5 tips to take the stress out of your office move

There’s no doubt about it – office moves can understandably be stressful. An entire company (or sizeable portion of it) must relocate – usually whilst remaining up and running and fully active throughout. This can naturally result in some difficulty and anxiety for business owners and staff – but with professional provision and a little forward planning the process can be considerably more palatable for all involved. We’re seasoned office movers – so today we’re sharing our five top tips and tricks with you to help you to set up shop in a new location with as little stress, fuss or downtime as possible.

Prepare in advance to avoid downtime

Office moves are naturally disruptive to regular daily routines – so it’s best to make provisions for the gap in communications and ensure that customers, staff and suppliers can all contact you during the relocation. Send an email to let everybody know that you’ll still be up and running during the move, or advise that you’ll be closing down completely for a short time. Reassure clients in particular that you’ll be available and answering emails, but that there may be a delay in getting back to them. On the day itself set a voicemail to confirm that unfamiliar callers are aware, ensuring that you don’t lose new business in the process.

Cleanse, sort and recycle old electronics

A relocation is a fantastic opportunity to purge old electronic equipment and identify where tired, old or out-dated items can be replaced or recycled. Phones, computers, tablets and other electronic equipment such as monitors and printers must be disposed of safely and responsibly – so make an inventory of everything that needs to be removed early on. Then you can turn your attention to securely deleting any data left before passing on to a reputable company to take care of (learn more about our recycling services here).

Empty drawers, furniture and filing cabinets

Documents can often be the bulkiest and most difficult aspect of office relocation – the sheer volume and weight of paper is overwhelming, especially if it needs to be organised and remain in order for the duration of the move. Therefore it’s useful to tackle this aspect first before anything else, taking time to empty filing cabinets, drawers and shelves. Label boxes to ensure that documents are properly grouped so that you can easily get your hands on them over on the other side. This is also a great opportunity to clear out and shred old documents and papers you no longer need – such as ancient bills and invoices. Johnsons can assist with archiving and storage, find out more here.

Plan ahead with a new layout

Before the move, assess the furniture and items you’ll need to fit into the new office to make things simpler on the other side. Once keys and contracts have been exchanged and paperwork has been fully confirmed, it’s a good idea to sketch out a rough floor plan and consider where larger items such as furniture will be placed. Planning ahead like this not only ensures that everything you need the new space to contain will fit perfectly – it also provides you with an opportunity to implement an intelligent layout.

Organise and label

Organisation is a key aspect of any successful office move. Prior to the relocation day, pack up with a box of labels and marker pen handy. Label or categorise each and every item to be moved – preferably with instructions that refer to your new floor plan to remind and help you, staff or removal experts to ensure that placement and directions are correct. Sometimes the urgency and nature of items also dictates the order in which they are transported – so a little organisation and labelling beforehand will prevent mishaps and problems from occurring on the day itself.

Need specialist support to ensure that your upcoming office move runs smoothly? Johnsons Move Managers are highly trained to manage your move from start to finish, find out more.

For additional advice, please visit our Office Moves page where you can download our helpful Office Move Checklist and Office Move Project Plan.