An architect or a facilities manager can often easily overlook the impact of office blinds on the well-being and productivity of a business’s staff. However, one of the goals of every company and business is to attract and keep the best staff they can get. Therefore it’s critical to consider the effect that heat and light levels have on the working environment. This boils down to the kind of fabric the office blinds should have. The one you choose for your office should be able to make the work environment as conducive to efficiency as possible. This way the productivity levels of your office will be as high as possible.
The most popular blinds for offices are roller blinds, partly because they’re made from high-performance fabrics. However, there are generally three things to consider as you seek to select the best fabric for your office blinds. These are glare, heat and through vision. Let’s take a look at these three issues to help give an insight into what to look for in the fabric you need for your office blinds.
Glare
It’s an obvious idea that a fully opaque fabric should be used to deal with the excessive glare as it blocks all the light. This however increases the reliance on electricity for lighting as most of the visibility to the outside world is cut, therefore cutting out natural light. It’s been found that the well-being of office workers depends on how connected they are to the outside world and nature. So, when the connection to nature and the outside world is cut, the health, well-being and productivity of workers is affected negatively. Heavy reliance on electricity also shoots up power bills, decreasing sustainability and profits.
The goal is to choose a fabric that has the ability to highly absorb a good proportion of the light and maintain the vision of the outside world. Dark screen fabric is the best for this. You should, therefore, know the extent to which a given fabric is able to reduce glare before purchasing it.
Heat
Energy radiated from the sun takes the form of short-wave radiation which we know as light. When light is blocked by an object, such as a person or building, it’s re-radiated to become heat. As a result, the fabric for the office blind that you decide to choose for your office should be able to reflect the heat back through the glass to the outside world. This means that the fabric used shouldn’t be of a dark colour as it will absorb the heat rather than reflect it. A light coloured fabric can be effective in the heat reflection ensuring that the amount of heat in the office is reduced, whilst maintaining heat levels in the winter. The fabric you choose for your office blinds should, therefore, be able to prevent both glare and maintain heat levels to make the room fit for the staff.
Through Vision
The productivity and well-being of individuals has been found to be improved by a connection to the outside world visually. Fabrics that allow for this are screen fabrics. Hence, this is another important aspect of the fabric that should be used on office blinds. Find a way to know how effectively the fabrics you choose are able to supply you with this benefit.
It’s clear that the office blinds you choose should be able to deal with glare, heat and allow for through vision to increase the productivity, comfort and well-being of staff.
