Moving Office - When is the Right Time?
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July 2018
Moving into a new office can be an exciting milestone for your company. Perhaps business is booming, and you have outgrown your current space. Maybe you’re expanding your team or your operations and need more room, or different facilities. It could be that your business wants to reflect a certain image and your current office is now a bit tired to do that. Or it might simply be time for a change!
It’s important to recognize when it is the right time to move, as you want to avoid the growing pains associated with outgrowing your office, yet still staying put. Overcrowding, smaller desk space, and not enough facilities such as meeting rooms, bathrooms and kitchen space can really affect productivity and overall morale at the office.
Your workplace should foster collaboration and creativity, and if your employees feel too cramped and their needs ignored, they can easily feel unmotivated and disengaged at work. When it’s a struggle to find an available meeting room for a client meeting, when they have to queue every time they want to use the bathroom or make a cup of tea, or when people start losing desk space, that’s when your employees will really start to feel packed in like sardines.
Before you outgrow your current office, you should keep an eye on the corporate real estate market to see if something more suitable is available.
Here are the key things to look for when considering a new office:
1. Location
Location is everything. Office style and layout can all be changed if its unsuitable, but you can’t change a poor location. Depending on your industry, you may need to stay in the same location. Or you might find something that’s actually in a better location. Perhaps it’s closer to public transport networks, or in the same neighbourhood as some of your biggest clients, making meetings super easy, or it might be an area with a high volume of foot traffic which is ideal for picking up new customers and clients. You may even want a location in the vicinity of your competition, so you can pick up potential clients heading to this area.
2. Size
If you are looking for a new office because you have outgrown your current one, then size will play a big role in deciding on the perfect new office space. Take stock of your current situation and figure out what you need more of. Do people feel cramped at their desks? Do your staff want break out rooms where they can work away from their desks? You may find you need a combination of the above – bigger meeting rooms, bigger office floor, bigger facilities or even a bigger carpark. Prioritise your top two size considerations – these will be your absolute must-haves in a new office space. Then, your tier 2 priorities will also be considered when choosing a new office space, but not the main deciding points.
3. Facilities
Are meeting rooms desperately hard to come by? Is the kitchen always jam-packed? Is the internet slow or unreliable? Does your elevator occasionally break down? You may find your current facilities just aren’t’t cutting it anymore. These inconveniences can turn into major hindrances of productivity. Your staff cannot do their best work if they feel like the office facilities stall them from getting through their workloads. Your facilities are supposed to enhance your employee’s ability to get their jobs done, not interrupt their momentum. Look for a new office with reliable infrastructure and facilities that will support your employees.
4. Cost
Perhaps the biggest consideration, and one that can make or break your decision, your new office has to be affordable. But the key thing to remember here is you are not trying to find a bargain. You should respect your business and employees enough to not scrimp on office costs, as that can come back to haunt you later with maintenance costs, unreliable facilities or poor location.
5. Current Design / Layout
While you might find something that ticks most of the boxes, and is at a price you can afford, the design might be incredibly tired, or the layout might not work for what you need. You’d need to spend a bit of money on a new fit-out, or updating the style so that it better reflects your company and what you are trying to represent. The cost of re-working the design or layout, if it is required, should be factored into your decision.
Moving to a new office can be a hectic experience, and it not planned and executed properly, can lead to major disruptions to your business. When it’s time to move office, there’s only one team to call. John Ryan Removals are the trusted office removalist in Melbourne. With over 40 years’ experience in residential, commercial and corporate relocation, we can the job done with ease. Our office removal service can be tailored to your needs, so give our friendly team a call to discuss your options.