No matter how big or small your business is, successfully organizing an office move can be quite a challenge. Every aspect of the move should be planned in details. As a result, your company’s budget, as well as its time, will be saved. Not to mention that a well-organized office move will take the pressure off at work, thus, enabling your team to be efficient and productive, even in inconvenient situations. With a good organization, you can keep your team members happy, your customers satisfied, create a new, more practical environment and say goodbye to your old office regrets free.
Here are a few tips to organize office move:
Arrange your moving schedule
First of all, you have to take the size of the office into consideration. Usually, for a smaller office, you may require approximately 3 months to get you settled down. On the other hand, if you are planning to relocate to a large space, you will be facing from 6 to 8 months of work. Every day counts, so it would be wise to meticulously arrange a schedule for every day of the move. Before making any major decisions, get an office layout plan that you can apply to your new space and make adjustments on time.
Get your team involved
When it comes to bigger offices, especially if there are many employees in the company, assigning a couple of volunteers, who will gladly supervise the move of each department, is a must. However, for a small office, it’s best to engage the whole team and choose two or three people to coordinate the office move. Thus, every team member can contribute and keep everybody updated on the progress. With joined forces, your team won’t lose precious time trying to solve trivial issues like packing. Moreover, they can contribute to the new design with their own ideas and suggestions.
Get down to work
After getting the team involved, it’s time to do some work. First things first, collect all the paperwork, files or sheets and sort them out carefully. Dispose of any items that no longer serve its purpose e.g. a broken chair, dated cables, and misplaced items in the office. When it comes to old functional furniture that doesn’t quite fit with the new office, feel free to give it away. Another tip for moving is to start packing on time. If you have many file drawers, set aside half an hour every day as to finish the packing on time.
Clean up and label
When packing your office items, make sure that they are clean. There is nothing worse than packing dusty paperwork or computer equipment. Clean the office items before packing as to save time when setting up in a new office. Label every box according to its content. By doing so, your team won’t lose its precious time going through the boxes for a specific item. Write the name of the person to whom the box belongs. Include its content and its location in the new space. Naturally, start packing the least essential items and finish with the most important ones.
Leave it to the pros
Although there are many tasks your team and you can handle, there are also other tasks that you should really leave to the pros e.g. heavy-lifting. Therefore, leave the move itself to the professional movers. Hiring the right company for the job can be tricky, therefore check out the companies and their offers online. Certain companies include moving and storing offers, for example, a storage company can come in handy if the designers and workers are falling behind with the renovation of the new office. Thus, your equipment will be safe and sound in storage.
Box it up
There is no need to waste money on boxes when relocating your business. All you need to do is to collect the ones that your team and you already have in possession. The whole team can help with gathering the material for packing. For example, some old cartons could be of use. Reuse old newspaper as a covering to secure the transported objects. Even somebody’s dish pack boxes may come in handy for office supplies. Moreover, try collecting from team members some plastic bubble wrapping, mattress cartons and old computer’s boxes, which you will later return to its owner.
Keep the clients posted!
During the office relocation, some companies, amid the commotion and stress, neglect to attend to their client’s needs and demands. This is considered as extremely unprofessional behavior and can result in losing some valuable customers. It’s crucial to keep them posted about the office move and continue running the business as normally as possible. For example, employees can help by notifying their clients. The same goes for your business associates. Make sure to give them your new contact and information the moment you settle down in the new office. Thus, you shall save time and keep the clients.
Time is money
The more time you spend in moving the office, the less time your company will have for its clients. Avoid this by arranging your moving schedule on time. Organizing the office move is a great team-building activity, so get the whole team involved. Thus, you shall get a better insight of your colleagues. Don’t be afraid to get down to work. Clean it up. Box it up. Leave the move itself to the pros. Keep the clients posted and say goodbye to your old office.