Relocating an office can be a daunting process. But it’s also an opportunity to create a workspace that better reflects your values; helping to attract and retain the top talent you need to drive business success.
Having a new workspace provides the opportunity to boost colleague wellbeing, morale and productivity. Recent LinkedIn research suggests that over a third of employees would resign if they were told they had to return to the office full-time, further evidence of the need to magnetise rather than mandate your people returning to office. Delivering a great workspace experience is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s become a non-negotiable part of a brand’s culture. Academic psychological theory such as Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory informs this argument. Regardless of the motivating factors you put in place such as recognition, personal development and rewarding work, if you can’t meet the basic needs of your people with satisfactory work conditions (alongside salary, security and relationships), they’ll become dissatisfied and actively disengaged. It’s essential to demonstrate how much you value your people by investing in a workspace that supports all their needs, enabling them to do their best work, whilst keeping well. This is why we’ll get involved with our clients right at the start of their office move journey to assess the design, tech and collaboration needs of the business in order to help the team thrive.
Our latest article shares our top tips to ensure a seamless office relocation with minimal disruption.
Communicate & motivate
Collaborating with your team is a great opportunity to drive excitement about the coming move. Start early with this, encouraging contribution regarding what the team wants and needs in order to stay motivated, productive and well in their new space. This should include discussions regarding the location, desired amenities and facilities, alongside use of the space itself.
We recommend creating a comprehensive communication plan to explore what information should be shared before, during, and after the move, along with how and when colleagues can contribute. Colleague workshops can be a great way to demonstrate how much you value their thoughts and opinions, also providing an open and informal forum for any questions or worries. We also suggest creating a resource hub where colleagues can easily access FAQs and see the plans and discussions taking place.
Be prepared for some concerns to be raised as not everyone adapts well to change, so don’t expect everyone to be excited immediately, and take some time to do some scenario planning. Having clear communication channels can help ease apprehension from team members and provide the space and information needed to adapt to the coming changes.
Finding the perfect workspace
When it comes to relocating an office, the workspace that is chosen will make the difference between success and failure. Determining the right type of workspace for your organisation isn’t always a straightforward task, and it isn’t something that should be rushed or overlooked.
Here at Kerr, our workspace consultancy services can support you through this critical decision making phase. We analyse what you need and want by auditing your existing space and completing a gap analysis with recommendations on the best workspace location and design strategy for you. This helps make an informed decision on how to optimise space and deliver on wellbeing, collaboration and productivity ambitions. Our bespoke approach can be completed with senior leaders or opened up to involve and engage your colleagues right from the start of the journey. It helps create a clear plan of action complete with objectives, desired outcomes, timeline and costs.
Collaborate on design delivery
We always recommend involving a cross-section of colleagues from your different divisions in the design process. Not only can this be fun, but it’s a great way to make sure your new office really is built for your people.
The team that are involved in the project need to understand what is expected of them, when the key moments to contribute are and what their involvement should be when their ideas are taken forward!
Working with Kerr, we can take the vision and ideas from your people and consider how best to deliver on these through a space that truly reflects your people and culture. A space that doesn’t just look good, it inspires the creativity and collaboration needed to drive your future business growth.
What happens after the move?
Don’t make the mistake of resting on your laurels once the move is complete. There’s always the opportunity to evolve things over time so we provide clients with a post occupancy survey and health check audits after six and twelve months. At this point it’s critical to ask colleagues for feedback and respond promptly to queries. Don’t just assume the space is working, ask the team!
To find out more about how we can transform working lives, get in touch with our experienced team here.