Moving Office Problems
If you’re planning to relocate your company’s office, you’ll know it’s a complex and expensive project. There are significant risks involved. If your office move doesn’t go to plan, your entire business operations could be impacted for days or even weeks.
However, just because there are major risks associated with moving office, you are not helpless to reduce these risks. By learning about the risks that could derail your office relocation, you can reduce the likelihood and severity of these risks impacting your project.
At Zentura, we manage many office relocations every year. As an office design & build company, we use our network of estate agents, workplace consultants and relocation specialists to provide a turnkey package for our clients. This covers the entire relocation, right from defining the brief and finding a new office to moving your staff and equipment into your new office.
In this article, we’ll break down the top 5 risks that every company faces when moving office. We’ll also explain how you can reduce the likelihood of them impacting your project, and the severity of that impact if they occur. By the end, you’ll understand the key risks impacting your office relocation, and how to manage them to maximise the success of your project.
1) Downtime
By far the biggest risk of moving office is disruption to your company. This includes both the downtime of the move, as well as the disruption to your service levels in the weeks before and after. Although some level of disruption is inevitable, it is important that this is as temporary and minimal as possible.
If your move becomes a major distraction for your people, it will reduce their productivity and performance for weeks or even months. This could have a serious impact on your service levels and performance as a business.
To minimise the downtime and disruption of your office move, you need to plan the entire project carefully. By creating a detailed timeline with key milestones and deadlines, you will help keep your project on track. This is crucial, as a project running behind schedule can become very disorganised and disruptive for all staff. To learn more, read Step by Step: The Office Relocation Process.
2) Employee Engagement
One of the most difficult aspects of an office relocation is keeping your people on board with the change and supportive of the project. Moving office is a big change for your people personally. This is especially true if you are moving more than several miles away, or implementing a new office design.
Inevitably, your people will have fears and concerns about this level of change. If you do not address these, staff will assume the worst. As a result, their wellbeing and performance will decline, and you will have to deal with widespread resistance to the change. This will make your project much more difficult and less likely to be a success.
To avoid this, good communication from an early stage is essential. Rather than just explaining the “what” of the project, you should first explain the “why”. By communicating the reasons for the change, your staff will be much more likely to understand why it is needed. As a result, they will be much more supportive of the change. Learn more by reading 6 Steps to Successful Change Management in Office Fit Out.
3) IT Transition
One of the most stressful parts of an office move for companies is successfully decommissioning, relocating, and recommissioning their IT equipment and systems. Your people and company are probably completely reliant on technology for their day-to-day operations, so this is a huge risk.
This is one of the most common reasons relocations become very disruptive. If the wifi doesn’t work or the phone system is not fully functional, the productivity of your people will be reduced. This will be very frustrating for your people and could cause your relocation to become very disorganised.
To avoid this, you should always work with an IT relocation specialist. While it may be tempting to think your IT team can handle this, an internally managed IT relocation is a huge risk. It may be simple in theory, but there are often issues that require troubleshooting. An experienced specialist used to working under pressure will be much better placed to deal with these issues.
4) Budget Overruns
Office relocations are often big investments with a lot of competing priorities. One of the biggest priorities (and risks) is the cost. This is understandable, as only 1 in 3 construction projects go less than 10% over budget.
Without careful planning and management, your office relocation project could exceed your budget. This would reduce the ROI and success of your project. Even worse, attempting to minimise cost overruns could also lead to time overruns and/or specification shortcuts. This could rapidly make your project very stressful and less successful.
To avoid this, you first need to set a realistic budget from the start. Otherwise, you are unlikely to deliver a successful relocation. You should also have a contingency budget to allow for unforeseen circumstances. A fixed-cost contract is also essential. Learn more by reading 5 Ways to Keep your Office Fit Out on Budget.
5) Compliance/ Legal Obligations
There are many different areas of compliance to be considered when planning your office fit out. This includes everything from HR and staff contract requirements to planning permission for the fit out of your new office.
Any non-compliance could expose your company to fines or legal action. Health & safety or planning permission infractions may also invalidate your insurance. If there are any concerns or issues, you could be prevented from using the space while they are resolved, causing further delays.
To avoid this, you should always check the differences in compliance regulations between your current and new office locations. This is still relevant even if you are not going far. Many London boroughs have slightly different planning permission requirements, for example. We also recommend you work with an experienced and qualified design & build company that can ensure your new space is compliant.
Managing your Office Relocation
An office relocation is an exciting project. It’s an opportunity to revitalise the image and performance of your company. However, moving office is also a complex, expensive project with several key areas of risk. A failed office relocation could have disastrous consequences for your company.
To avoid this, it's crucial you plan your move carefully and work with qualified and experienced office relocation experts. They will be able to help you avoid common mistakes and maximise the opportunity that your office move provides.
To learn more about preparing for your office move, download our ultimate office relocation guide. You’ll get one comprehensive guide that will help you understand everything that goes into an office fit out, what it costs, and how long it will take. It includes office relocation costs, a start-to-finish checklist, approximate timeframes, and helpful explanations and breakdowns. Download it here.
If you want to find out more about the potential pitfalls of moving office, read 7 underestimated office relocation problems. You’ll discover the 7 factors behind most problematic and/or failed office relocation projects and how you can avoid them derailing your upcoming office move.
