I am curious whether it is the light or the view that makes the difference. If it is the light I wonder if a technical fix is possible: a short waveguide and/or a few mirrors into a "micro sun" diffuser in the room instead of a light bulb? It should be relatively cheap if the benefits are as big as claimed.
The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light
121–130 of 348 posts
Re: The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
With that openspace crap it hard to get the daylight even though the building has large windows. You sit somewhere in the middle of the raw, closer to the other end from the window and your colleagues close blinds because it apparently too bright for their dank dark color schemes in their editors.
That's why buildings with a large footprint are generally bad. But many levels is also bad because it creates division between people who work at different levels. A good compromise is a building with a large hollow area in the middle to let sunlight into the "inner" walls, and with not too many levels.
Multiple small-ish buildings on a campus can be good too, especially if you can manage some green space between them. The offices-in-cities trend seems to have put an end to this kind of setup, though.
Re: The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light
#123The interesting thing is that too much light can take its toll on productivity as well. When I was working at another company, it was inside an essentially "all glass, modern" building on the top floor overseeing a creek which led to the Bay. Between about 10 am until 3 pm, everyone would always scramble to find whatever random objects they could to block the light because management never paid for any blinds. We'd grab task boards, company banners, and anything else we could get our hands on so we could block the sun and work. We'd have to constantly shift them, or ourselves, as the sun changed positions, which created some awkward situations when half the team began to huddle in one small, shady area in the building at peak times. Needless to say, as someone who prefers darker environments, my productivity wasn't quite as high as I would have personally liked.
Re: The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light
#124Natural or not, the most important for me is not to get on my eyes or reflecting on the screen.
Re: The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I don't think even the employers think it's right to have windowless offices As an employee, I hate this rule and would love a windowless office. Right now, I just keep the curtains closed all day.
Could you explain why? Do you just prefer a dark room or are you distracted by activities outside your window? I can't really imagine not being look out a windows during the day. Also I think I'd feel trapped without windows, not that I can just jump out my 3rd. floor window.
Not your parent poster, but for me the external variable light is mostly a nuisance. It can be too bright and cause glare, or it's not enough and I need artificial lighting anyway. So I just blot it out, I work from home and I do the same across my entire home, blinds block external light and I use artificial light all day.
Sunlight is nice if I'm going to be outside admiring nature, but it's crap for reading, playing video games, any number of activities I want to do at home.
The cheap place I'll be staying on vacation in a couple of weeks offered a "free upgrade" to a room with a window and I was like "I don't understand - what would I in theory see out of this window?" because it's in a city centre, and obviously as a tourist I shall go out and look at museums and galleries and stuff, I shan't be sat there all day looking out the window, so it seems pointless. The other person I'm going with likes windows, so they'd already paid a little bit extra to have a window anyway. Crazy.
Re: The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light
#126Is this really considered a perk? It is a bit like getting paid is a perk. I work in Germany where direct access to natural sunlight is part of our OH&S policies.
Next perk they gonna get is "breathable air"
I would like that, my previous assignment was in a very old (>50 years) office building with broken HVAC, temperatures were always at least 25 degrees (C), also in winter. And of course those at the windows would leave them closed to avoid the draft, so us scrubs at the far end would have nothing.
Re: The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light
#127I sometimes wonder how light fixtures that mimic natural light are not a thing yet. They exist, but somehow they remained a niche product.
> They exist
Not so sure they do. I came here to see if that was the case.
If they exist they are very expensive! Here's an example that cost $$$$ and I'm still not sure of the quality. http://www.coelux.com/
This has been a know problem for decades (longer?) the elusive light bulbs that create real light. Billion $ invention if you can solve it.
Re: The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light
#128Re: The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light
#129Is this really considered a perk? It is a bit like getting paid is a perk. I work in Germany where direct access to natural sunlight is part of our OH&S policies.
I’ve worked in an office without windows, really takes a toll on you.
My favorite work site (outside of my home) was an interior office that I usually kept dark with the door closed. Time would fade away and I could focus on the problem at hand. I didn't keep a clock visible on my screen, and so sometimes I'd come out after 9pm. Other times, I'd be around 1pm or 2pm. I'd go take a walk if I wanted natural light or non-textual conversation. I would love for a similar setup at a future job.
If an employer doesn't offer remote work or a door, my rate goes up a lot.
Re: The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light
#130Is this really considered a perk? It is a bit like getting paid is a perk. I work in Germany where direct access to natural sunlight is part of our OH&S policies.
Seriously? I complain about not having windows to let natural light in and the fluorescent lights and people look at me like I’m crazy for being sensitive to artificial light.