain, blurry vision as well as dry and water eyes.
Fortunately, most fluorescent light fixtures can either be modified or replaced to accommodate LED lighting as an alternative. Depending on your existing light fixtures, you may be able to swap them out directly for an LED tube, or you may have to get an electrician to modify the wiring to accommodate an LED bulb. Whatever the case, LED bulbs last longer, are more energy-efficient, and don’t cause strain to the eyes, so they’re a common-sense swap.
Introduce Personal Lighting
Giving employees some semblance of control is a great way to make sure that everyone’s lighting needs are being met. Of course, the overhead lights can’t accommodate everyone and can’t be independently controlled. But what you can do is offer your employees their own desk lamp so that they can have access to additional light when they need it.
This is also a great option for those working from home who need to introduce a bit more light into their working station, especially if they don’t have an option to work closer to a window or generally have a poorly lit working area. You can browse our Desk Task Lighting to find the perfect solution!”