There’s something about bright lights that just seems to rub our staff the wrong way. Actually, there’s something about any sort of lighting that rubs us the wrong way. We’ll get a, “I could fall asleep in here,” comment from a visiting client at least once a day, and to be honest, they wouldn’t be wrong.
There are times when I’ll find myself closing my eyes for a few hours and slowly, but rather surely, begin to fall deeper into a hard-earned slumber. But don’t think it’s all about napping around my work area. When I’m not forming an almost artistic puddle of drool around my desk, I find myself waiting for our boss to head back into his office so I can resume my rest and hope that somehow, with the grace of the seven gods, we’ll synchronize in our sleep and meet in dreamland where he will promote me to sleep manager.
Seriously, Don’t
While the times of make-believe positions and nap breaks seem to be far in the horizon for Imagine It Studios, our current atmosphere gives us the chance to work peacefully and with pain-free eyes. Fortunately, I was not part of the company when every employee worked with the discomfort of flood lights, but I remember the time in which, for whatever reason, our lights just had to stay on.
As soon as he-who-shall-not-be-named flipped the switch, both Katherine and I fled to safer territory in the storage room. It was somewhere in there, huddled in a long-forgotten desk, that I realized how great it had been to work in an environment with easy lighting. It may sound silly, but believe me, it makes a huge difference.
Let There Be Minimal Amounts of Light
Thankfully, the exile of dim light lovers only lasted a couple of days and Katherine and I were able to return to the safety of our desks. The truth is, lighting probably goes unnoticed in regular office environments but I’ve noticed our work production is so much better when we have the soft lighting of our lamps. I recently did a study based on my experiences to prove my theory. The results went something like this:
- With high school football game lighting – I fled the office.
- With comfortable lighting – I stuck around and actually worked.
While my scientific research skills may need a bit of improvement, I can assure you the staff at our office works a lot more efficiently and diligently when supplied with proper lighting. Our ideas flow better, we’re not cranky, and we don’t have to take a break every ten minutes to make sure our eyes don’t burn out. Even as I sit here and type more excuses to justify our current lighting choices, I overhear JoAnn saying that it’s also better for the environment.
So there you go; Imagine It Studios is living proof that office staff can greatly benefit from easy lights. Give it a try, and I can assure you your office personnel will appreciate it. Now if only we could get those beanbag chairs we’ve been asking for.