May it be a quiet beach or a mountainous wilderness, we can’t deny how much we love spending time outdoors, wandering around nature, and getting as much sun as we can.
But snapping back to reality, we realize that we don’t really have the luxury of time to spend outdoors because we have actual jobs that need to be done inside our offices all day.
How do we solve this problem? Revamp the workplace to make it cleaner and brighter with natural light.
Research suggests that there are far more benefits to having natural light in the workplace than sticking to artificial lights.
You Consume Less Energy
The less artificial light you use in the workplace, the less energy you consume, which also means fewer bills to pay.
While our reliance on artificial lights may not end completely anytime soon, going for natural lighting in the workplace is still a worthy investment that can benefit everybody. Imagine natural light distributed across the office. Imagine a workplace with no dark corners.
Some offices in the US have actually gone natural with their lighting. A Locklear plant in Seattle, WA, was redesigned to let the sun’s natural light into the office, making it their major day-time lighting source.
Aside from a reduced cost in annual electricity (US$500,000), the company also enjoyed taking pride in the fact that they have reduced their office’s carbon footprint and contributed to saving the environment just by switching to natural light.
You Have Healthier Workers
Image from: Flickr Image by Michael Saechang
Research done in 1994 states that the most common health issues in the workplace are headaches and other illnesses associated with eyestrain caused by the light present in a workplace.
Any poorly lit place can damage the eyes but eyestrains can be prevented if a person has a window with a view to look at to give his eyes some rest. Landscape short-range and long-range views benefit the eyes by helping them refocus.
Aside from fewer headaches, natural light also helps increase attentiveness, reduce accidents, and even improve sleep quality when workers get home.
Positive and Productive People
As impossible as it may seem, natural light can have a huge positive effect on people.
For employees, it doesn’t only help provide motivation, it also promotes a sense of teamwork and organisational attachment.
No wonder why providing a comfortable and conducive working environment is recognised for being advantageous to everyone.
A California, USA-based company reported a 5% increase in productivity just after 18 months of moving in their constructed daylit distribution facility. The new VeriFone building turned out to be even more cost-effective than expected.
How Do You Get All That Daylight?
Image from: Unsplash by Benjamin Child
The question now is, how are you going to maximise all that daylight in your office?
Well, unless you can afford a complete remodelling of your building, there are actually small fixes you can do to let as much daylight into your workplace as possible.
Go for full pane windows as they can be installed to let all the sunlight to flow in.
Install light tubes on the roof. These light tubes can actually capture, funnel down, and distribute light inside a room.
A heliostat would also be a good idea. It can deflect the sunlight it catches throughout the day into any building through windows, skylights, or the light tubes installed in the roof. Once the natural light is in, you can distribute it more effectively with the use of glass walls and dividers.
Wouldn’t you enjoy working more in a fun, upbeat, and positive working environment that would motivate you to be more productive?
No wonder why modern offices these days go for an open plan and opt for spacial dividers and glass walls. More companies are also getting into adding plant-life in the workplace as well as large windows that would help bring the outdoors in.
Now that’s a clever way to still get a good view of the outdoors while working on our desks.
Don’t just stop at bright, go for clean too!
A bright office with all-natural lighting is definitely good for everyone. But wouldn’t it be better for everyone if it was kept clean at all times, too? Now that’s what you’re going to need these Alsco Mats for.
These revolutionary Evolution Mats will help prevent dirt from entering the office premises. They are made from eco-friendly recycled materials and they come in a variety of Eco-Mats to choose from.
If you’re curious about these revolutionary mats, Alsco’s friendly representatives will be more than happy to share you their mat service’s benefits as well as the cost.
Sources:
- ErgoDynamix – Workplace Lighting’, ErgoDynamix online – www.ergodmx.com/articles/article_8.html
- ‘A Literture Review of the Effects of Nautral Light on Building Occupants”, L Edwards and P Torcellini, NREL, 2002 – www.nrel.gov/docs/fy02osti/30769.pdf
- 2a. ‘Daylighting Offers great Opportunities’, G Franta and K Anstead, Window & Door Specifier-Design Lab, 1994
- 2b. ‘Energy Effectiveness and the Ecology of Work: Links to Productivity and Well-Being’, Heerwagen JH, et al. Building Research and Information, 1998
- 2c. ‘At What Cost Health? Low Cost, As It Turns Out’, WR Pape, Inc Online, 1998
Photo: Rodrigo Galindez
