Never before has employee mental health been so much under the spotlight, excuse the pun. As we start to consider a shift back to the workplace, or at least a partial shift, we need to reconsider how people work and how we can improve things simply and easily. Social distancing will remain in place for some time to come. There will be a few changes - maybe staggered breaks, flexible hours and other considerations to keep our teams happy and healthy. But how can lighting play its part?
Lighting alone is unlikely to create a huge difference to well-being or performance but it does contribute. What is key is making sure that lighting, whilst generic, can also be tailored to every member of the workforce. This is where layering might help (see previous blog). Provide a standard level of light across the board but then overlay additional lights or specialist lighting where needed. It sounds onerous but if you are working in lighting that isn't quite fit for purpose then your performance and mental health will suffer as a result.
It stands to reason that a workplace that is well-lit will yield happier people. One definition of 'well-lit' could mean lighting that reflects the natural lighting of the time of day. Natural lighting has been proven to be beneficial to health - yet we actually spend less than 10% each day outside! Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a real condition that affects people whose mood dips with the availability of light and warmth. Simply by having the right light quality during the working day can reverse some of these SAD effects. LED bulbs are available in daylight tones which is a really good place to start. Light diffusing light coloured shades are also effective in creating a good base light.
Ask your teams what difference the lighting could make and encourage them to spend some of their breaks or lunch times outside, even if it's just to walk to the sandwich shop! As work makes its slow return to a different kind of normal, as it inevitably will, consider how you can make some changes to make it a good transition. Performance is known to be related to well-being so it really is a win-win situation.