Moving an office can be a major disruption to your business if it’s not planned out well in advance. Even in the best of circumstances, it presents challenges to many teams, but knowing how to plan an office move can eliminate many of the stressors of finding a new workspace.
When possible, start at least a year in advance of your move, and appoint a single person to take on responsibility of the move’s coordinator. If your organization is large, it may be wise to form a committee with a representative from each department to ensure your plan is implemented across the entire company.
Moving locations offers a perfect time to reflect upon your office space needs. Do you plan to grow? Are you downsizing? Determine your square footage needs – not just for today, but as long-term as you can predict to save the expenses of a second move.
The earlier you select your moving company in the process, the smoother your move will be. WSI Moving recommends selecting a logistics partner six to 10 months before your move.
As soon as you identify a space and settle on a move-in date, notify your moving company to secure its services during your ideal move-in window. Commercial moving services such as WSI happily schedule moves months in advance to help ensure your move is successful.
Again, as soon as you select a new space, start thinking about how you will allocate workspace. Important considerations include:
- Office layouts: Know how your departments will fill each space, based on their workflow needs and staffing size.
- Furnishing: If you need additional office furniture or other design elements, start early. Many office furnishings need to be special ordered, and take weeks to arrive.
- Communications changeovers: Begin working with your internet and other communications vendors to ensure a seamless transfer of services to your new location.
- IT Infrastructure: Your IT team will need to develop a plan to get systems up and running quickly in the new location. WSI recommends unloading all key IT infrastructure early in the move to allow your team to arrange set-up.
Make it employees’ responsibility to move their personal items as much as possible. Not only will this streamline the move, it creates buy-in and enthusiasm for your move.
Moving an office can be a major disruption to your business if it’s not planned out well in advance. Even in the best of circumstances, it presents challenges to many teams, but knowing how to plan an office move can eliminate many of the stressors of finding a new workspace.