Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as jumping straight back into the action — moving offices is a big change and it’s going to take some time for everyone to adjust. But, fortunately, there are some things you can do to help everyone settle into your new office space and get productivity to an even higher level than before!
Here are 7 top tips and tricks to boost productivity in the office post-move!
First things first, make sure the new office is set up before your employees. It might be hard to get back to business as usual if you still have construction workers or cleaners clanging through the office, the smell of wet paint is giving people headaches and no one can make a cup of coffee because the coffee maker has arrived yet. Here are some pre-move-in tips to consider:
Before move-in day, you want to ensure that all construction or renovation work is complete, the office has been made spick and spam by professional cleaners, and all the furniture, decorations and appliances have been moved in.
Make sure the parking situation is simple and all sorted for all your employees driving into work.
While you’re getting the place ready, you also want to focus on creating a space that’s both comfortable and welcoming but also exciting and refreshing by bringing over some favourite staple pieces from the previous office and replacing any old furniture, especially outdated office equipment and appliances.
Ultimately, you want the new space to be effectively laid out and easy to navigate to allow for better communication and productivity.
No one is going to be able to get any work done if the WIFI keeps dropping or the servers are down.
Get your IT team in beforehand to set up everything and connect it to everyone’s workspace, double and triple checking that every IT system is running without a hitch.
Don’t forget to keep your IT team on hold the first few days and ready to quickly fix any problems that arise so that your employees can get in the flow without interruption.
As much as you’d probably want to get the machine running as soon as possible to make up for time lost during the move, it might actually work out in the long run if you take it easy the first few days.
Jumping right back in immediately might lead to even more chaos. Instead, if you give your employees a few days of a lightened load, allowing them to adjust and settle nicely, they’ll be able to get back to speed with productive, efficient work much faster.
Whether it’s all the same old team or you’ve added some newbies to the team, it’s best to get everyone on the same page and looking towards the future. You know what they say — teamwork makes the dream work!
Here are some ideas to get the team spirit:
An inaugural team meeting welcoming everyone to this exciting new chapter.
Team building exercises to get everyone in the flow of working together in the new space.
A team workshop where everyone sets their goals or OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) for the next few months.
An office Welcoming party to help everyone socialise and get comfortable in the office.
Some people are going to adjust more easily than others. You want to make sure that if any employees are struggling to settle in, they feel comfortable enough to come speak to you or their managers about it instead of bottling it up inside.
To maintain an open line of communication, you can regularly check in with your employees, asking questions like:
Are you happy with your new environment?
Is there anything limiting your productivity?
Is there anything you’d like to make the space more comfortable?
Has the new location added any inconvenience to your work life? How can we alleviate that?
It’s also super important to keep effective communication going within teams to avoid team members feeling confused or left out of what’s going on.
If you’re not the only company with offices in the building, why not say hi to your new neighbours?
Organise a building social where everyone can meet and connect with the people they’ll be seeing every day. This way, when your employees next come into work, they’ll see some familiar faces and hopefully feel a bit more comfortable in their new environment, which can work wonders in improving productivity.
And who knows — maybe there are some great business opportunities right under your nose and you wouldn’t even know! So get out there and introduce yourself.
Not only is exploring the new neighbourhood a great team-building experience, but it also helps your employees become familiar with their new environment. This could include getting lunch or after-work drinks.
This way, if one of your employees gets in a productivity slump and needs to get out for lunch, they know exactly where to go to reset and come back ready to tackle their work.
If you’re just looking ahead and are still in the process of planning your office move, you really don’t want to miss out on finding a top-rated, affordable office moving service with Wise Move!
Wise Move’s moving company platform connects you with a range of moving services so that you can find the perfect one to suit both your company’s needs and its budget.
Make the Wise Move and get your quote today!
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