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Office Relocation: Maintaining Productivity During Your Move.

You’re excited about relocating your office and are looking forward to the new office space. Aside from all the logistics that come with an office relocation, you don’t want your employees to fall behind in their workflow because of the move. This will only add more stress to your team during the moving process which is stressful enough. Relocating an office, no matter how small or large and no matter how far is a disruptive process and maintain productivity during this time can be a challenge. Any busines preparing for a relocation want the process to go as smoothly as possible without productivity taking a hit. The goal is to make sure that you arrive at your new office location without any unnecessary stress or loss of production in the process of the office relocation. Here are a few tips to help counteract any loss of productivity during your office move.

Planning Ahead For Your Office Move

Although obvious, planning well ahead of your move can’t be over emphasized enough. Start by drawing out an initial timeline of all the tasks, vendors, and people involved with your move. Make notes as to what role they play and where on the timeline they will come into play. Having a timeline mapped out several months in advance will help catch and minimize any potential holes or gaps that could occur in productivity of the team. Designate a point person to oversee the logistics of the move internally and to keep everyone involved informed and on task.

  • Start packing non-essential items as soon as possible.
  • Begin purging, selling, donating, any old equipment, furniture, etc. that won’t be making the move.
  • Draw out a detailed floorplan of the new office location and where every piece of equipment will go and a seating chart for every employee. Once the move is well underway you don’t want to have to spend wasted time in the minutiae of deciding where everything will go and messing around with setting any of it up.
  • Identify any areas of improvement needed between your current office and your new location and any potential challenges your new office may present. If you’ll be needing any maintenance people or subcontractors to complete improvements at the new location, work on getting them scheduled.
  • Make decisions on what office furniture won’t be making the move and what new office furniture will need to be purchased.
  • Create a specific timeline and task sheet for IT break down and set up and get quotes where necessary.
  • Start creating a moving plan and timeline for specific key employees and their teams where needed.
  • Begin the process of meeting with and interviewing the professional movers.

Internal Communications

Don’t underestimate the importance of keeping your employees informed as to the plan ahead. Give them ample time to adjust to the thought of the office relocation and to work out their workflow for the move that will result in minimal disruption of their productivity.

Remember, open lines of communication during this process is one of the best ways to keep your employees engaged and taking ownership of their processes and workflows. This helps reduce the stress of feeling left out and confused as to what is expected of them.

  • Communicate to your staff as early as possible regarding the office relocation.
  • Share the pertinent timeline of events that so they can plan accordingly with their schedules and appointments.
  • Make sure they all have a role as a part of the team during the move so they will feel engaged and take ownership of their personal timeline and tasks to complete.
  • Provide a conduit for the employees to ask questions and get answers on a frequent basis.

Open communication with your team is a big key in minimizing the stress and providing a structured organized environment where they can stay as productive as possible during the office relocation process.

External Communications

Don’t lose track of your clients during the process of your office relocation. Of course, it’s important to let your customers and clients know of the change that is coming. Although, not directly related to maintaining your productivity during an office relocation, it is indirectly related. By keeping your clients up to date during your office relocation the part of your staff that works directly with the clients will have to spend less time answering questions from the clients. Additionally, your clients will appreciate being personally kept in the loop regarding your office relocation and in the event there happen to be schedule adjustments or even slight service disruptions, your client will be far more likely to be forgiving and flexible since they will have been given the courtesy of a heads up.

Hire Professionals

When it comes to an office relocation it’s not the time to round up willing employees, friends, and family to cobble together your office moving “A” team. Keeping your business up and running and your staff productive is a top priority during an office relocation.

Between all the:

  • Organizing
  • Packing
  • Breaking Down
  • Setting Up
  • Furniture Moving & Installation
  • Document – moving, storage, and shredding
  • and more…

There’s no room for errors or inefficiencies. The smallest gaps can impact business and the bottom line so it’s important to get it right the first time.

At M3 Commercial Moving & Logistics all we do is commercial moving and logistics, and we do it better than anyone. We are client experience obsessed. Using M3 Commercial Moving & Logistics will give you peace of mind that your move is being managed properly from start to finish. We’ll reduce your stress and enable you to focus on the day-to-day operation of running your business.

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