How To Downsize Your Office Space
The COVID pandemic has changed the world a lot. That includes how and where people work. Remote and hybrid working is now being adopted by companies of all sizes, with companies such as Google, Deloitte, and Facebook all introducing ‘work from anywhere policies.
If you’re considering giving employees the option of working remotely, you might have to consider what you do with your office space. Are your current premises now too big for a decreased number of employees?
In the past, downsizing office space would have been seen as a negative thing, an indication that a company wasn’t performing well. That’s no longer the case. Moving to an office that suits your needs for remote and hybrid working is a great way to save money and redesign the office in a way that works for you.
Assess your storage needs
It’s not only employees and office furniture you have to think about. If your company holds a lot of stock on-site, then it might be a good idea to separate this away from the main office. Using warehouse relocations is an option if you need to move your stock to a different location suitable for your needs. This gives you a lot of free choices when it comes to choosing your main workplace as you won’t be confined to searching for large premises.
Move your IT systems to the cloud
Keeping your servers and data onsite takes up space, is costly, and leaves you vulnerable to business interruption. By virtualizing your IT you can reduce space and costs as well as benefit from having your key information help off-site. Employees can access data from a central location.
Use the move as a fresh start
Just like in your own home, the longer you’re there, the more things you tend to accumulate. Before you know it, there are cupboards and drawers full of stings you don’t even need anymore. Downsizing the office is a great opportunity to get rid of all the accumulated junk. Just like your home, having everything clean and organized makes you feel a lot better and more productive.
Go paperless
An uncluttered workplace is a much better environment to be in. When you’re preparing for your move, digitize any paperwork you need and then throw everything else away (don’t forget to recycle). It’ll take up less space when you move.
Develop a new policy for what’s to be stored physically and what isn’t. It will prevent you from building up mountains of paper again and save on paper and print costs.
Think smaller
Gone are the days of huge desks housing big desktop PCs and giant monitors. You can get smaller, ergonomic office furniture that is perfect for today’s needs. Where laptops and tablets are most people’s equipment of choice, there’s no need for football-field-sized desks.
Final thoughts
Moving to a hybrid working system can be an exciting step for your business. A bit of planning in advance can help you make the right choice when it comes to designing a great place to work.
Categories: Outside Contributors