Telling Your Staff About an Office Move

An office move is a change to where every one of your employees spends their day and how long it takes them to get there. It is treated internally as a facilities project and experienced by staff as something quite different.

The businesses that handle this well do not spend more; they just tell people earlier and more specifically.

Just-In-Time Moving is locally owned and handles commercial moves across West Valley City and Salt Lake County.

Tell people as soon as it is certain

The instinct is to wait until details are settled. The result is that staff hear it as a rumour first, which is worse than an announcement with gaps in it.

Say what is decided, say plainly what is not yet, and say when you will know. People handle uncertainty considerably better than they handle being the last to know.

Answer the commute question directly

This is the thing everybody is actually thinking about, and it is often left unaddressed while the announcement talks about growth.

Give the address, and be concrete about parking: how much, whether it is free, whether it is assigned. Say what the transit options are. If the move meaningfully lengthens some people's journeys, acknowledge it rather than hoping nobody mentions it.

For some staff this is a genuine problem and they will need to raise it. Make it clear who they raise it with.

Answer the desk question

The second thing everybody wonders. Will I have my own desk. Who am I sitting near. Is it open plan. Is there anywhere quiet.

Publish the floor plan with names on it once it exists. It settles a great deal of low-level anxiety at no cost.

Be specific about what people must do

Vague instructions produce a moving day where half the desks are not packed.

Give a date, a place to collect boxes, the labelling scheme, and an explicit statement of what is theirs to pack and what will be handled for them. Personal items and desk contents are theirs; furniture and equipment are not.

Say what happens on the day: whether people work, work from home, or are off.

Give somebody the job

One named person for questions, said out loud. Without one, questions go to whoever seems approachable and answers become inconsistent.

Then tell people what the first day looks like, so nobody arrives not knowing where to sit.

Call (435) 862-3080 or email office@movingjustintime.com.