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With the demand for flexibility becoming the driving force behind a lot of workplace decisions, the role of the office has come under pressure to prove its worth and demonstrate how it can benefit workers.
Despite the increase in flexible work and hybrid working, the demand for office space has remained and it doesn’t look like disappearing. JLL’s Global Future of Work Survey found that 72% of decision-makers believe the office is critical to doing business. With so much changing in the way we work and our working patterns, the role of the office must become more than just a place to work. Many businesses may benefit from moving offices and finding a space that is aligned with the new outlook on work.
Office relocation can seem like a demanding process but an office move can help transform your business. Creative Director Dominic Dugan believes that moving office is a contextual refreshment for workers:
“Moving office allows businesses to adopt change much easier, particularly if you are opting for a big change. Moving removes the urge to compare how things were in the old space and allows your organisation to progress.”
An office move is more than a physical relocation: it is an opportunity, and often a catalyst for business transformation. If a workspace is designed with the business’s strategy and its people in mind, and the process is managed effectively, the workplace becomes a driver of performance.
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What are the reasons for moving office?
Clarifying your financial and operational objectives with your move team and individual departments will help ensure your workplace supports and enhances your future success. While the scale of your project will determine how long you should spend planning your project, other factors like growth rate and lease events will affect your project timeline.
Allowing yourself time to plan your move, and understand the motivations behind the move, will ensure you have a smooth project journey without any last-minute knee-jerk decisions about your office space.
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Some of the typical reasons and motivations for moving office include:
• Support for business change
• Reduce costs and physical overheads
• Enhance branding and company identity
• Increase exposure to customers
• Improve employee attraction and retention
• Increase staff motivation and productivity
• Change ways of working or company cultureFor an office relocation project over 10,000 sq ft, we recommend planning at least 12 months in advance. However, the earlier you begin planning, the better. Some of the projects we have delivered have started 18 months to two years before any design work begins.
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What are the benefits of office relocation?
Moving to a new office is a chance for a fresh start and a good way of implementing change into your business. For companies expecting to grow or have already grown, then the opportunity to get into a larger space comes with obvious benefits. However, the decision to relocate your office may not always be a strategic one. If you cannot renew your lease on preferential terms or your landlord decides to refurbish the property, you will need to find a new office. Whatever the circumstances surrounding your move, there are lots of positives to come out of an office relocation.
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Company growth
Outgrowing an office is one of the most common reasons for relocating an office. As your business begins to grow and you hire more staff, there is a bigger requirement for space. Not only do you need more space for workstations but you may also need more meeting rooms or a larger breakout space to allow your people to work effectively. Plus, if you are planning to continue growing then a new, fully equipped office may be the decisive factor in talent attraction and retention.
Implement new ways of working
If you decide to refresh your ways of working in your business, the office you’re currently in simply may not allow you to do this type of work effectively. By moving to smaller or larger office space, it means that the new space will be purposefully designed to accommodate working models such as hybrid working which may also provide you with cost savings on rent.
Saving money
With many businesses moving to hybrid working arrangements, there will be businesses which now occupy more space than they need. Having more space than you need is going to cost you money so relocating your office into a smaller space is a logical move. Even if you don’t intend to change your way of working, a smaller office space will also help save on heating and electricity consumption.
Investing in Employee Experience
There has been a sizeable shift towards improving employee experience amidst increased remote and hybrid working. While some companies have opted to save money by downsizing their space, organisations are also upgrading their space by relocating to Grade A office space.
This move to Grade A office space is driven by the desire to occupy more sustainable buildings with improved amenities, such as gyms and green spaces, enhancing the overall employee experience. The office design is still an important factor as staff need to feel the benefit of working in the office but moving to newer properties is a good way for companies to elevate their offering to staff and attract them back into the office.
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The 4 key principles for planning an office move
An office move creates a brilliant opportunity for business transformation with a lot of the important steps starting with internal teams.
1. Align your office design and business strategy
2. Put your people at the centre of the design
3. Understand the impact of change
4. Manage business transformation
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1. Align your office design and business strategy
Since the pandemic, businesses have had to adapt their operational and workplace strategies at an accelerated rate. With new ways of working like hybrid and remote work becoming more widely accepted, new challenges require new solutions.
Moving to a new office can help companies evolve their organisational structures and revise their business strategies to continue to attract talent, lure staff back into the workplace and retain collaboration across a distributed workforce.
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2. Put your people at the centre of the design
A company’s people and clients are fundamental to its success. Designing a workplace with these two groups in mind can have a huge impact on your business and its profitability. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace Report showed that business units with engaged workers have 23% higher profit when compared to business units with unengaged workers. Putting your employees at the centre of your design can help attract and retain top talent. It can also help businesses create a positive company culture, improve employee wellbeing and increase productivity.
Achieving this needs to be done through means that are more engaging than distributing surveys. It has become even more important to create an environment that attracts people to the office and allows them to communicate and collaborate in ways they can’t when working from home. Understanding the areas which put people at the centre of the office design will improve engagement and productivity.
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3. Understand the impact of change
Today, the ability to respond rapidly to change is fundamental to business success. However, the size and complexity of change relating to an office move can trigger a range of rational, political and emotional responses.
To ensure key stakeholders are on board from the beginning, understand what drives them and take time to understand the emotions triggered by change. Change creates an opportunity for growth, innovation and creativity, but it can also trigger fear and anxiety.
Some may worry that a restructure may affect the company’s performance or their position, so be wary of how your team is feeling throughout the process. Be understanding of other people’s perspectives, make sure the process is transparent and fair, provide relevant training, hold meetings, answer questions, and explain what is expected in the new space.
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4. Manage business transformation
Change does not happen in isolation – it impacts the whole organisation and everyone in it. Business transformation, workplace transformation and change management should be treated as one integrated programme, not in siloed work streams. This will ensure businesses have better control over the process, reduce performance disruption and speed up performance recovery.
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While it is important to periodically re-evaluate your strategy, having the fortitude to persevere and continually push things forward is key to successful business transformation.
Business transformation doesn’t necessarily require companies to think big, it is about thinking smart and applying changes that enhance your environment. We have all had to move away from the one-size-fits-all solutions and if organisations want to transform how they work, then there is a need for understanding the pain points that can be changed within your business.
If you’re considering your options and are looking at relocating your office, get in touch to find out how we can help.
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The Office Relocation Guide and Checklist
A workplace move is an opportunity for huge positive change. Download our Guide to Office Relocation for more information.
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Contact us
Speak to a workplace advisor to help plan your relocation
020 7553 9500
info@oktra.co.uk
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