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Companies Ditch Fluorescent Lights in Battle for Office Return (msn.com) 96

Posted by msmash from the whatever-floats-the-boat dept.
Offices nationwide are ditching harsh fluorescent lighting in favor of advanced systems designed to improve cognitive function and entice remote workers back to physical workplaces. Companies are investing in circadian-tuned lighting that adjusts intensity and color temperature throughout the day to mimic natural light patterns, syncing with employees' biological rhythms, according to WSJ.

The technology arsenal includes faux skylights displaying virtual suns and moons, AI-controlled self-tinting windows, and customizable lighting zones that can be adjusted via remote control. Research suggests these innovations may improve brain function during tasks requiring sustained attention. "We've known for a long time that natural light is better and makes people feel better," says Peter Cappelli, professor at Wharton School. The innovations stem from discoveries in the early 2000s of photosensitive retinal cells that affect biology independent of vision. Industry specialists report a "huge uptick in requests," though implementation adds 20-30% to project costs, potentially slowing mainstream adoption.
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Companies Ditch Fluorescent Lights in Battle for Office Return More

Companies Ditch Fluorescent Lights in Battle for Office Return

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  • Wow, so cutting edge (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheMiddleRoad ( 1153113 ) on Tuesday April 22, 2025 @02:49PM (#65323895)

    Better lighting will certainly make people happy over being stuck in traffic two hours a day.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by bjoast ( 1310293 )
      Better lighting will definitely make the office a nicer place to be. I can't be the only one who's sick of the bright lights everywhere. My eyes get tired.
      • Straight up, one of the best improvements to my WFH office vs. my office office is my Hue lighting.
        The 8 fluorescent tubes in my office office are fucking terrible.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by kackle ( 910159 )
        I shared a small office with another software developer and we agreed to turn the lights off, using desk lamps if needed. We loved it, though everyone else was puzzled by the simple change. When I interviewed at Midway Games back when, I saw that they were using the same setup.

        • No lighting beats bad lighting ... but have you tried good lighting? What you want is that the light level behind your screen matches the light level of the screen.

          I light my home office with three bright LED lamps of the type used by streamers, directly behind my screen. Works well for me. And it's perfect for video calls :)

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by kackle ( 910159 )
            I don't think I care for lighting above my head because I realized that I do the same thing at home.

            I forgot to mention, importantly, that that small office room had a window on the wall which provided some of the light, for sure. I miss that window now that I'm in cube-land.
    • Oooh. I might even come out of retirement just so I can enjoy those non-fluorescent bulbs.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
      Maybe wherever replaces fluorescent lighting ( probably leds) also has a lover tco, baybe the uiming if yheir replacment has nothing to do with RTO at all correlation != causation
    • Yup. This is the one thing that I hate most about going in to the office, and it's not particularly close.

    • If you are stuck in traffic two hours/day you should fix your life. Move to Manhattan or something. Or the old town in an European capital. I have 15 minutes of walk to the central station. And it is a quite nice walk. 10 minutes or so to the office, and my dog needs a morning walk anyway (I double or triple those 10 minutes via some detours for the dog).

  • Nice try (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jrnvk ( 4197967 ) on Tuesday April 22, 2025 @02:49PM (#65323897)

    Still not coming back

    • Most people don't need to be in an office, and that's terrifying people like Jamie Dimon. Holding all those commercial real estate loans was considered a good way to cushion your bottom line. Now? Those loans are becoming a millstone around their businesses. When that NYC office building sold for an US$8.5M, after the original holder just said they couldn't find any tenants to cover the loan so take it back that marked an ugly place. That was an aggregate markdown of 97.5% off the original purchase price of

  • "designed to improve cognitive function" (Score:3, Insightful)

    by greytree ( 7124971 ) on Tuesday April 22, 2025 @02:53PM (#65323903)
    I'm calling unreplicated pseudo-science, i.e. psychology, research.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by taustin ( 171655 )

      Management Fad of the Month Club. You get a free subscription with your MBA.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rujiel ( 1632063 )
      Depending on your light sensitivity, cognitive function may be improved by fewer migraines from godawful indoor lighting
  • I'm told they don't want to call electricians until enough are out to make it worth it.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kmoser ( 1469707 )
      Or until enough employees burn out to make it worth it.

  • "Offices nationwide". So, two of them? (Score:5, Funny)

    by zephvark ( 1812804 ) on Tuesday April 22, 2025 @02:54PM (#65323907)

    I feel it would be more effective for them to employ the magic of crystals along with aromatherapy.

  • I'd expect an office to just chill at high intensity 6500k because that's "alert" lighting. As a business owner you wouldn't want sunset to roll around at 5pm and all your lights are sitting at 3000k and dim because that means people are winding down at work. I'm down for this kind of home lighting 100% though; have been doing it for years.

    • Ah, fellow circadian nerd :-)

      And with high-CRI LEDs, and then slowly dimming the maximum allowed intensity from 100% down to 20% between 6pm and 11 pm, and only allowing it up at 100% @ 6500K again at 6am the morning.

      The true legacy of civilization :-D

  • Leave it to tech bros (Score:5, Funny)

    by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 ) on Tuesday April 22, 2025 @02:59PM (#65323915)

    To re-invent "The Window"

    • Windows are so "olden days". Now we have screens and cameras, so that it costs more and needs repair more frequently. Also you could lookat whatever you want, don't be limited by what's outside. Boooring.

      Also, what ever the article says, something about lights, I think. Get modern, Gramps.

      (:-)

    • To re-invent "The Window"

      Windows work in low-density offices for companies with a small number of employees. For everyone who isn't running a small business, the "reinvention" is a necessity. Many office spaces being rented simply do not get sufficient natural light.

      • Yes it was a bit pithy but maybe that's part of the reticence of workers to return to office. I guess we'll see if virtual windows are appealing enough as actual windows.

        • I'm sure precisely zero people think this one change will make people clamour for the office. Rather it'll be part of a general renovation to improve the office conditions to make the return to office mandates a bit more acceptable.

          Sure you may not want to go back. But who does? Who really looked forward to going to the office every day in the past? Going to work is usually a sliding scale of suck, and as someone who has worked in his fair share of demountable shipping containers turned offices, having a pl

          • I agree, my point was simply natural windows with their natural light and all that brings is the better option and really what I was getting at is the reason most offices don't have that is that most offices when designed were not concerned with things like "making it suck a little less", they never had to. Now they do and theyre stuck with the mindless drab offices of decades past and standards have risen. This is known, thus the stereotype of the dot-com-boom "leisure office"

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
        Allso windows don't produce a consistent duration and intensity of light all year.sohaving a consistent work daybecomes a challenge

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sjames ( 1099 )

        True, but there is already a solution in work from home. Everyone gets a window and it costs the employer nothing.

        • You're missing the point. Not everyone works from home. This story is about making an office more enticing and comfortable. Nothing more. You work from home, great, more power to you. I voluntarily go into the office a few days a week since it's convenient for me and I want to use its facilities. I look forward to my employer making this as pleasant as possible.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by sjames ( 1099 )

            I'm fine with offices being made more comfortable, but even the title of TFA claims it is to convince people who WFH to RTO.

            That is, ever larger moves to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

    • But this is an improvement. Windows can reveal the depressing reality of bad weather or unpleasant conditions that can dampen the mood. With this it's possible to create the appearance of perfect conditions whenever that nasty sun is unobscured. If they can figure out a way to give the lighting the appearance of seeping through the door crack at the top of the stairs it will be perfect.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ffkom ( 3519199 )
        You have it the wrong way. As an employer, you don't want your employees to long for getting outside as soon as possible. Rather, your artificial windows will show rain, thunderstorm, snow, fog etc. in order to entice the workers to just stay a little longer at work and appreciate the warmth inside.

        • You have it the wrong way. As an employer, you don't want your employees to long for getting outside as soon as possible. Rather, your artificial windows will show rain, thunderstorm, snow, fog etc. in order to entice the workers to just stay a little longer at work and appreciate the warmth inside.

          You could do zombies and they would never leave.

    • Outside is triggering. Best to isolate with a hoodie and over-the-ear headphones.
  • "Grandkids, did you know that back in my day we had to be so tough that we could sit in fluorescent lights all day ?"

    I hope that never impresses anyone.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DarkOx ( 621550 )

      and we had to walk up stairs both ways to the kitchenette

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by bn-7bc ( 909819 )
        This walking uphill both ways story ever made any sense to me,I'm topography expert butthere seams tobe a gaping failure of logic somewhere hmm..

  • Commitment spike (Score:5, Insightful)

    by abulafia ( 7826 ) on Tuesday April 22, 2025 @03:12PM (#65323945)
    The psychological game here is to make an expensive (relatively speaking), visible commitment to a change (serfs returning to the panopticon).

    The way this works gets interesting, but the operative details here are simple: signaling to the serfs that The Man is serious, and that serious investment will be "wasted" by failure to use it, thus displaying ingratitude for the expensive gift.

    And you don't want the boss to think you're not grateful, do you?

  • It's not the lighting that makes office work so distracting.
  • No thanks, I prefer the comfort of my home and I will search harder to preserve my work from home for 3 days a week. Ideally, five.

  • Are you certain you know your employees [indiependent.co.uk]?

  • Business owners, especially you obstinate luddites that run cube farms: Fuck off.

    None of your cheap Jedi Mind Tricks will work. None of them will entice us to go to the "office" because that means traffic, gridlock, upsetting my own cicardian rhythm, all to support your arbitrary start time.

    Better lighting and environmental condition is a welcome change, but nothing you can offer me -- including piles of cash -- will ever take the edge off having to go to the office.

    We used to joke at this one place I wo

  • Or attempting to control them?

  • I know I'm weird, but I miss the hum of old school magnetic ballasts. There's nothing like going into a 5000 sq ft cube farm on the weekends with nothing but the hum of lights and air conditioning to keep you company.

  • How about a door? (Score:3)

    by flink ( 18449 ) on Tuesday April 22, 2025 @03:55PM (#65324049)

    Give me 4 walls and a door I can close and I'll (begrudgingly) come back in. I haven't been in a cube since 2012, and I'll never work in an open plan office.

    • Uah fuck no. If I want to hide in the corner somewhere I may as well stay at home. There are some of us out there who actually like open plan offices (not a cube).

      Open plan offices are great, but only if they are setup correctly, proper acoustics, sufficient quiet spaces to allow you to go take phone calls etc.

  • Raises would have been better. Or free snacks and drinks. Or fewer meetings. Or better chairs. Or more plants. Or a fridge that doesn't stink. Or... or... or...

    • Raises would have been better. Or free snacks and drinks. Or fewer meetings. Or better chairs. Or more plants. Or a fridge that doesn't stink. Or... or... or...

      unemployment.

    • I've got the free snacks and drinks. I'd love the lighting, please.
      However, given a shitty employer that doesn't keep a fully stocked lounge, I'd probably prefer that over the lighting.

      When I'm comparing my home office to my office office, really, it's the difference in lighting that I find myself missing the most. Home office has temperature controllable LED lighting. Office office is fluorescent.
  • Worked in a dull office with white FL tubes for decades. My brain associates the color with working. So in every room where I work, I installed the same lighting. (garage, small home office. As long as they do not flicker at 50 or 100 Hz, I do not mind.

  • 1) commute
    2) privacy

    If you can't fix those, then no one wants to come in - simple as.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      The commute is an interesting case of unforeseen consequences. After WW2 the government decided to move people (some of them at least) out of the cities into suburbs. As the suburbs grew then things like industrial and office parks started springing up in the suburbs, so that employment was no longer supportable with a hub-and-spoke transportation system designed to bring people into the city from bedroom suburbs. Then in the 70s-90s we transitioned from one income families to two income families. Finally

      • This is actually a really easy problem to solve. Tax every dollar of income above $100k at 90%. Get rid of the incentive to have 2 parents working because on person can easily earn the full $180k for the couple.
        • Perhaps a stupid question, but why 100k? And wouldn't hard, tangible limits like that need adjusting (up or down) depending on inflation, the economy, etc?

      • As the suburbs grew then things like industrial and office parks started springing up in the suburbs, so that employment was no longer supportable with a hub-and-spoke transportation system

        In New York it doesn't help that the start of the 40s, and mid 50s IIRC, mean the demolition of the New York, Westchester and Boston (which closed in 1937), as well as the closure of the New York Central Putnam Division, which really multiplied railroad accessibility into the NYC area (even if you needed to connect at Harlem River if you take the NYW&B (which would have been alleviated if the W&B were able to take over the 3rd Ave El and use it to go into Manhattan directly), or connect at Highbridg

  • I typically show up at the office at 6:30am. For a big chunk of the year, that's before sunrise, so the "natural light pattern" would be darkness. I don't think that would be a boost to either my morale or my productivity. Same issue for people who work swing or graveyard shifts.

    Disclaimer: I live 6 minutes from my office, so going there isn't an issue. I work a hybrid schedule - office in the morning, home in the afternoon.

  • Smells Like Horseshit (Score:3)

    by SlashbotAgent ( 6477336 ) on Tuesday April 22, 2025 @04:41PM (#65324161)

    Syncs with who's circadian rhythm?

    This article strikes more more as an advertisement for the lighting company than anything remotely sciency.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sosume ( 680416 )

      Classic product placement. Sentences such as "companies nationwide .. " followed by an exact savings percentage and a glowing review of the supposed benefits of the product.

      Slashdot better have a good legal team. It's illegal in many countries to insert ads into your feed without mentioning the fact that they are ads, and the fines are significant.

  • When I was assigned an office with fluorescent lights, I replaced the existing bulbs with full-spectrum bulbs. Simple, easy.

    Not as easy for cube-farms and open plan workspaces, but it can be done.

  • Fluorescents are bad and weird, and the light is bad and weird. The very best aren't too bad, that's not good enough.

    Then again, bad LED lights are also terrible...

  • Most American businesses have already switched over to LEDs, because of energy efficiency mandates.

    If you know businesses still using fluorescents, please post.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by kackle ( 910159 )
      The US company where I work only recently converted its large shop to LEDs. Its office areas still use fluorescents; I don't mind them as a lighting type, but it's the intensity that bothers. I put up a handsome, color-matching, sewn cloth to block the lighting to endure the decades of looking at the computer screen.

      I am concerned about the tests showing rodent retinal damage from LED lighting. My eyes have never cared for LED lighting; maybe they know something that my brain doesn't.

      • I'm a Master Electrician. And from my experience I will make an educated guess:

        Your company did not convert the offices to LED because they were told that they would also need to install an expensive low-volt lighting control system (including occupancy sensors). This is untrue, but per your comment you may wish to keep this information to yourself.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by kackle ( 910159 )
          Knowing my small company well, I'm guessing they simply aren't paying it any attention. Nothing gets done around here until someone steps up and spearheads it--there is little planning; more of a "until we have to" mentality. But thanks for the information.

  • Can you bring my wife into work to make me a light lunch? And let me take a 1 hour break to watch an episode of whatever series we're on together? Because that's what working from home gets me.

    Plus, in the winter I can be home while home while the sun is up and walk my dog, which is nice because chihuahuas are kind of susceptible to the mountain lions here. Plus, I don't like walking a mile in pitch black darkness even if the milky way is just slightly visible for me on a clear night.

  • Coelux (Score:2)

    by mattr ( 78516 )

    Didn't see it in TFA but it is probably talking about Coelux. You laugh but shit this looks really sweet.
    Still want some UV and be able to crack a window open though.
    One example of their products:
    https://www.coelux.com/en/p/co... [coelux.com]

  • In my experience commuting to work takes anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes. If you pay me to be available for you for 7.5 hours a day then that slot of availability should include my commute as well. So you can get 7.5 hours of my focused, quality work or 4.5h of work if my commute takes 90 minutes each way. Your choice.

  • No, they are just replacing them with LEDs. (Score:3)

    by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Wednesday April 23, 2025 @10:19AM (#65325527) Homepage
    Regulations on efficiency are making LEDs nearly a requirement. And LEDs can be dimmed! Oh look lets spin this as trying to woo back employees that refuse to work as agreed.

    --Eye Roll--

  • Companies are NOT going to pay more to retrofit their office space with expensive updates to lighting to bring people in.
    If they want employees back in the office, they will mandate it, and the lighting will be exactly the same as before.

    Source: In the office 2 days a week in a "closed" floor they are currently reopening. Same old lights, no heat, same cubes, still cluttered from the closing, slowly being cleaned up.

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