There are many things to think about, like moving people and carrying expensive technological gear and equipment.
You need to do a lot of planning and preparation to move your office without any problems.
Here are the eleven most important things before moving into a new office.
1. Find the things that need to be moved, put away, or thrown away.
One of your most important jobs is to sort through the office’s things and decide what should be moved, stored, or thrown away. This will help you keep track of things and get rid of things you no longer need. It will also give you a rough idea of how many things you will need to move to your new office. Getting your things organized and put into groups before moving day could save you a lot of time.
2. Include all important partners and make a detailed plan for moving.
Make sure everyone knows about the change. Firm stakeholders include the board, the management, and the employees. Make sure everyone is involved by making a detailed plan for the change. You could send an email, start a newsletter, or hold a town hall meeting to keep your stakeholders informed. Stakeholders should always be kept in the loop to avoid problems in the future.
3. Figure out what needs to be done.
Before moving to a new office, you must find and finish these things. This can be hard, but you can do it if you break it down into smaller steps.
4. Find out which vendors and moving companies will be part of the moving process.
To keep your business safe, you should research the moving company and get all the information you need.
Internet, phone, and other rented services may also need to be changed or moved. Check with your current vendors to see if they can still serve you at your new office, and let them know that you are moving. They will have to buy all essential services from new vendors if they don’t.
5. Acquire insurance protection
Relocation or moving insurance protects you and your things while moving or storing them. Accidents, damage, theft, natural disasters, fires, and other things that can’t be planned for can always happen. You could hurt yourself or someone else when leaving or entering a home. It is important to have enough insurance coverage to ensure that you and your property are protected or paid for in a disaster.
6. Before you start moving, take apart everything you own.
Before moving your office, you must also disconnect or remove devices like computers, phones, and security cameras from their ports or servers. The moving company will find it easier to pack and move these things for you.
7. Make a new list of things to check in the office.
When moving, you should always make a moving checklist to ensure that your new office has everything you and your employees need. You might want to put the number of workstations, parking spots, security, bathrooms, cafeterias, power outlets, and charging stations on your list of things to do.
You can also find out if public transportation like buses, the metro, or local trains are available near the new site. When making a checklist, consider the possibility of future growth in the workforce and employees. Make sure the new location has enough room for any new employees you plan to hire in the future.
8. Make sure that every department has a moving team of its own.
Put together a moving team with people from each department. You can put together a moving committee by asking people from each squad to help. If you need help moving, this group can give it to you. Also, they might be able to help other employees get used to the change. The committee can get requests to review tasks and decide what to do next. Setting up a moving committee will help you feel less stressed and give you more time to do other things related to moving.
9. Make the strategy for moving available to all employees.
Tell your employees what is going on with the move. Give your staff a full explanation of why the move is happening. If people don’t understand what is going on, they won’t be able to get anything out of it.
10. Always have a backup plan ready.
It is impossible to know ahead of time if a workplace move will be a complete success. Even if you plan carefully, many things can still go wrong for different reasons. If you have a lot of employees, you need to have a plan B. Because of this, you will be better able to handle a crisis and keep your business and employees safe.
11. It would help if you took pictures of the new office.
Take a few pictures of your new office before you move in. It won’t be possible to figure out how good the new place is until everything has been moved and set up. Taking pictures of the building before you move in will help you track its condition and ensure nothing has been damaged. If you rent an office space and have a problem, you can talk to your landlord and get things fixed. By comparing the facility’s current state to snapshots taken in the past, you can find out if any damage was done.
Planning and preparing for a successful office move take weeks. If you follow the tips in this article, moving to a new building will be easy and won’t cause stress.