6 Steps for a Smooth Office Relocation
Moving your company to a new office is a wonderful step. It is a sign of success, a chance to expand, a chance to improve and it boosts employee morale by providing them with a better space in which to work. There is no doubt, however, that moving offices is also a time for potential chaos and guaranteed stress. Making the move successful requires planning and organisation but these 6 simple steps will help to ease the pressure dramatically.
1. Meetings and Updates
Just as you would normally have project progress meetings, you will need to have office relocation meetings. In the run up to the relocation it is important to have regular meetings to make sure that everything is on schedule and moving in the right direction. Glitches in the process will undoubtedly occur but these meetings should raise any snags before they become a real problem.
2. Tour of the New Office
Before you move out of your old office it is important that you can get an idea of the new office and how the space will work. This should be done when all of the new Sydney office furniture is in place because this will help to encourage any procrastinators to get a move on and raise any issues with office flow.
3. Notifications
It is vital that you begin notifying customers and associates about the move well in advance. All outgoing mail should include a note about the effective change of address for at least a month before you actually move. This is very important because you will almost certainly have a new phone system as well as a new postal address after the move.
4. Packing
Packing will obviously require materials to do so. It is worth buying quality goods for the packing process because progress will be far smoother with an efficient packing tape dispenser in hand than it will with a shortage of boxes and equipment. Labels are essential and a good system needs to be established because everything needs to end up in exactly the right place in the new office.
5. Coordination
Coordinating an office move is not like coordinating a home move for the simple reason that there are mass confidentiality issues. If something is normally kept locked away then it is important to keep it locked away during the move. This may not seem like a huge task but strict coordination is important so that you know exactly where everything needs to be and at what time.
It is also very important to maintain usual business practice during the move. Ideally the phones will be in working order throughout the move day. The business that you could lose in the short and long-term if this is not the case could be devastating to your company so it’s essential to maintain normal service on the surface at least. A high level of coordination will be needed to achieve this slick relocation.
6. Celebrate and Tweak
At the end of the move day there should be a party of some kind. An office celebration to congratulate on a job well done and ensure a happy beginning to the new office is an essential part of any move. The next few weeks will require many tweaks and corrections of practices to adjust to the new office so a brief period of relaxation will help to keep the move running smoothly.
As long as you are prepared and take your time with this process it should not only run smoothly, but also be much less stressful than you ever imagined.