I know as well as any other entrepreneur that when you are trying to get your business off the ground, the focus is on winning clients, negotiating with suppliers and meeting deadlines.
For the first few years you need to be a jack of all trades, keeping track of finances, sending out invoices, interviewing and hiring staff, meeting clients and managing IT.
A strategic relocation plan will result in a smooth move and other, perhaps less obvious, business benefits
At this stage, creating an office space that works for your company is a task that generally gets relegated to the bottom of the pile.
But when your business has grown sufficiently to make your current office space feel like a matchbox, it’s time to relocate, and it’s a good idea to give this process your full attention for a while.
A strategic relocation plan will result in a smooth move and other, perhaps less obvious, business benefits.
The first step in your relocation strategy should be to establish your top three relocation needs.
These should inform the rest of the process and could include:
- The need for more space to accommodate expansion.
- The need for a more staff-friendly environment.
- The need to get closer to clients.
- The need to reduce costs.
- The need to move because of an expired lease on your current premises.
After outlining your requirements, you will need to decide who will manage the move – will this be your office manager, an assistant or an external hire?
This relocation manager will need to take full responsibility for coordinating your move, and will be the main point of contact for all parties involved, from the design-and-build company to staff and customers.
Make sure they are organised and committed as they will also need to ensure that time-frames and budgets are adhered to.
Inform staff
The next step is to get input from staff.
Let’s face it: one of the main reasons behind starting your own business was probably that you didn’t want a boss who made decisions over your head – especially when those decisions affected you.
There’s no reason why your staff should feel any differently.
Inform them and keep them involved.
Let them know to what extent this will affect the structure of the company and hence their job security, whether they will have to increase their commute to work, or even if the cost of a move will affect their year-end bonus.
To keep staff anxieties to a minimum, make sure they are involved at every level of decision-making.
Send out questionnaires, hold votes on big decisions, invite them to brainstorms, listen and respond to their concerns, and let them meet your design agency.
Before you even start viewing potential offices, you need to prioritise your requirements.
Office space is expensive, and bigger is not necessarily better.
You need to think about both your current and future requirements, and also take into account changing working trends.
For example, consider a flexible working policy.
The feasibility of this depends on the nature of your business, but perhaps you don’t need one workstation per employee.
