Moving office can cause a lot of disruption to your workplace for a whole host of reasons. It’s not always possible to stop working while the process happens which adds extra stress to your team. Packing and unpacking alone is time-consuming and the whole process of moving office can be just as stressful and involved as moving house.

The good news is, you can still continue to have a productive office during your relocation. Here’s how:

Start planning early

To keep your move as stress-free as possible, start planning for it as early as you can. This means choosing dates well in advance and making sure you have a timeline which will work for everyone.

Consider your new space and your existing items and furniture, making plans to change or rearrange your set-up if you need to in order to fit comfortably into the new space. Make sure you are in close contact with your IT department or person to ensure you’ll be able to have everything up and running as soon as possible once you get to your new space.

Start to move non-essential items yourself, if you can, in order to save time and make the process easier. Start boxing up items well in advance and make sure everyone in the office is aware of your moving timeline.

Try not to take on any large projects or jobs during the moving process if that’s possible. If it’s unavoidable, make sure you have a small team who can continue to work while the moving happens.

Give everyone a moving job

Ensure you allocate tasks to people in the office to help streamline the moving process. This can be as simple as requesting each person be responsible for packing or moving their own workspace items. Make sure you have a designated person to liaise with your moving company and someone who can deal with regular work business while others are busy with the move.

It’s a good idea to let everyone know what the expectations are around completing work projects during this time as well. Is it business as usual, or are they able to focus solely on the move for a couple of days? Whatever you decide, make sure it’s clear to everyone.

Hire a professional moving company

Your move becomes a whole lot easier when you hire professionals to help you. Not only does it make your move much faster, it’s also a whole lot less stressful when you know professionals are on the job. Professional movers know how to pack items properly so they won’t get damaged or broken and, because they know what they’re doing, they work much faster too.

When you hire professionals, you free up your staff to continue doing the work they need to do without getting distracted by the moving process. In some professions, this will be much more important than others.

The Hire Group can take care of your complete office relocation needs, right down to your boxes and packing materials. We make your move easy with our friendly single point of contact. Our team at Hire A Packer can professionally pack your items, Hire A Mover can get your items to your new place and Hire A Box can supply you with all the packing materials you’ll need. Not moving straight into your new office space? Hire Storage can now help with your short or long term storage needs as well.

Find a temporary location to work from

What will you and your staff do while your items are being taken from one office to another? Is it business as usual for your company? If it is, make sure you hire a temporary office space so that the core staff can continue to get their work done while the moving is happening. If that’s not possible, allow staff to work remotely from their home or another suitable space away from the moving chaos.

If you can, consider closing your regular business operations, at least for a day or two. That allows everyone to focus on the move and to breathe a little easier while it’s happening. It’s often much safer to have staff out of the office and away from all the heavy lifting and moving as well, if you can manage it, especially if you have a lot of larger items that need to be moved around.

Celebrate when it’s done!

Moving office can be a stressful and time-consuming task. That’s why you should celebrate once you’re done. Have an office warming party to welcome everyone to your new space and to thank your staff for all their help during the moving process. It doesn’t need to be big or expensive. You could simply have a small morning tea or gathering in your office once you have successfully moved in. It’s a great way to mark the end of the process too and then you can get back to focusing on the work you do best.

Are you moving office soon? Relocating can be a stressful and time-consuming task, but hiring professionals to help you can make a huge difference. Let the Hire Group take care of all your relocation needs. Get a quote online or give us a call on 1300 366 522.

This article was written in conjunction with Melbourne cleaning company Clean House Melbourne