The Impact of Energy-Efficient Office Lighting Strategies on Employee Satisfaction and Productivity

Abstract

This project was designed to investigate the productivity, preferences, and affective impact of energy-efficient office lighting systems. Twenty four office employees were rotated in a counterbalanced order through three such systems and one standard control system, spending approximately an hour and a half in each. The subjects "worked" on five computer-presented performance tasks, responded to a questionnaire about their current mood, and evaluated the lighting system in each office-lab. There were significant differences between the lighting systems in terms of employee satisfaction. However, with the exception of a reading comprehension test, they had a relatively modest effect on the subject's performance on other cognitive/intellectual tasks of their overall affective state. The findings indicated that initial reactions to the lighting systems tended to dissipate over time, so that with continued exposure, the subjects adapted to the new lighting conditions and displayed very few changes in their performance or affective mood.