How Lighting Is Part of Your Work Climate

Our customers are always happy to share how much they appreciate the control that we give them over their personal climate. And this doesn’t just mean heating and cooling—it also means lighting. In fact, thoughtful lighting design and controls have been proven to improve morale, health, productivity, energy efficiency, and more. According to Green Bee Energy Efficiency consulting firm:

“Empowering employees with control over their lighting conditions, through adjustable lighting systems or personal task lights, further enhances their work experience. This autonomy allows individuals to tailor their environment to their specific needs and preferences, leading to increased job satisfaction and a stronger sense of personal well-being in the workplace.”

This is exactly why Xybix provides customers with complete control over their personal lighting climate. Our consoles have long offered personal task lighting, bias lighting, and status indicator lights. We’ve recently taken this control to the next level with our Axys system for Windows, iOS, and Android. Axys makes personalizing your lighting climate a breeze with one-touch adjustments and saved settings. Here, I share our head-to-toe lighting options along with some pros and cons:

5 Options, 9 Watts, Unlimited Colors

If this seems like a lot of lighting options for a desk manufacturer, it is. And it’s intentional. We know that all these lighting options help prevent fatigue, headaches, depression, eyestrain, low productivity, stress, and anxiety. For 9 watts of brightness and unlimited colors, we rely on long-lasting and energy efficient LED lights. Why all the color options? Simply because people have different preferences for background color as seen here:

A quick recap of the 5 personal lighting climate options:

• Panel system lighting: The lighted acrylic panel system around the top of the desk can be etched for branding purposes and customized with colored lights for aesthetic and health reasons.
  
  
• Bias lighting: Ambient light under monitors provides a gentle glow that is known to ease eyestrain.
  
  
• Task lighting: An adjustable light for viewing paperwork in a dim room allows each user to adjust the intensity, distance, and angle as needed for ideal viewing.
  
  
• Monitor arc lighting: Lighting behind and above the monitors into an acrylic panel which can serve a status indicator light.
  
  
• Footwell lighting: Light shining down below the desktop is handy for everything from switching out a computer to finding a dropped pen to simply boosting your mood with a fun color.
  

The Eyes Have It

If you’re still questioning the value of a customizable lighting climate, take a look at these oldie-but-goodie study results:

“A poll of 1,000 office workers conducted last year by Louis Harris & Associates found that 71 percent of the 330 employees with adjustable lighting said that it enabled them to do more work.” —The New York Times, 1989

“Too bright a light or overexposure to light can lead to irritability and disruptiveness. Thus, appropriate lighting improves the physical and social environment and promotes better morale, safety, and security.”
—Office of Justice Programs,1988 

“In a study conducted in 1990, Cornell researchers drew on an American Society of Interior Designers survey in which 68 percent of employees complained about the light in their offices and 79 percent of VDT [Video Display Terminal] users wanted better lighting. The Cornell study came to the conclusion that eyestrain was the number one health hazard in the workplace—ahead of radiation, asbestos, or exposure to AIDS.”
—Cornell University, 1990, as presented to the Human Factors Society

Xybix has specialized in creating ergonomic work environments since our founding—and lighting is a significant part of that. Reach out to us for details any time. We’re here to help!