As experienced business owners can tell you, office relocation can happen for a vast number of reasons, from company expansion to changing the work environment. But there are many challenges you will have to overcome to achieve a successful move. We are going to give you some pointers on how to keep everything in order if you’ve come to a decision for moving.
Strategy and planning
To avoid a hectic and stressful relocation you will have to plan a careful strategy. Moves have to be planned as early as possible, from six months ahead up to a few years for big commercial moves. If you want to do the job thoroughly, you can always hire commercial movers who can provide you with the experience, resources and the manpower. When you’re creating a strategy, your staff should always be informed on any changes and updates, so it all goes smoothly when the big day comes. Timing, costs, pace… Those are all variables, and should be seen as such. You should create different scenarios and make decisions accordingly, as you should need support from representatives for all involved groups. All non-standard requirements should also be noted from teams or individuals who have some sort of restrictions. All that’s left after that is to plan a detailed timeline and stick to it as much as possible. It’s not uncommon during such big moves for something to not go as planned, but you can stay on top of things as long as you keep your focus and adjust your plans accordingly.
Prepare your team
When you’re finished with the initial planning of your relocation, it’s time to put your team and tasks in motion for a problem-free experience on move day. In this pre-implementation phase, you should stay focused on training your team. Gather all your office relocation stakeholders, and let everyone get up to speed on the details of the plan. Every individual with a specific role and responsibility should be trained and be ready. Commence plans and processes for all sub-teams so that each area will begin working on their own assigned tasks for move day. After that, you should engage with third-party service. Are there any outside consultants or service providers you should be in touch with? Moving can also mean some of the equipment might not be used, so you can make sure that it stays intact with supercheap storage solutions, where it can be kept safe from harm. Last, but not least – communication is key! This is the most important aspect of your plan. You can never give your people too much information. Now’s the time to execute your plan and send out a notice to all involved parties with a detailed explanation on what’s going to happen and how they can get ready.
Move day
Making a checklist for some of the most important tasks for move day and sticking to it is probably the safest option. As you progress through the move, using this trick will help you keep detailed track on the finished and upcoming tasks:
- First you will have to set up your support team. You should open a central point of contact for any upcoming questions and problems and make sure your team knows about it and how to contact it.
- Make sure all teams know about the individuals who will execute the move and handle any unexpected situations, and share your checklist and contact information with all the executors.
- You can avoid a great deal of frustration by executing pre-arrival inspections. That way you can handle any complications before employees know about it. Any other minor issues can be left at the hands of the delivery team.
- When some inevitable problems occur, make sure it won’t affect business in any way. Your main priority is to put the business back on track as soon as possible. You can delay solving non-critical issues after the move.
Post-move
After the worst part is over, it’s time to go over some of the more important tasks you should take care of after the move:
- Keep the communication going. It’s a whole new environment and some of your staff might be experiencing issues until they have all settled.
- Any problems that occur should be sorted by priority and then recorded. In case you have to move again in the future, it will help a great deal.
- All changes of occupancy should be changed in your workplace management system.
Conclusion
Moving a business can mean a lot of stress and unanticipated circumstances, but all in all – a successful and carefully detailed plan means a successful move. So, to execute such a plan you need to rely on the expertise of everyone involved and make sure the communication goes uninterruptedly through the whole team. That way, any next relocation will just represent another seamless transition for your business.
