How to Improve Office Lighting in Your Company!

How to Improve Office Lighting in Your Company!

The American Society of Interior Design reported that workers agree: 68 percent of employees don’t like their office lighting. Usually the lights are either too bright or too dim, either of which can result in eye strain and make it difficult to work.
Many people don’t realize the effect that light has on us, but the truth is that humans are enormously photo sensitive. It is light and dark that determines our Circadian rhythms, and sets our body clock. That explains why office lighting quality is proven to affect productivity. If you suspect that your improve office lighting is affecting performance, then there are several things you can do to improve the situation.

1. Turn overhead lights down.
Too much light creates ‘disability glare’ which makes it more difficult to see things as opposed to allowing us to see more clearly.

2. Use combinations of lighting
Good lighting design is a matter of ergonomics, and require a combination of indirect overhead lighting, movable direct task lighting and natural light, in the correct proportions, to ensure safe and comfortable working conditions.

3. Different Task require different levels of light
Understand that different tasks require different levels of light to ensure alertness and productivity. For instance, the minimum lighting requirement for computer work stations is 500 lux. More complex tasks require more complex lighting, to ensure that work can be carried out safely.

4. Different age and vision require different levels and quality of light
Note that age and vision can also affect lighting requirements, and many older people require a minimum of 700 lux to work properly and reflection coefficient (glary) down to 20.

5. Color of your Lighting
The color of your lighting (warm, cold or otherwise) is another factor that contributes to safe and healthy workplace lighting design.
Warmer tones (down 4000K) tend to create a sense of comfort, wherease “blue or cooler light should be kept in brainstorming rooms where you want people to feel invigorated and excited to share their ideas.”
Many office environments rely on fluorescent and LED lights which give off blue light boosts attention and mood during the morning and early afternoon.

6. Use natural light as much as you can.
In a study conducted in Britain and published in “The Responsible Workplace,” it was shown that windows were the number one determinant of the occupants’ level of satisfaction with a building. This effect is due to lighting’s ability to affect the human body in two ways: directly, in the form of affecting what and how well we are able to see, and indirectly, in the form of effects on our mood, behavior, and even hormonal balance