There may come a time when you want to expand and grow your business and relocate. This may involve moving to larger offices and transporting everything to the new facilities. This is a huge task and can cause downtime, which will be costly for your business. For this reason, some offices choose to move during the weekend, but then this too can be problematic because it takes away free personal time. Still, office relocation doesn’t have to be a major nuisance or a cause of stress when you properly plan your move.
Break the news
Moving is a big change in the way the company works, and you must notify your staff well in advance. Likewise, it’s a good idea to let your clients know that you will move. In case you encounter a problem with the move, people may be more understanding about the delay as they will know what’s causing it. Remember to send reminders and updates as the moving date approaches. This will give your employees the time to prepare for the move, such as planning new routes to work and labelling their belongings.
Budget in advance
Moving to a new location always costs money and, in all probability, your transfer to the office won’t come cheap. It’s important to be realistic and budget in advance to make sure you are financially prepared for the move. This means taking all the additional costs that may come with a move under consideration. It’s not just about a change in rental costs that you should worry about because you want to have everything covered in order to avoid sudden stress triggers and financial issues. It will also take a while to adjust, so keep in mind how your staff will adapt. Companies that try to save money by cutting corners are often the ones facing problems later on.
Keep a schedule
You will have to devise a schedule to track completed and pending tasks before, during and after the move. By planning ahead, you can track all the movement details and easily adapt if you deviate from your original schedule. Otherwise, you can easily lose track of important aspects of the movement. With a structured time frame to work with, you can solve problems as they occur and minimize delays. You should also write an inventory checklist of all the items you plan to take with you to the new facilities. Be sure to update your schedule as you go to stay on top of things.
Work together as a team
You don’t have to rely on a moving company, especially when you can take care of the previously mentioned issue of wasting both work and free time. Essentially, with the possibility to organize Budget truck rental services for the move, you can have everyone from your office working together as a team to load the truck(s), pack everything up, and even drive. Basically, this otherwise stressful endeavor can be easily turned into a team building activity. If combined with some refreshments and music, it doesn’t have to be overly tedious and definitely not stressful.
Consider the small details
It is important that you consider the smallest of details and how each one will affect your employees and the business in general. In the end, it’s often the smallest details that are forgotten and cause problems during or even after the transfer, which makes these worth dealing with in advance. In that respect, don’t forget to consider the parking space, new office security system, proper WiFi, and even the amount and layout of the toilets.
If you want to make things easier for everyone involved during the office move and equipping the new space, there’s a small trick that can help. Together with a proper list, don’t hesitate to take pictures of everything that needs to be transferred as well as the way your current office and different rooms look like. This can come in handy when you want to recreate the organizational layout and make sure everything is in the same condition as it was before the move.
