Happy Workers: Happy Move! How to Keep Your Employees Engaged During an Office Relocation
Are you relocating offices?
If so, you have a lot of things to get in order for your move. When preparing for your move, one very important thing you need to keep in mind is your employees’ engagement levels.
An office move can be a major distraction for employees, so it’s important to do what you can to keep them engaged.
Check out this happy workers guide to discover how to keep your employees engaged during an office relocation.
Involve Employees During the Planning Process
One of the best ways to keep your employees engaged during an office move is to involve them in the planning process.
One of the best ways to get employees involved is to have them help with the new office layout. We suggest scheduling a meeting well ahead of your move to ask your employees some of the following questions:
- What do you envision as your ideal workspace?
- What do you like/dislike about our current layout?
- What new additions would you like to see in our new office space? (ie, new chairs, a new copier, new break room furniture, new coffee machine)
By getting your employees involved in the office move, you’ll make them feel more valued, and they’ll likely have a more positive attitude about the experience.
Watch Workloads
In the days and weeks surrounding the office move, both you and your employees will have some extra tasks to juggle.
To make sure your employees aren’t overwhelmed with the work of the move in addition to their regular workload, we suggest making sure that you’re not assigning any extra projects during this time.
If you originally had any deadlines scheduled during this time, we suggest pushing them out a week or two. The same goes for big presentations, meetings, or any other big project that may be causing your employees extra stress.
Keeping workloads light will help ease your employees’ stress about the office move and give them time to adjust to their new environment.
Keep Communication Open
Office moves have a lot of moving parts, which is why it’s very important for you to keep lines of communications open throughout the moving process.
Make sure you’re updating your employees on a regular basis about any changes to the move. Your employees should also be well-aware of what their roles are in the days leading up to the move and the day of the move.
And, once you have the move schedule, make sure to share it with your employees right away so they can ask questions and plan their day.
Create an Info Packet
Creating an info packet is another great way to keep your employees happy and engaged during the move.
If your new office is more than a few blocks away from the old one, this means your employees will have to say goodbye to their favorite coffee spots, break spots, lunch spots, parking spots, and more.
To make the transition easier on your employees, we suggest creating an info packet that contains information about nearby coffee shops, restaurants, gyms, grocery stores, dry cleaners, and daycare centers.
This way, your employees will have an easier time navigating their new surroundings.
Happy Workers: It’s Time for Your Office Move!
Now that you’ve read this happy workers guide, you’ll be able to keep your employees better engaged during your move.
Of course, hiring the right moving company is another major part of moving offices. Contact us today if you’re looking to move offices in the Washington DC area.