Moving Your Business: Important Things to Know

Moving Your Business: Things to Know

An office move is significant whether you’re expanding to meet demand or downsizing to accommodate remote workers. Moving to a new office is as exciting as moving home. A chance to restart, clean up, and see things differently. Office moves can have many unexpected changes, so we’ve compiled a checklist of things to consider during your company relocation. These tips will help you and your staff adjust smoothly.

You’ll Need to Nominate a Project Manager

Many factors affect business relocation including furniture, fixtures, staff, and other details. Start by hiring a project manager to keep things moving. You or your project manager should be detail-oriented and organized and someone you can trust to stick to the budget and make good decisions. To assign tasks and manage teams, they must communicate well and be flexible to maintain flow. They must not be easily overwhelmed!

Your Moving Company Should be Involved From the Start

Office moving requires more workforce than you think. Moving office furniture and vending machines requires specialized equipment. Get your mover involved early to book your preferred dates and times. The moving company will help you manage the project and handle all details of the moves. They’ll inspect your business, provide a moving estimate and contact your project manager to address any issues.

Most companies move on weekends or evenings to minimize business disruption (or weekend evenings). Book at least two months in advance because these times are in high demand. You can choose your own dates and allow time for moving day details.

Employee Resistance?

Some people enjoy and fear change. Your employees will have many questions, even if they’re friendly. Several things may need to be addressed with your staff.

How will the distance of the move affect their morning and evening routines? When they find out they’re moving, they’ll start thinking about commutes, public transportation, child care, and more. Communicate it clearly. Inform employees of relocation details and timelines. Give them a place to direct their questions, but be as clear as possible to minimize confusion.

Involve your employees and accept their suggestions. Department heads should organize their teams to sort old paperwork and broken equipment before the move. Be patient and ask for what you need—you’ll need help from across the company.

IT

If only business relocation were as easy as home relocation. Carry your iPad. Put your laptop, phone charger, and various cables in your computer bag. That’s possible at work, right?

Unfortunately, office relocations are the opposite. Technology equipment must be packed and moved methodically. Your servers, employees’ computers, monitors, printers, and other devices must be packed properly to avoid damage. These items must be moved, disconnected, packed, unpacked, and reconnected without disrupting business. Many machines will contain personal and financial data, requiring extra caution. Even with those items, your IT department will have a lot to do during the move.

IT is crucial to your office move and will need time, space, and support to move and reinstall everything.

Moving Laws

Laws protect sensitive data during transport. Your IT department is even more important in your move because employee and financial data is often stored on servers and backup devices. You may also have files with paperwork to consider. When transporting these files, you and your moving company must follow all protection and transit laws.

Business laws may change if you move. To ensure compliance, include it in your project plan early on to familiarize yourself with local laws.