During the epidemic, we believe you know the working method is changing around the world. Today, workers demand autonomy and flexibility in the workplace.
As leaders require remote workers to return to the office, your office space should also need to change.
Meanwhile, the global economy is recovering and rents are rising in all real estate markets. In the U.S., housing prices are expected to grow by double-digit percentages in 2023.
Therefore, many companies have lots of considerations for moving their offices. After you decide on the right office size, the next step is to consider how to relocate your office to the new address.
Table of Contents
Phase I of relocation: Detailed consideration of relocation needs
Before you relocate your office, it is important for you to have a good prep process.
Evaluate the pros and cons of relocating your office
Firstly, you need to evaluate whether this relocation will benefit your company. Are there any rent reductions? Is the storage more extensive? Will it improve staff productivity? Will it help to attract more new talents?
Review your existing leases
Check if your lease requires an early termination fee, deposit, or other fees, etc., before you cancel your lease.
Use a real estate software/ app to find potentially suitable sites
As with an office management system, using the right real estate application can help you easily find the right new office location.
The system lists all information about available office space, including prices, surrounding amenities, and what industries it suits, saving you time searching for background information.
Consider the convenience of the new location for your employees
If you require your employees must return to work in the office, then the location of your office is important. The reason is a new office in a remote location can cause a large number of employees to leave.
Unless you choose to work in a hybrid mode, you don’t have to worry about the location of your office. Hybrid working allows employees to organize their work schedules and work from anywhere most of the time, only occasionally returning to the office.
In Singapore, many companies have adopted hybrid work to accommodate employees who live in more remote locations.
Re-confirm whether the full amenities of the new address
Before deciding on that new office address, you need to know if there are full amenities around your new office, such as a network connection, to support the flexibility of your employees.
Phase II of the relocation: Develop pre-relocation measures
After confirming your relocation, you must prepare for the move by developing the related measures.
Finalize the design for the new office
You must be clear on what your new office concept will be, whether it is a traditional office or an employee-centric hybrid workspace. Then you need to decide before you officially move.
Develop a comprehensive relocation plan
If the move is strategic, you need to inform your clients of your plans and prepare a plan to develop new markets.
Establish a relocation budget
Set an appropriate budget for the relocation plan and review it regularly to prevent overspending.
Don’t forget to notify your current landlord
As soon as you have confirmed your company’s move date, you should notify your current property manager and let them know when you intend to terminate your lease.
Send relocation notices to your employees via email
You need to send an email about the relocation, making sure all employees must be notified of the date they should be required to work in the new office.
Phase III of the relocation: Planning Logistics
Finding the right logistics company
A logistics company has relocation fleets to serve you, and also provide you with quotes and relocation itineraries to reduce your stress during the relocation process.
Purchase Insurance
Purchase relocation insurance for your equipment well in advance to protect your expensive machinery from damage.
Assemble a moving team
Select the right people among the company’s employees to form a moving team.
Enhance communications in delivery
Communication is an important factor in the delivery process. During the relocation process, you need to communicate more with your logistics team to understand and follow up on the latest situation.
Phase IV of the relocation: Fulfill your mission in a step-by-step manner
This is a transition period and the final stage for your relocation.
Create a project task checklist
Based on the project task checklist, make a final check to ensure that the entire relocation process is error-free.
Create a relocation checklist
You need to think through what equipment or facilities will be retained. You need to think through what equipment or facilities will be retained.
Then create a relocation checklist for the relocation team to follow to retain the equipment. Here is the sample from Ringcentral.
Also, you can choose hot desks to replace the fixed desks. Therefore, you don’t need to move too much furniture for each employee.
What else you can prepare for the relocation?
Use cloud technology to store company data
Prior to relocation, you need to instruct employees to use collaboration tools to work, which can record work data in the cloud to avoid data loss due to improper shipping.
Establish a good network infrastructure in advance
Before the relocation, you need to prepare a good network infrastructure in your new location, preventing poor network connectivity to hinder your business development.
Introduce a good management system to optimize your new workplace
If you want to optimize your new workplace, introducing an office management system can help you to manage the workplace easily.
All the rooms and equipment can be reserved by the room booking system, which means you don’t need to reserve too much space for creating meeting rooms and also save the operation cost by preventing the rent of a large size office.
Room booking software is used to reserve conference rooms, shared workplaces, or hot-desk.
Employees can use the system to reserve and manage conference rooms, guests, services, video conferencing, lockers, or any other area through a single platform.
If the meeting schedule changes, all relevant modifications are made immediately, keeping everyone involved in the know.
ONES is one of the famous all-in-one smart office systems that can help you to implement hybrid working with ease, whenever you want to implement a fixed or flexible hybrid approach.
You can easily perform virtual meetings, desk hoteling, and digital office management with our Room Booking, Desk Booking, and Visitor Management features.
Learn more about how hybrid working helps you, and implement your own All-in-one smart office system.