Relocating your office for any reason, good or bad, can be a great deal of work, especially in those cases where it needs to be done quickly. Costs can rise, you need to make sure nothing is damaged or lost in the process, and it can be disruptive to your business. If the relocation is over a longer distance, you might even need to replace staff or handle more advanced logistical issues.
It doesn’t have to be too bad, however, if you plan well and don’t let the process linger. Here are some tips that should help you make your office relocation process a relatively painless one:
Have as Much Set Up in Advance as Possible
Proper planning will turn what could be an hour-long task on moving day into one that takes five minutes today. You’ll need to set aside some precious time, but double check every aspect of the move and make sure that you will have all the help and items you need to get everything out of the old office a. A little extra is ok, but not enough can prove disastrous.
To keep business going, you want to make sure that your employees can work at the new office the day the furniture rolls off the trucks. This means having all of the utilities and the internet connection working and in order, making sure the floor plans and office layouts will work ahead of time, letting employees know any pertinent information well before the relocation, and informing any clients (or your customer base) about the move way ahead of time so no one is left behind. Make sure moving services are booked and any moving specialists are notified of any special circumstances.
Get Rid of the Extra Weight on the Way Out
While you may have already thought of this, take the relocation as an opportunity to get rid of all the old furniture, files, and general clutter that was plaguing your old office. Much like a family moving from a home, it is your very best chance to better enjoy the beauty of empty space and the benefits of a lack of clutter.
What this means to your business will vary. We simply recommend you look and perhaps even make an itemized list or two. It’ll make the relocation that much easier.
Schedule Meetings, Work Schedules, and Projects with the Move in Mind
Even if you think you have everything under control, your resources are going to be stressed while you relocate, and the unexpected will occur. You are going to need to have some flexible time on hand to manage problems, and having meetings and calls happening around this time will only mean that you won’t be able to give your best to both the move and your employees or clients.
See what you can do to schedule around the move, giving yourself at least a few days to pack and settle into your new office before taking on anything but the most urgent and important of work. Similarly, give projects some extra time if at all possible, and consider how employee work schedules might be affected by the relocation.
Do All the Paperwork Within a Few Days
While this goal might not be entirely available, you still don’t want any paperwork to be lagging behind. The less time your business legally and practically has two addresses the better. The longer you have to deal with two locations like this, the more your business will be strained and disorganized between them.
Try to organize your move so that you can get all of the relocation-related paperwork taken care of within a short period of time. The objective is to provide a clear transition point, both for yourself and your staff.
Don’t Let the Move Disrupt Employees
If you expect certain parts of the moving process to be heavily disruptive to normal work activities, try not to schedule those processes during times when many employees will be around. Even if employees are ok with it, it will likely have great negative impacts on productivity. Would you be able to focus on your most important tasks if you heard moving furniture and power tools in the background?
Similarly, try to keep moving related tasks assigned only to people dedicated to it, address any concerns to keep employees engaged, and keep all other processes as stable as possible. A move can bring uncertainly, and it’s your job as a leader to minimize that uncertainty.
Adjust for Scale
Naturally, all businesses are at least a bit different, and you’ll have to do things a little different depending on the size of your office and business in general. Devote your resources accordingly. A small business might not have people to take over the tasks of people dedicated towards the move, and a larger business might need more help handling the red tape and general bureaucracy inherent in such moves. Don’t think there’s a perfect way to do things. You know your office, and you know what deviations from the general mindset you’ll need to take.
It should also be noted that if your business is large enough that you might use the term “headquarters” instead of “office,” you might want to bring in some specialist help while keeping the above tips in mind. At that scale, you can’t help but have some disruptions, but they can absolutely be minimized with the right strategies and team mindset.
Conclusion
Relocating your office can be a headache, to say the least. Yet it doesn’t have to be a massive undertaking that ruins your month. With the right forethought and leadership on your end, office relocation only needs to take a couple of days before you’re sailing smoothly again, with your business doing what it does best.
Are you planning on relocating within the next year or so? Have you already done so recently? What questions or additional tips might you have? We would love to hear your thoughts, so please leave a comment below to join the conversation.
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