Office Lighting Concerns

• Office lighting is important to enhancing employee comfort and efficiency in the workplace. Ineffective lighting can lead to bad performance and physical ailments such as eyestrain and back pain. Many offices, still using lighting from the days before computers were widely used, are overlighted with fluorescent lights. Adjust office lighting will enhance employee comfort and improve productivity.

Level of Light

• Office light levels in the past were fairly high, because employees needed a lot of light to use typewriters or pen and paper as their primary tools. This resulted in the widespread use of fluorescent lights. With the advent of computers, lighting levels need not be so intense or bright, and in fact are better for the eyes when lower. This increases the visibility of computer screens. For activities that require more light, individual task lights may be provided.

Reflections and Glare

• Glare and reflections are caused when light bounces off shiny objects or shines too brightly into the eyes. These effects can be avoided by reducing a light's brightness, moving it farther from the object causing reflection, moving the object itself or providing light from another direction to offset the effect.

Physical Ailments

• A variety of physical ailments may result from poor office lighting. Eyestrain and fatigue are common problems, especially for people who spend long periods of time in front of a computer. Headaches and back pain may also result from poor office lighting, as employees position themselves unnaturally to avoid glare or squint to minimize its effects. All of these problems may result in reduced productivity.

Solutions

• Poor office lighting issues may be remedied in a variety of ways. To avoid glare and reflections, for example, computers should not be placed with a window directly behind them and workstations should be placed between overhead lights rather than directly beneath them. Walls, floors and ceilings should be matte and neutral. Windows should have shades, and task lights should be provided so employees can adjust lighting to fit their needs.