For many businesses there comes a time when they have to expand or simply change their location in order to grow. It’s a natural step which can lead to a considerable success and plenty of new customers. However, an office move is a big undertaking and it’s not cheap to organize. Every business owner understands that the potential office relocation can have negative effects on the productivity of the team, the work flow and even the mood in the office. Most people don’t like such significant changes, especially when they don’t have a say in the matter. It’s important to discuss the moving process and checklist with your staff and ideally have a meeting.
Nowadays there are so many office moving companies that it can actually be hard to choose one for the job. How do you pick a good mover when they all have presentable websites, positive testimonials and relevant experience? Often the best choice is a moving company which also offers storage services. Take a look at your office facilities and plan what you will move and what should be left behind. If you are planning to do some proper renovation of the office, you could put the old furniture and equipment in a storage unit, provided by the moving company. This way you don’t have to throw them away (and waste money), yet you could take care of them once you have more free time.
Documents usually take lots of space to be stored and you also have to be careful where you store them. Make sure they are well-packed and stored in a safe place – protected from theft and weather conditions. Some of these storage services offer delivery to your office door. For example, if you need to retrieve important documents but don’t have the time to drive to the storage unit, you could call the company and ask for delivery. In order for this to be possible, your documents have to be stored in an organized way – according to type or date. The documents you are planning to throw away should be shredded.
When you are choosing the new office facilities, plan how much of the space you can use for storage – closets, cabinets and libraries would allow for arranging all of the important files and folders in an accessible way. Inform your employees of the move as early as possible – it’s important to communicate the move the right way.
An office move will bring a lot of change to your business, so make sure it’s not negative one. Ensure that you have sufficient time to prepare for it and choose a weekend for the relocation – it’s more expensive, but the business wouldn’t suffer because of it.