5 Significant Questions to Consider When Planning an Office Move

It’s exciting to plan an office move as you envision the new space to work in a perfectly organized environment. However, the panic only begins when you actually realize how much you have to arrange for the shift or move to a shiny new workspace. With figurative and literal moving parts, deciding on an office move can be overwhelming at times. This is because along with transferring equipment and considering the transitional workflows, you must look into your employee’s comfort as well. So, set up some questions accordingly to make the right move: 

1. What’s your purpose and objective behind this plan?

Reflect on the reason to move from your existing office to the new office space. Get a clear idea of the requirements you need in the new office and which are not present in the existing one. This will give you an explanation of whatever you mostly are in need of from your new office location.  

A successful move to a new office can also bring customers closer to boost their profits and increase revenues. And what else? It can also help—suppliers, strategic partners, and organizations to increase their networking opportunities. 

2. Is the office move going to affect your business?

Are you planning to make an office move without looking into your business impacts? Then you must know that expecting a new office space can give you a better environment at a much lower cost. Although office shifts have many pros than cons—moving to a new office space can easily bring in more energy in employees which will ultimately scale up their performance, change the output and also present some cost savings in their business.  During the transition, renting a conference room temporarily can ensure your important meetings and collaborations continue without disruption, keeping your business running smoothly while your new office is being set up.

3. What work schedule have you anticipated?

Prepare a clear schedule before deciding to move, as there would be delays in business while  planning the same. Discuss the dates with your coworkers to make a suitable schedule, be flexible in choosing your hours, and also consider them without isolating yourself. Distribute your responsibilities to make an agenda for your employees while making the move. For this, you’ll need ample time to train and prepare them accordingly—list your needs, identify your resources, review past schedules, etc. 

4. How would you plan to tell your employees about the office move?

Consider what your staff requires and make sure to fulfill them before making the move so that they’ll be comfortable settling into a new place if the decision was taken all of a sudden. Always remember that any change that takes place in the organization first affects the employees, which is why you need to keep them abreast of all the developments taking place. Here are some points that you can do in order to keep your employees engaged in your plan.

• Involve Employees right from the start

There’s no particular reason to involve employees in your decision to relocate, instead, you need to explain to them your operations of relocation if your company has expanded and you require a better and much bigger space. Another reason could be that your lease might have ended and the landlord could have given you the notice to move. Or maybe you’re planning to move to a coworking space with excellent amenities in order to save money.  

• Outline the changes that will take place to your employees

Sometimes shifting an office to a new location may make employees feel a bit uneasy if the exact reason is not explained to them in an appropriate manner. They might feel anxious and feel that it is inconvenient to commute on a daily basis if the area is quite far from their homes. 

• Make sure to list the proper reasons to make the move

Most companies do not take relocation lightly, but when they actually do, they consider all available options and also discuss them with their employees to clearly take and give advice for a clear picture. 

• Make establishments to a schedule when sharing with your employees

It’s always wise to establish a timeline way ahead of time. Planning what employees need to pack and associate with the landlord is sometimes a huge task to fulfill. You must also think of the unnecessary items and make a removal list. 

• Convey any issues (if necessary) once the move is done

Once you’ve transferred to a new office, make sure to convey if there’s an emergency procedure to be taken or just spread general information about the rooms, lockers, washrooms, etc, that are available in the space. It’s also good to share some general information about the office space, like the amenities it offers or if there’s any pre-booking to be made for a meeting room, etc. 

5. What precautions to take in business during the office move?

While making the commute, you would wish to have minimum delays and disruption for which you must make a pre-schedule of meetings and a list of important tasks that need to be completed as early as possible.  

Final Words

Moving from one office to another might be a huge task at the start but making good arrangements and having supportive colleagues can make work better in terms of productivity and engagement. From the physical relocation process to managing the employees, everything must be taken care of when planning for office relocation. And if you’re worried about which office space would be the best for your business then we suggest coworking operators like Workafella and Zioks, which are located in Mumbai and Kolkata respectively. From private office spaces to flexible services, everything offered in this workspace has the potential to help your business grow effortlessly. On the other hand, we have Zioks, another coworking space that offers excellent amenities and services by bringing like-minded people together and its flexible scaling features that easily works around your upscaling business needs. Thus, making a move in such fully-integrated workspaces gives you a sense of relief, while your employees as well as other staff members stay rooted in their workspace environment.