The process of office moves is hectic and very intrusive to business operations. Among the concerns that you would have at this moment is how to try to keep productivity going as your business relocates to the new office. Setting up temporary workstations for your employees is a surefire way to keep things running as smoothly as possible. With careful planning and providing your team with what they need in terms of tools and environment, you can minimize downtime and help employees retain focus during the move.
Planning for Temporary Workspaces
Setup for temporary workspaces is always done through thorough planning. Upon confirmation of the office relocation, it is important to plan how long the move will take and then determine the periods when employees are likely to be out of their normal working stations. Understanding how long the transition will take helps in deciding what type of temporary workspace is needed, whether a coworking space, setting up a home office, or another offsite location.
Assess what equipment, tools, and software your workers need to be productive. A computer, Internet access, a phone, and any particular hardware you may need are just the basics. If your organization depends on shared resources-servers, specialized equipment-figure out how you can replicate access to shared resources in an alternate location.
Using Work-at-Home Options
The effective ways of maintaining efficiency among the employees during an office move include working remotely. Due to modern technology and the increasing adoption of cloud-based services, most companies are today in a position to work remotely. If the employees work from home or any location away from the site while it’s being moved, disruption may be lowered to a minimum.
That means making sure, before the move, that your employees have all the necessary software, can access the files they need to share, and are on secure internet connections to get their work done from home. Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or other forms of virtual communication might be what binds them and will enable you to collaborate in real-time with your team members. Second, keeping guidelines in place and expectations around remote working will help avoid a possible dip in productivity during transition.
Partner with Coworking Spaces
Another platform on which temporary workspaces can be set up is coworking spaces. Coworking space basically refers to shared offices where individuals and companies rent workstations or meeting rooms for short intervals. Such space would be ideal in cases where the employees need a professional setting to operate from during relocation, with most of the infrastructural needs such as high-speed internet, printers, and meeting rooms already available.
Coworking spaces are also flexible; businesses can rent the space for only as long as they need it, making it possibly cost-effective. In such an environment, a collaborative atmosphere can be fostered in which employees stay connected to each other even when working offsite.
Setting Up Temporary Offices Nearby
When working from home and coworking spaces is not an option, find temporary office arrangements nearby. It may be a free space in some other office, a rented conference room, or a short-term lease in some smaller building. The temporary office should be fully equipped with all necessary tools and technologies so that employees can continue seamlessly with their work during the move.
Ensure that logistics, such as transportation and convenience to employees, are considered in the selection of a temporary site. The lesser the change in travel time or inconveniences to employees, the better they will be able to focus on work, meaning productivity will not suffer.
IT and Tech Support
Tech support for employees is one of the most essential components of ensuring that productivity is maintained across the relocation process. Temporary workspaces should be prepared properly, considering technology needs, especially with computers, servers, and communication.
Before the relocation, have your IT department be ready to support the workers in setting up remote access or resolving problems with temporary workstations. This will ensure that there are no technical hitches that may delay the activities and make it easier for the operations to flow. It is also a perfect time to ensure that your company data is secure, with tight access to the internal systems, especially for remote workers.
Relocation Services
Professional relocation services make the moving of offices a lot less stressful and reduce work associated with it. Logistics associated with moving an office, such as packing, transportation, and unsetting at a new location, can be contracted out to a relocation service so your staff can attend to their job rather than get bogged down by minute details associated with the move. Many relocation services also offer overall planning to help coordinate schedules so business operations do not get interrupted due to the office move.
The good moving service will also help to set up your new office with all necessary furniture and equipment as fast as possible and make the transition of your employees easy into the new work environment. Sometimes, the relocation services offer temporary storage facilities which simplify the moving of items not immediately required.
It helps to keep the momentum of work and cohesion of teams together when an office has to move. Provide your team with collaboration tools that let them stay connected with each other, document sharing, and task management with ease. Project management software lets Trello, Asana, or Monday help teams stay organized and keep track of their progress when they are working from different locations.
Conclusion
Temporary workspaces set up during office relocation are important to make sure your business remains functional and your employees productive. Whether through remote work, coworking spaces, temporary offices, or relocation services, giving resources and support to the employees will reduce disruptions in work and let them be productive. With careful planning, attention to IT needs, and strong communication, your business can navigate an office move without seeing a significant drop in efficiency.
