Moving offices is no mean feat, so it’s certainly not a decision to be taken lightly. There’s needs to be a strong driving force that indicates that upping sticks and changing location is the right thing to do and, when that decision is made, there are plenty of things to take into account before the move can be completed successfully. Whether you’re a small business of 10 employees or a large enterprise of 1,000+ workers, here are five of the main things you need to consider when relocating business premises.
- Planning
Changing business premises isn’t something that can be done quickly. A lot of planning and careful thinking needs to go into things, ensuring that every tiny detail is taken care of. Of course, one of the most important things to plan is the budget. The cost of the move will be taken out of the business’ earnings, but will your company profit from the move in the long run, making it all worthwhile? When planning a timeline, allow for delays and always have contingencies and fallbacks in place, should anything not work out the way it should.
- Sizing things up
Finding the perfect office space is a huge, but exciting task, with a number of things to take into account. You need to be sure that there’ll be enough room for all the office equipment and furniture that you’ll need to take with you. If not, is there space for external storage solutions on the grounds of your new premises? You can also sell any old furniture you no longer need.
As well as fitting in all of your office property, the most important thing to consider is the comfort of your staff. Carry out a number of studies in the lead-up to the move to determine roughly how many employees are on site on any given day, taking into account annual leave, sickness, business trips etc. This will also help you figure out how big the parking lot will need to be and whether or not you’ll need to offer things such as hot-desking or flexible working.
- Logistics
The move itself needs to run as smoothly as possible, with little to no disruption to the running of your business. Large-scale, important projects and your company’s busiest periods should be taken into consideration and the moving date should fit around these, so as not to impact either your employees or your clients. If possible, stagger the move so that just one or two teams are moving at any one time, instead of the whole office together. Have all your IT and facilities staff on hand to get things up and running as quickly as possible and, where you can, have as much of the setting up done outside of office hours.
- Accessibility
It’s vital that your new office location is easily accessible not only to your employees, but to your clients and customers too. You need somewhere that has good public transport links and is also easily reached by road. Not just beneficial to your existing staff, clients and stakeholders, but a good location will make your business more desirable to potential new clients too, if you choose somewhere that gives your services a vantage point.
- Communication
It might seem fairly obvious, but effective communication before, during and even after the move is essential to the success of the whole operation. It can be a stressful period for all involved, made more difficult if people aren’t made aware of what’s going on, on what days and what they need to be doing in preparation. Keep all your staff fully informed throughout each stage of the move, even – and especially – if there are delays. People are always a lot more understanding if things are communicated properly. As well as immediate employees, be sure to inform all clients, suppliers and any other necessary stakeholders of the move, so there’s no confusion down the line with deliveries or meetings.
Have you got everything covered for your big move? Hopefully now you can use this checklist to ensure that your business relocation runs as smoothly as possible for both you and your employees.
