9 tips for making your office move less stressful

There are no two ways about it – moving office is a stressful experience. Whether it’s your first move or you’ve been through the process before, there’s a huge responsibility to ‘get it right’ for the team so that the new space is ready to go when the move-in day comes around.

We’ve recently been through our own office move at Kitt, and after it had finished we realised that it’s our emotional connection with a space that we spend so much of our time in that makes the office move stressful. We wanted every little detail to be perfect, from the look and feel of our welcome area to the arrangement of our desks. 

We know that this is a feeling that everyone experiences, and as much as you try to keep a calm head, that pursuit of the perfect new home for your team will always lead to a few curveballs being thrown your way. So, we wanted to share some of our top tips for making the physical move that little bit less stressful.

We've also got some further tips on some of the key things to consider before your office move, so take a look at those if you need more guidance!

Tip 1: Choose the right movers

Right at the beginning of the process, it’s important that you take the time to select the right movers. Always aim to appoint specialist commercial movers, and be sure to check on insurance levels as this will vary across different providers. 

As a tip, use reviews when searching for your movers to ensure they are commercial by experience (not domestic), as this will be difficult to tell from purely a cost focus. You should also check that they’re well versed in the typical office move requirements such as workstation set-up, but you should be able to obtain all of this information from the reviews.

Given that you may also be working to a tight deadline, do your due diligence and ensure your quotation includes any penalties for late delivery (as delays can happen!).

Tip 2: Protect your kit

This may seem like an obvious one, but with so many people involved in an office move it’s very easy for your most valuable kit to end up being looked after by the wrong people. Prioritise getting all of this equipment (PCs, monitors and general technical hardware) into the hands of the movers, and ensure they are aware it’s their responsibility.

They, above everyone else, will know the best way to protect the kit during transit, plus you’ll be covered by their insurance if any damages do occur.

Tip 3: Give yourself enough time to pack

A tip that’s as relevant to your first family holiday as it is to your large-scale office move. The important thing to consider here is your team; set a clear deadline for packing ahead of time, so that if anyone is away on annual leave or unable to make it into the office for whatever reason, they know that they need to pack up their bits ahead of time.

Ask your movers to drop off your moving crates at least a few days before your move, to give everyone the time to start packing away the non-essentials early. It’s an easy thing to get ticked off your list while some of the bigger pieces of the jigsaw are being sorted in the background!

As a bonus tip for anyone moving to a space with less storage (like we did), ask your team to be really decisive during the clear-out phase. If it’s not essential, it probably doesn’t need to come with you and will save you space on the other end.

Tip 4: Label everything

Labels will be a life-saver during your move, so make sure that you’re adding them to absolutely everything. Here are a few examples:

  • Crates and any moving boxes (for individuals or teams)

  • Any special monitors that need to be returned to specific team members 

  • Furniture (consider colour or number coding with a corresponding floorplan, and make a few physical copies for the moving team)

  • Your AV (bundle together TVs, remotes, hardware and cabling – the last thing you want is to misplace that ‘order only’ cable that prevents someone remotely joining that important meeting on the first day!)

If you’re moving into a large space, it may be useful to format your labels, for example making sure everything has either a name, team, floor or area associated with it.

Tip 5: Look to re-home unwanted furniture

If you have any unwanted furniture and equipment, don't pay for them to be thrown away. There are some great organisations that partner with charity networks, and they can collect and distribute at no cost to you (plus you know it’s going to a good home).

Tip 6: Get ahead on your redirects

Give your suppliers plenty of time to process the change (in accordance with your agreement) and issue a friendly reminder a week before. 

Ask every team lead to run through their list of suppliers to ensure all have been made aware. This means everything (from post to coffee and snacks) will be sent to the new space from day one, which helps avoid any unnecessary hiccups.

Tip 7: Put names on desks

This tip has two benefits. It will really help your movers with hardware placement (such as special monitors for specific team members), but it will also act as a handy way for your team to find their seats on the first day.

Tip 8: Organise a move-in day breakfast

A team breakfast on the morning of your move is not only a great way to celebrate your new space and to get everyone excited about this new chapter, but it can also act as a sneaky diversion tactic if you need to make some last-minute tweaks or get that WiFi working!

Depending on the size of your team, this could be quite the operation to organise. It may be useful to have one of your move champions take this on as a project while you finalise the space, which brings me to my final tip…

Tip 9: Select move champions

Your move champions will be integral to the final stages of your office move. Select members of the team who can be troubleshooters throughout the first few days, take teams on tours of the new space and in general, can ease the natural burden that comes with the adaptation to your new office.

It’s likely that your move will be stressful – you will forget to do something and you won’t please everyone with the new seating plan (an impossible task), but the day one smiles and buzz around the place will make it all worth it!

Ready to find your next space?

Finding, designing and managing an office are all incredibly complex and costly processes – let alone trying to do all three. At Kitt, we wrap the whole journey up into one neat package and charge a simple recurring cost - meaning it’s never been easier to have your own office. To learn more about how we create personalised spaces for brilliant brands, head over to our How Kitt Works page or get in touch with the team below.

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