6 Steps To Guarantee A Successful Office Move
Office moves can be stressful and depending on the size of your organisation can seriously affect your ability to carry out normal duties. Minimising downtime and disruption is a must, so we’ve put together a list of things to keep in mind when planning a successful office move.
1. Be Prepared By Creating A Move Checklist
Preparation is key and checklists are a great way of keeping track of everything and prioritising what you need to make the move successful. Don’t just make a list and ignore it though, you should be constantly referring to it and everyone involved in the move should have a copy and clearly understand their duties and the role they play within the move.
2. Find The Best Office Removals Company
Use a reputable moving company. You definitely don’t want you or your employees to be doing any heavy lifting. Remember, this is your workforce and they’re essential to keeping the business going so risking injuries really isn’t worth it.
Make sure you get a number of quotes well in advance, compare like for like, and get recommendations where you can. Make sure you understand exactly how much they will do, i.e. will they just move boxes? Or will they dismantle and move furniture for you too? If they don’t, you may need to invest in some DIY tools to allow you to dismantle any furniture beforehand ready for the movers. You want a company you can rely to get the job done as quick and efficiently as possible.
3. Package Items Properly
Make sure you’re not rushing round at the last minute packing away IT equipment and precious files. Delegate packing responsibilities to small teams to ensure everyone takes responsibility for helping to package and move everything that needs to go to the new office. Don’t scrimp on packaging materials, make sure there are ample boxes, bubble wrap and packing tape for everything that needs to be moved.
4. Notify Service Providers Well In Advance
Make sure you give your current service providers enough notice of when and where you will be moving to, to make sure the switchover is as seamless as possible. If your business relies on the Internet for instance, or having a phone switchboard, you definitely don’t want to leave these things to chance.
5. Communicate Clearly With Your Workforce
Make sure there is clear communication throughout the business. Who needs to be where and when? Does everyone know what their role in the move is and what expectations are set? Don’t shut your staff out of the move; make them a part of the process and this will only help to make the move run efficiently and to plan.
6. Minimise Impact On Your Customers & Clients
With the best will in the world, the chances are you will have a little downtime. The best way to deal with this is to accept it and give your clients and stakeholders enough notice and information on how long you estimate this to be for, and how best to contact you if the phones go down. Make sure you don’t plan meetings too close either side of the planned move date – you’re only going to be adding to the pressure at this already very stressful time.
With careful planning and a contingency plan, your move will go much smoother.
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