One of the things that make a good work environment is proper lighting. Unfortunately, not many people know how important it is, and don’t pay attention to it, often choosing random lamps based on the design of their company, and not on their properties.
As you can read on lamptwist.com, “Lighting is often the last thing you think about when you are building or doing some renovations. But when your project is finished, the light will be one of the most important aspects of your interior and exterior decoration”.
Proper lighting is important not only because thanks to it your employees and the clients visiting your company can see what is around them. As it turns out, without it, it can be hard to achieve a productive workplace. Why is that? Well, there are a few reasons for that, which include…
Improved Productivity and Work Quality
You don’t have to work in business to know that mistakes of the employees cost the company not only time but also money – especially if the client was an important one. Proper lighting improves the quality of work, which means that fewer mistakes are made.
Apart from this, proper lighting increases productivity. According to the International Labour Organization, changing the light to a more fitting one can increase the employees’ productivity by 10% and reduce workplace errors by 30%.
Increases the Employer’s Liability and Improves Workplace Safety
As it was already mentioned, proper lighting is one of the factors of a good work environment, along with things like air quality or the noise level. If employers fail to provide a good work environment, their liability decreases. However, that’s not the only consequence that they might face.
Employers have the responsibility of providing a safe workplace. If an injury happens at work because, for example, the light was dim, making it hard to see, the company might face an injury lawsuit, as well as higher insurance premiums, sanctions, etc. Also, improper lighting increases the risks of fires and outages.
Fewer Health Problems Experienced By Employees
Your employees might not even notice it, but poor lighting can also have a negative on their health. First of all, it causes more frequent headaches, which, if intensive, can prevent one from doing their work. Also, they can experience eye strain, which makes it difficult to focus, thus decreasing productivity.
Also, this can result in physical tiredness, the employee will not be able to complete their task, which in the long run can have severe consequences for the company.
Better Mood Of The Employees
It’s no secret that sitting in a room that does not have sufficient lighting can have an effect on the person’s mood. For example, imagine two people – one has a bedroom which is always filled with natural light, while the other’s room is dim, and has almost no lighting. Who do you think will be in a better mood in the morning? That’s right, the person who has natural light in their room.
The same thing happens in the office. Even if someone is in a good mood when coming to work, throughout the day, their mood will be decreasing, even if the employee might not notice it.
How to Achieve Proper Lighting?
Now that you know how important proper lighting in the workplace is, there is one question left to answer – How can you achieve it? One of the ways in which you can do it is by adding a daylight desk lamp. Also, clean and make sure that the lamps that you already have in the office are maintained well – you might think that it’s obvious, but you will be surprised at how many people don’t do it and have to work with a dim light that only needs a little bit of cleaning.
Finally, the best option is to maximize the natural light that is entering the office. To do that, you can, for example, change the placement of the desks so that they will be next to the windows. However, remember that if you do that, you need to have window blinds, as, without them, the sunlight can make it more difficult to work, and have an opposite effect to the one you want to achieve.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, lighting is one of the most important factors in a safe and good work environment and can have a lot of benefits for the company, such as the better mood of the employees or increased productivity. This is why the lighting that you choose for your company has to be thought-through – don’t only look at the aesthetic.
Choosing the right lighting can be hard, but with a little bit of research and help from the professional, it’s very much doable.
