By Alex Price
From the October 2024 Issue
Facility executives wear many hats, from overseeing building maintenance to ensuring the comfort and safety of the employees and building occupants. One aspect that has a profound impact on employee well-being and productivity: lighting in the workplace. Lighting is more than just a functional requirement; it’s a powerful tool that can influence mood, energy levels, and overall work performance. This piece will explore the science behind lighting development for office spaces, the consequences of poor lighting, and how to optimize illumination for worker well-being.
The Bright Side Of Productivity
Consider how light affects human well-being and productivity. Proper lighting is essential for creating a conducive work environment. Factors such as light quality, intensity, uniformity, and color temperature play significant roles in influencing mood, concentration, and overall performance. Inadequate lighting can lead to discomfort, decreased focus, and lower productivity.
While there is evidence linking light to circadian rhythms and general well-being, it’s important to recognize that most studies provide correlational insights, and multiple factors contribute to these outcomes. Therefore, focusing on optimizing lighting conditions — such as ensuring appropriate intensity and uniformity, and selecting suitable color temperatures — can significantly enhance work performance and comfort, with sleep-wake cycle factors serving as additional support.
When Bad Lighting Takes Its Toll
The impact of inadequate or poorly designed lighting in the workplace extends beyond mere discomfort, affecting both physical and mental health. Research from The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has shed light on how poor lighting can trigger a host of issues:1
- Eye Strain: Prolonged exposure to screens can result in eye discomfort and dryness as well as difficulty focusing. Suboptimal lighting conditions can exacerbate these symptoms by forcing the eyes to work harder than necessary.
- Headaches: Exposure to flickering lights, excessive brightness, or inappropriate color temperatures can trigger headaches. These lighting issues interfere with the visual system and may contribute to migraines or tension headaches.
- Fatigue: Poor lighting can disrupt circadian rhythms, leading to increased fatigue. Insufficient light or inappropriate lighting conditions make it harder for employees to stay alert and focused.
- Mood: Both excessively dim and overly bright lighting can adversely affect mood, potentially heightening stress and anxiety.
Light plays a crucial role in regulating behavioral states through its effects on photosensitive retinal cells, which influence various nonvisual responses, including mood.
Practical Solutions To Common Lighting Issues
Addressing workplace lighting challenges involves more than just increasing the number of light fixtures. It’s about crafting a balanced and adaptable lighting environment that caters to diverse employee needs. Here are some effective strategies:
Take Control of Lighting | To achieve optimal and consistent lighting, control systems are essential for both user comfort and energy conservation. These systems allow for precise regulation of lighting levels, ensuring the right amount of light is delivered at the right time and place. Occupancy sensors adjust illumination based on room occupancy, turning lights on when people are present and off when the space is empty. This not only conserves energy but also extends the lifespan of lighting fixtures by minimizing their usage.
Another key feature is daylight harvesting, which utilizes sensors to monitor the level of natural daylight entering a room. As natural light fluctuates, the system dynamically adjusts the intensity of artificial lighting to maintain a consistent level of brightness. These systems can also be integrated with automated shading devices to further optimize the balance between natural and artificial light, ensuring comfort while reducing costs.
Maximize Natural Light | Whenever feasible, position workstations near windows to take full advantage of natural light, which can enhance overall well-being. Light shelves and reflective surfaces can further optimize natural light distribution. Light shelves, installed above windows, capture and redirect sunlight onto ceilings, which reflect deeper into the room. Light-colored walls and ceilings act as reflective surfaces, dispersing light more evenly and reducing the need for artificial lighting while creating a softer, more uniform illumination.
Optimize Artificial Light | Creating a versatile and comfortable workspace involves a strategic approach to both artificial and advanced lighting technologies. Layered lighting design should incorporate ambient lighting for overall illumination, task lighting for specific work areas, and accent lighting to add visual interest and balance brightness levels.
Alternatively, adjustable task lights allow employees to personalize their settings, addressing individual needs. However, it’s important to consider that task lighting has been somewhat sidelined in recent years. Many contemporary lighting designers now emphasize achieving uniform surface illumination and minimizing shadows, which are believed to enhance visual clarity and reduce fatigue more effectively.
Embrace Human-Centric Lighting | A prominent trend in contemporary office design is the adoption of human-centric lighting (HCL), which focuses on the effects of light on human health and well-being. By utilizing lighting systems that adjust in both intensity and color temperature throughout the day, facility managers can create environments that align with the body’s natural rhythms and improve overall comfort and productivity.
Innovative systems, such as “follow the sun” technology, are becoming increasingly popular. These systems simulate the natural progression of daylight, transitioning from bright, cool light during the day to warmer tones in the evening, making workspaces more harmonious and pleasant.
Additionally, today’s advanced lighting controls offer customizable settings to accommodate individual and group preferences. In a diverse office setting, different lighting presets can be tailored to various activities, ensuring that each employee’s needs are met and contributing to a more adaptable, user-friendly environment.
To complement HCL, incorporate indirect lighting solutions such as wall sconces. These fixtures distribute light more evenly and gently. Also, equip screens and monitors with anti-glare filters to alleviate strain from reflections and bright spots, which is particularly important in open office layouts where controlling light sources can be challenging. Together, these strategies help foster a more harmonious, user-friendly environment.
Refresh Your Setup | When was the last time you conducted a comprehensive lighting audit? Regularly evaluating your facility’s lighting is essential to ensure it continues to meet changing needs. During your assessment, consider critical factors such as light levels, uniformity, and efficiency to determine if your current setup is still aligned with your goals.
If your lighting system is outdated or no longer performing optimally, it’s time to consider upgrading to the latest LED solutions. LEDs deliver exceptional energy efficiency, long lifespans, and versatile options for customizing both color temperature and brightness. By proactively updating your lighting infrastructure, you can enhance productivity, improve comfort, and foster a more sustainable work environment.
Lighting As A Strategic Asset
Facility executives can transform lighting into a strategic asset that enhances employee well-being and productivity. Understanding the science of lighting and implementing smart strategies allows facility managers to create a workspace that improves both functionality and satisfaction. Thoughtful lighting design is essential not only for compliance and aesthetics but also for fostering a positive workplace culture and attracting top talent.
So, evaluate the current lighting setup, explore new technologies, and consider which light is right for the space — for the benefit of employees and the bottom line.
References:
1 Milosavljevic, N. (2019). How Does Light Regulate Mood and Behavioral State? National Library of Medicine (NLM). Published online July 12, 2019. PMCID: PMC7445808. PMID: 33089172.
Price is the Brand Planning Manager at Current Lighting, where he leads a team of designers and oversees strategic brand development for a portfolio of over 35 product brands.
Do you have a comment? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below, or send an e-mail to the Editor at jen@groupc.com.
