When planning an office move, there are so many things to consider like office furniture, office design and business computer systems. You get so wrapped up deciding whether the commercial real estate you plan on leasing will have enough space now and for long-term growth that sometimes you may not think about how your current staff will be able to get there or whether it is a lucrative place to recruit for your business. When planning an office move you need to consider how the new location will affect your existing staff and future staffing plans.
Will your current staff handle the employee commute?
This may be difficult for larger businesses, but an office move coordinator for a small office move can look at the existing staff and see how they get to work. If half of your staff uses public transportation and the office space you are seriously considering doesn’t even have a bus route nearby, you may want to reconsider that space. On the flip side, if most of your staff drives make sure there is plenty of parking—and we don’t mean meters. Do you really want your team running out every two hours?
We have heard from office move coordinators who have lost employees because the new office space was too much of a commute. There are a few solutions to this office move nightmare. First, you could reconsider the office location depending on the person’s importance to the company and their commute. We have seen offices try using telecommuting or part-time telecommuting options as simple solutions to this problem. Then the employee commute is more easily managed or no longer even an issue.
Will the new location have a reasonable commute for recruiting new employees?
Just because you post a few jobs on Craigslist doesn’t mean you’ll get the employees you want. With gas prices still sky high you don’t want to limit the new occupants of your office space because the people you want to hire aren’t nearby. Today, employees look at three main factors: the office environment, the pay and the employee commute. We have seen an office relocate to an affluent suburb only to find the people in that area weren’t looking for jobs in their industry. After moving to an area that catered to more of their services they were easily able to fill up their office space.
The above are just a few things to consider when planning an office move. After all, you can’t run a business without employees! If you have more office move questions, you have come to the number one resource for your office move. We provide tons of information that will make the transition to your new office space a manageable process. If you enjoyed this article on the importance of considering your employee’s commute during an office move, then continue to check out our office move blog regularly as we update it with new information.
