Tips to upgrade your work environment

Whether you’re producing and shipping products out of your home or you work in a big warehouse, there are a few very easy things you can do to make your production space an awesome place to work.

Over the years, we’ve discovered a handful of little tips and tricks (and made some key purchases!) that have truly improved our workspace, making it more efficient and comfortable. Let me let you in on our secrets!

1. Use quiet tape for shipping

If you know me, this one actually isn’t a secret! I’ve written about quiet tape before (and even made an entire video about it!), but I can’t tell you how highly I recommend quiet tape for packing and shipping your products! This one simple supply has saved us countless headaches! If you’ve ever heard the screech of regular packing tape coming off the roll, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Yikes! Not only does quiet tape spare your ears the torture, it also spares you the frustration of trying to concentrate on emails or other tasks on your to-do list that require focus with a whole lot of shipping noise happening in the background.

2. Add an anti-fatigue mat to every workstation

This is something I wish I had learned about much earlier in my business journey! If you’re on your feet for production all day, standing on these mats will make a HUGE difference in how your feet and back feel by the end of the day. They’re made from a thick foam material that provides essential cushioning and support. Seriously worth every cent– your entire body will thank you!

3. Invest in counter height tables for production

When I first started production at Teak & Twine, I was assembling and shipping gifts from my kitchen table. Between standing on a hard floor and bending over that table for a few hours, my back would be screaming at me after a couple of hours! A regular table is simply too low for most people to lean over and work at for more than a few minutes at time. The better and more comfortable option for most is a counter-height table, which is a bit taller and will save you from so much bending and stretching. I bought my tables from Ikea, but there are so many great ones out there. Take your pick then thank me later!

4. Plug in a space heater (in the winter!)

If you’re working from home (or live on a tropical island!), you may not feel the winter chill as much as some other workplaces. But in a garage, a warehouse with high ceilings or a building with a lot of windows, cooler outside temperatures can easily make their way inside and create an uncomfortable work environment. Even just one or two space heaters can really take the chill out of the air! During the colder months, we set up a few all over our production space, to make sure our team members are warm and comfortable while they’re working. Most space heaters these days have strong safety features, but do be sure to turn them off before you leave for the day!

5. Make use of rolling wire shelves

These versatile storage solutions are fairly inexpensive and easy to put together (seriously, you probably won’t even need tools!). I think you’ll find they’re a huge upgrade to storing products or supplies on the ground, and they’ll also help you maximize your square footage– so important if you’re working in a smaller space! We also like to use rolling carts to hold our outgoing shipments for the day. This way, our UPS or FedEx drivers can simply roll them out to their trucks. It saves them from having to make multiple trips in and out of our studio and keeps them from having to repetitively pick shipments up off the ground, which they love (wouldn’t you?!)!

I talk more about how we’ve upgraded our workspace with these essentials over in this video — if workspace comfort and efficiency is of interest, I hope you’ll check it out!

xx,