How To Move Successfully To New Office Space?

Office relocation can be one of the most exciting and transforming experiences of your life. This shows that your business is ready for change and development, regardless of its size or the industry to which it belongs. In the current scenario, our working style has changed, and most of the companies are seeking an office space that would be able to board both the remote as well as the hybrid employees. Moreover, if you are planning to move to a new office space, you would be expecting the minimum hurdles during your move.

Whether you are moving into a co-working setting or a serviced office, it seems important for you to plan, prepare, and communicate. Office relocation may be a challenging task for you, however, if you follow the right steps, you can move smoothly and efficiently to your new office space.

Here are a few important moving tips that you must use if you want to reduce your stress while moving to a new office space:

Planning is essential

You need to start planning your move at least 6-12 months before your move.

Here's what you need to think of while you plan your office relocation:

Choose a place to organize important documents and a to-do list

• First, you need to identify how and where you would be recording all the important documents, notes, checklists, and other moving-related things.
• Second, you may choose to centralize all your information, preferably in a to-do-list box or a notebook where the employees put their important comments or in Google Drive. If you don’t maintain this, you will end up banging your head against the wall, while searching for important documents.

Consider organizing your documents

You need to use the method you identified in the previous step and consider organizing all your key documents there, for example, your contracts, agreements, insurance as well as other important documentation.

Tip: If you don’t have your contracts or agreements ready yet, possibly you can create a space for accommodating them later.

Notify about the move to the employees

• We suggest you plan a comprehensive email, town hall presentation, newsletter section, or a short video to let the employees know about the move. Here are a few important things that you must consider while announcing the office relocation to your employees.
• Regardless of the method you choose, an announcement should always be comprehensive as it needs to update the employees with everything they should know.
• Ensure you translate all the key terms you include in your to-do list to the employees for their clarity. For instance, if you announce that you will give an office moving checklist to the employees, then you should include the making as well as distributing of the checklist as your action items.

Be sure to include the following elements in your announcement:

• Mention the name and location of your new office.
• Declare your moving date.
• Discuss the core features of your new office space.
• You must justify the move; we suggest you share a quote from the CEO or other key decision-makers of your company. This seems a good idea to drive excitement and interest among your workforces.
• Let the employees know what tasks they should be doing to make the moving day successful.
• Inform the employees if they are yet to receive any other information about the move.
• You must think of a way in which you can stay connected with the employees after making the basic announcement.

Communicate with the employees

• As the question arises you may post them in the question-and-answer format in your communication. Perhaps, this will reduce the incoming queries in your inbox.
• Make sure to share status updates and let the people know about different things going around in the office. It would be a good idea to inform the employees about the various tasks you have completed and the things you need to complete.
• Identify the key elements and tell the employees how their everyday routine would be affected. Also, you need to discuss parking space with the employees, especially when it isn’t the same structure that is used in your old office space. If the company plans to provide passes or space assignments, you must inform the employees of when they will receive them.
• If you are making a long-distance move, we recommend you inform the employees about the new neighborhood. Make sure to share the local emergency number with the employees, including restaurants, transport stations, and other important amenities. Possibly if you have sufficient you can create a web page that would provide the above information.

Make new seating arrangements

• Make sure to create a comprehensive floor plan for your new office if it still doesn’t have one. You can check the various tools available online that might help you manage the seating arrangement in the floor plan of your new office.
• You can collect the feedback of the employees to create the floor plan for your new office. We suggest you send the floor plan for review so that you have sufficient time to make the necessary changes.
• Set a deadline for submitting the final floor plan as you would need this to make the next steps successful.

Tips to pack your items

Here are a few things you should consider before packing your items for moving to the new office space:

• You should organize all your items and label each of the moving boxes appropriately. This will help you eliminate any kind of confusion and know exactly where you have packed each of your items.
• It seems a good idea to pack the non-essential items first and then go ahead packing the essential belongings. We suggest you pack those items first that you don’t use in the office anymore and then consider packing the equipment which is mostly used in your office.

List the items you need to buy

You should prepare a list of items or equipment that you already have and then decide on the items that you may need to purchase for your new office spaces. Here’s what you need to do to complete the process smoothly:

• Check the furniture, appliances, supplies, or equipment that you have in your present office and see if they can be moved to your new office or not. With the help of this step, you can reduce your moving expenses to a considerable extent.
• Make a list of supplies and tools which you need daily in your office like a trash can, coffee mugs, rags, napkins, silverware as well as cleaning supplies.
• If you don’t plan to move your presentation equipment, like whiteboards, video screens, or a projector, consider having them in place right from the first day you will be working from your new office.

Hire office relocation services

The most crucial and challenging task for you would be to hire the right moving company and make your office relocation successful. We recommend you choose a moving company that specializes in office relocation services as they would have all the supplies and equipment to make your move smoother and better. Moreover, they are experts in their work who can offer you proper guidance and help you reduce your stress.

Here are a few important things that you must keep in mind while booking the movers:

• You should consider hiring office relocators, construction laborers, and cleaning services who would clean your office space both before and after the move.
• If you plan to move furniture or equipment, make sure you have someone to uninstall it at your old office and reinstall it in your new office space.

Tip: We recommend you hire quality office movers as this might speed up your overall office relocation process.

Hire a storage unit

Your new office might take time to get ready. We recommend you book storage units near your new office if you don’t have sufficient space to store your moving boxes and equipment.

Turn on the utility services

Here’s how you can set up the telephone service provider and the internet connection of your new office:

• Communicate with the IT department to set up the server, phone, and internet connection at your new office. This will help you create a proper infrastructure at your new office.
• Request the utility service provider to visit the new office before time and find out any challenges that they might face in setting up the services.

These steps are especially important because even a day without an internet connection might create challenges in your work.

Connect all the loose ends

• We suggest you talk to the property manager and request them to set up everything before you leave the place
• You must create a list of the keys, access cards, and parking passes of the team members and make sure to hand them over to the property manager.
• Make sure you hand over the keys, access cards, and parking passes of the new office to all your team members.

Monitor your move

• Of course, you should be present to monitor the whole move and check what tasks have already been done and what is left to be done.
• Make sure all the proposed changes have been implemented on time.
• Ensure active communication with the entire team, otherwise, you might miss a few vital details that require your attention.

Prepare the important contact list

It seems important to know who your new property manager, security guard, or maintenance staff are and ensure to save their contact information. This will help you know whom you should call on facing a specific situation.

Allocate time to organize

We recommend you give enough time to your team members to set up their possessions and equipment after moving into the new office space. You must organize your possessions properly if you expect a smooth transition to your new work environment.

What’s Next?

Moving to a new office space is a challenging task. However, you can follow the detailed steps we have listed above and ensure a smooth as well as successful office relocation. Simply, you can take quotes from a few office relocation companies and select the one which fulfills all your requirements as well as meets your budget. Alternatively, you can even hire full-service movers if that suits your budget.

Good planning is the key to success, make sure to include all your team members and do it well.