The success of an office move requires good planning, co-ordination and a strong project team to drive it through.
Never underestimate the amount of time you need to plan and execute the relocation. The first step is to engage with your stakeholders and form your project team. The team will need to be fully onboard with the project and have clear roles and responsibilities. Project plans need to be drilled down into infinite detail giving attention to realistic target dates.
You will need to identify your new premises, considering location, access and long-term suitability. If you can’t easily get your staff to the new premises this could be a real headache! It’s also a good idea to identify your key employees and get them onboard at the earliest opportunity.
Consider whether you wish to offer voluntary redundancy if you are amalgamating a business and have duplicate roles. Alternatively, if you are looking to transfer all your team then make sure their contract of employment allows you to make this adjustment to their place of work and that the commute is reasonable, if it’s not they may have a claim for redundancy. It’s advisable to carry out a comparison against their current travel time and new, considering any changes to costs e.g. parking, fuel, public transport etc.
A realistic budget needs to be put together so that you know exactly what your costs are leaving some room for contingency. We all know when moving how many obstacles can get in your way so be prepared!
Ensure you carry out detailed floor plans of the new premises to include power points, IT cabling and furniture/machinery placement. This will help the movers to place the crates and furniture in the required location to avoid further handling.
Dependant on your situation it may even be helpful to carry the move out in stages, taking teams in manageable groups to reduce disruption to the business. However, make sure you have insurance in place to cover you for any events and security for both sites.
Communication, communication, communication! Keep everyone in the loop to avoid speculation and ask for volunteers to help co-ordinate the clearing up/packing of their areas of work. You can’t physically do it all on your own and getting everyone involved will help to keep morale positive.
The team at Clover HR have experience in office moves and can give you valuable advice. Please contact us at info@cloverhr.co.uk for further information on how we can help you.
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