Moving an office has a large impact on your business. Whether it gives you room to grow, more space to create, or more control over your environment, new space is an exciting thing – once you successfully moved to a new location.
Any office move is a large project and requires careful planning. This can seem intimidating, especially if you’ve never had a move, but don’t worry. Like any process, it can be broken down into a series of simple tasks.
We’ll tell you everything you need to consider when you move and prepare an office move checklist for yourself or a trustworthy moving company to make your move smooth and stress-free.
Step One – Planning
Planning is the essential part, so use documents, spreadsheets, and checklists wisely for office moves. Include all the tasks that need to be done, all the steps, and the people responsible for each one.
Thus, your tasks are compiled into more manageable parts. Create a kind of roadmap for moving and follow it.
Step Two – Timing
Set the exact date of your moving day. Some seasons may not be flexible and convenient for your team and a business in general. Keep in mind, the whole managing system will be forced to stop functioning during the move.
Step Three – Communication
The first step is to notify the employees of the company about the upcoming move. This can be done by gathering all employees for an organizational meeting, or by going through the departments, informing everything orally, or by sending a message by e-mail or a local “negotiator”.
It’s a good idea to take an excursion to a new place before moving. It will help you rationally plan the placement of workplaces and furniture. And employees will be able to think in advance about which transport to get to work.
It is important to remember that changing the location of the office is a certain inconvenience not only for the company itself and its employees but also for customers (partners). Therefore, for the discomfort from your move to be minimal, you should notify clients and partners of the new address and preferably send a map to the new office.
Step Four – Preparation
Of course, you want everything to work like “good old times” after moving to a new office: Internet, telephones, office equipment, etc. To do this, you need to make an effort to check and, if necessary, conduct communications in a new place. Therefore, before the move of employees, arrange a tour for a full-time system administrator or a specially engaged specialist for this.
After carrying out the necessary “research” in a new location, you need to quickly transport devices for connecting an Internet provider and a telephone operator or connect to a new one.
Many renters provide offices with a ready-made local office network, which, unfortunately, does not always match your needs and does not correspond to the seating arrangement of the employees. In this case, you have to redo it “for yourself.” It will be extremely useful to have a plan with detailed seating arrangements on hand.
Step Five – Making a move
The big move is over! Everyone can enjoy a new location.