The productivity of your team is going to be one of the biggest driving factors in the success or failure of your business. If you can’t get your team motivated and working, you’re going to find it hard to get any project off the ground. However, the office itself, as in the physical location, plays a bigger role in that productivity than you might think. Here are a few ways how.

Comfort is crucial

If your team has a hard time getting comfortable when sitting at their desks, then they’re going to be distracted from their work. To that end, make sure that you’re equipping them with furniture like ergonomic chairs to help support them and mind their back health over time.

It’s all light and sound

Comfort applies to more than just where and how you’re sitting. Natural light has been shown to make workers significantly more motivated and productive than artificial light alone, and good lighting is necessary where they might otherwise be facing a computer screen all day. Furthermore, for more private spaces in the office, some soundproofing can be crucial for helping workers keep their focus.

Give them a real break space

Where are your workers taking their breaks? If the answer is “at their desk” then you will find that their breaks don’t really give them the time and space from work that they need. They need to properly refresh, meaning they should have entirely separate break spaces. Some amenities like comfortable seats, communal tables, and maybe even table games like foosball tables can be just what they need to recharge their batteries before the afternoon section of the workday begins.

Keep it clean

If you don’t invest time in caring for your office, it can easily give off the impression that you don’t care much for your team, either. Maintaining your office can be as simple as working with a cleaning company. Keep clutter out of the way, make the office a more pleasant place to be in, and maintain the professionalism of the workplace. If people believe that they’re in a professional space, they’re more likely to act like professionals.

Create more efficient paths

Look at the walking routes through the office. If people need to make it all the way across the office to reach the printer, they’re either going to waste more time going back and forth or they’re just not going to print as much as they need to. Try to position shared resources in the office more carefully and make sure there are no major obstructions in the way.

Rethink workspaces

The cubicle crush is as soul-crushing as the name implies. However, wide-open spaces have proven to be just as draining due to how hard it can be to focus with noise and distraction all around. Mixed-use space is getting more popular, allowing diverse spaces to suit every kind of need at any given time.

With the tips above, you can make sure that your office is best suited to allow for a productive team as possible.