Tips To Make Moving Office A Breeze

Have you noticed that a lot of businesses are moving premises at the moment? Between the pandemic, the tie of year and the shift towards flexible and hybrid working, many companies are finding their office space needs to change. This all leads to one thing – moving offices! And if you thought that moving house was stressful, just wait until you have to move an office full of people.

Never fear, it won’t be that bad. You just need a few helpful hints to get you started.

Plan, Schedule and Plan Again

When moving to a new office the most valuable thing you can do is plan. It will save you so much time and stress, so get started as soon as you can. Roughly 6 months ahead of moving day is good, or earlier if you can! A few things to include in your planning are:

• What items are going to the new office
• What items aren’t needed and how they will be disposed of
• How you’re going to arrange things in the new space
• A floorplan to decide the right layout
• A timeline of operations
• How you’re going to keep your employees informed and involved in the process
• Action plans, including who needs to do what and when
• A contingency plan (or 3) if something is delayed or goes wrong

Label Every Single Box

Let’s face it, one box of files and stationery looks just like the next, and the last thing you want is to keep passing boxes around because you can’t find anything you need. So when you’re packing, make sure you label each box with the department it belongs to and a summary of what’s inside. Remember to label the top AND two of the sides of each box, so that it’s quick and easy to see where it needs to go on moving day.

Assign Staff

A great way to speed things up and avoid confusion is to have each staff member pack up their own desk space into a named, labelled box. Give them plenty of time in advance to pack so that there’s no mad rush at the last minute. On move day, each staff member is responsible for unpacking their own boxes, speeding up the process and reducing confusion.

Budget

There’s no denying that moving offices is expensive. But while it’s always going to be a bit costly, it definitely shouldn’t drain your bank account and leave you worrying about the bills. So as part of your planning process, create a budget to keep your spending in check. Work out how much a moving company will cost, any new furniture you will need to buy, deposits, insurance and any extra staff to cover customer-facing roles during the move. And a contingency, just in case!

If, after moving you realise you don’t have quite enough space, or you have a lot of items that don’t need to be kept on site with you all the time, consider investing in some self-storage. Our self-storage options are perfect for businesses who are moving or downsizing, and need some space to operate. To find out more about our flexible storage solutions, just get in touch with the team today.