Office lighting is often overlooked, but it plays an oversized role in how your office functions. Getting it wrong can reduce productivity, increase employee absence and make your office an unpleasant place to be. To help ensure your workplace remains a productive and enjoyable environment, we’ve put together this list of tips for how to choose commercial lighting for an office.
Make Use Of Natural Lighting
Although this article is ostensibly about electric lighting, it’s important to make as much use of natural lighting in an office as possible. Not only is natural lighting easier and more comfortable to work under, but making use of it will reduce your energy bills. If your office is laid out in such a way that it can make use of natural lighting, try to maximize this precious resource.
Switch To LEDs
If your office isn’t already using LED lights, make the switch sooner rather than later. LEDs are incredibly more efficient than incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs and will provide significant savings when it comes to energy costs. LEDs can reduce your lighting costs by up to 90%. LEDs also last far longer than other bulbs – up to 20 times longer than an incandescent bulb. Obviously, the larger your office, the larger the savings.
Provide Adaptable Lighting
Different situations require different lighting and your office setup should reflect that. While most offices will have banks of overhead lighting, this may not be sufficient for every job in the office. Supplement overhead lighting with task lighting that’s purpose-made. Desk lamps, floor lamps and adjustable lighting standards will allow employees to modify the lighting to match the task at hand.
Consider Colour Temperature
Light bulbs come in a range of colours and intensities, known as the colour temperature, which can be measured using the Kelvin scale. When choosing a colour temperature for office lighting, make sure to keep it balanced. Working under a wide range of colour temperatures can be a disconcerting experience. Colour temperature generally ranges from 2700K for warmer environments such as public spaces to 6000K or more for industrial and manufacturing environments. Lighting between these two extremes, often in the range of 3500 to 4000K, is often considered suitable for office work.
