How to Plan a Corporate Relocation: A Step-by-Step Guide

We review how to set and share your goals and timelines with your current employees, how to share the workload, communication, IT, and legal thoughts, and how to assess the move afterward.

Corporate relocation means moving an entire company and its employees to a new location and office. This can mean lots of stress and employees getting angry. When done right with proper communication, you can make the transition easier on your entire team.

Here are iMoving’s tips on how to plan for a successful corporate relocation broken down into stages:

Planning 101

1. Set Your Goals: Figure out if and why the relocation is necessary. It could be for reasons like expanding operations, tax reasons, reducing costs, access to new markets, or improving company culture and hiring. It is important to explain to your current employees and keep in mind during the whole process.
2. Create a Budget: Estimate costs for moving, renting, or buying new office space, employee relocation, full packages, and any other expenses like full packing and unpacking options. Factor in unforeseen costs as well then get approval from management to begin booking movers.
3. Choose a Relocation Team: Designate key employees to oversee different aspects of the relocation process. This team should include representatives from operations, and management and have a clear leader who is responsible for the task as a whole.
4. Choose Your Location: Consider proximity to clients, talented staff and their opinions, tax implications, and quality of life for employees. Think about other companies in the area as well as transportation for your workers.
5. Real Estate: Decide whether to lease or purchase new office space. Lock down a contract before proceeding to the next steps so that you can give them a realistic date to move. 
6. Employee Communication: Inform employees about the relocation as early as possible to minimize uncertainty and allow for life planning and decision-making. Prepare ahead of time so that many employees will decide to leave the company due to those changes. Provide relocation packages that include funds for moving expenses, temporary housing, and partner employment support if it makes sense. Hold meetings or Q&A sessions to address employee questions about the move and provide clear information about the benefits and the timeline.

Logistics

1. IT and Infrastructure: Plan for transferring IT systems, internet provider service appointments, phone systems, and any other infrastructure needed. Hire IT professionals to handle the transition smoothly from office to office and don’t plan for employees to return until this has been checked..
2. Legal: Ensure compliance with local laws, permits, licenses, and regulations in the new state. Update employee contracts, insurance policies, and other legal documents as relevant.
3. Hire Movers: Coordinate the packing, transportation, and setup of office furniture, equipment, and supplies. This can simply be done on iMoving where you can compare commercial moving companies, get quotes, and book them directly to save you the hassle. 

Transition and Integration

1. Timeline: Create a realistic timeline with key goals and deadlines for each stage of the relocation process. Share this timeline with your employees to have them feel some control over the changes. Monitor progress to make sure everything stays on track and that the lead relocation manager is on top of this.
2. Feedback and Adjustment: Gather feedback from employees after the move to identify any issues and make necessary changes to ensure smooth operations.
3. External Communication: Notify clients, vendors, and any other important people to your company about the relocation. Update contact information online and provide details on how the move will affect business operations and hours.
4. Internal Communication: Keep employees informed throughout the process via regular updates, messages, and meetings. Address any questions or concerns as soon as possible.

Post-Move Improvements

1. Assess Performance: Evaluate the success of the relocation based on the goals set and identify lessons learned and areas for improvement for future relocations.
2. Employee Feedback: Send around surveys to all employees to gather feedback about their relocation experience. Use this information to improve future relocation processes so that they feel heard.

• Transparency is key to having employees feel empowered and lowering stress levels
• Daily or weekly updates will keep tempers calm
• Stick to your timeline but adjust your budget if needed to keep your employees on track and calm
• Listen to your employee's thoughts, ideas, and feelings
• Make sure one of your employees is the actual leader who can make decisions in the relocation process
• Don’t plan for your employees to do the packing, book a professional service
• Let your employees work from home the week of the move and ask them to take any personal belongings home with them ahead of time
• Try to encourage retention by giving benefits to those who choose to stick with the company despite the relocation 
• Give bonus days off to employees who do move to learn and explore their new neighborhood and find activities for themselves and their children
• Be kind. This is a hard change for everyone involved, so smile more and be helpful where you can to whoever needs it.

By addressing each aspect of the relocation process as its own, you can minimize disruptions to your company operations, make sure your staff feel heard, and ensure a successful transition to the new office for your company.

All in all, it is key to set one decision maker with a list of people he or she can delegate tasks to to make sure things get done to meet your timeline. Ensure that employees are well informed about the changes and understand the reasoning for the relocation.