An effective office move requires careful and organized preparation. This involves hiring a full-service moving company, working with employees to set up their new workspaces, meeting utilities and tech deadlines and more.
Organising an office move often necessitates downsizing and getting rid of items that won’t fit in the new space, such as an enormous breakroom fridge that won’t fit.
Planning ahead can ensure a more smooth office move experience. By being well prepared, fewer hiccups will arise during actual office relocation.
Begin by creating an origin map of your current space (i.e., an inventory). This will allow you to assess how much stuff there is and where it belongs; additionally, this can help identify any items no longer necessary that should be donated or thrown away.
Budget for your office move. This is particularly essential if you plan on hiring outside help such as movers or construction crews to complete certain work for you; additional electrical outlets or demolishing walls could require extra expense.
Once your moving date has been set, the next step should be gathering supplies. Order supplies such as boxes, tape, and labels before compiling an inventory of items to move that won’t fit into storage containers (for instance a break room foosball table).
Gather input from your team members about their workspace needs by conducting surveys or holding department meetings. This can help ease their anxiety about moving and make adaptation easier, while giving you an ideal chance to dispose of any unwanted items through company garage sales or turning in parking passes and access cards.
Floor plans are an essential tool in organizing rooms and furniture arrangements, as they enable movers to locate items during transport. It’s crucial to create an easily understandable floor plan so everyone can understand what needs to be accomplished.
Office environments evolve over time, so the floor plan needs to be flexible enough to adapt as needs shift. A music room might seem attractive now; in five years’ time however it could give way to other features like cafeterias or workout areas.
Utilize employee feedback to craft a plan tailored specifically to the needs of your team. Make sure there is adequate space for large equipment like photocopiers and mark exits clearly to protect employees in an emergency.
Office relocations can be complex undertakings that require careful preparation. Hiring a commercial moving company to assist can save time, money and stress as well as ensure no important details go overlooked.
Communication with your team about the relocation process is key to maintaining productivity. Make sure everyone understands how it will impact them day-to-day work and provide information regarding parking, transportation and amenities in their new neighborhood.
Hiring a professional moving company can alleviate much of the anxiety involved with moving and allow you to focus on more pressing matters like setting up new phone lines, cleaning both offices, and notifying employees of their new location. Doing this on your own may result in lost productivity costs that far outweigh any savings from doing it through professional services.
As soon as your notes, contracts, to-do lists, inventories, maps, diagrams, spreadsheets or any other documents need storing, it’s essential that an efficient system be established in which to do this. Centralizing all this data within one secure cloud service will save time later when searching for something lost from your work bag or lost handwritten list of things to do!
At this step, it’s also advisable to create a destination map or general floor plan of your new office space. This will help determine how team members will be organized as well as any changes needed to workflows and operations.
Take inventory of existing equipment and supplies; this will give you a good sense of what needs to come along to the new office and what can stay behind.