4 Issues Facing HR Professionals During Office Relocation and How to Overcome Them

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August 10 2021 - HR pros have a lot of obstacles to overcome in normal circumstances, and if an entire office is being uprooted and moved to new premises, then an array of fresh challenges will appear.

With that in mind, here is a look at the most common complications that need to be tackled by HR when relocating, and what you can do to address them effectively.

Considering transport options

Close to the top of your office relocation checklist should be an assessment of whether the proposed location of your office move offers adequate transport links to enable employees to get to work with ease.

If you find an office that is perfect in every way, apart from being positioned awkwardly without straightforward access to road or rail services, then it should probably not be on your shortlist of prospective locations.

The answer is to accept that you will need to make some compromises when picking your new stomping grounds, and it is necessary to prioritize the happiness of staff. The office needs to be within reach of the bulk of your workforce, and those that are going to have their commute changed significantly or disrupted in some way should be consulted before a decision is made.

Encompassing staff reluctance

Not all employees will necessarily be onboard with the idea of an office move, especially if this means that they themselves will have to relocate to a different area in order to continue with their current role.

Moving brings with it a whole host of administrative obstacles for employees, and could also have other ramifications, such as with regards to their child’s education or their broader family and social situation.

HR pros have a few options here, and providing redundancy packages for those who are set on not moving with the business might be a necessity, especially if there is a clause in their contract relating to this particular scenario.

You can also overcome reluctance by incentivizing the move. This might come in the form of a pay rise or other financial perks, or by covering the costs of transport that employees would otherwise have to shoulder themselves after relocating.

Dealing with safety

Another of the issues that comes with an office relocation is establishing whether or not the new premises is suitably safe for employees to occupy, and checking that it is in compliance with relevant regulations.

HR team members may be expected to look into aspects of the building relating to safety, such as the availability of fire exits and the presence of fire suppression technologies, such as sprinkler systems and extinguishers.

Also if there are different rules, regulations and procedures in place in the new location, checking up on these in advance and getting to know them in detail will be a worthwhile thing to do so that there are no nasty surprises further down the line.

Building a budget

This is one of the most tricky parts of an office relocation, yet one which needs to be given the most care and attention from the earliest possible point in time.

Working out how much you can afford to spend on the move involves not only considering things like the leasing costs of your new premises and the expense of physically shifting all of your furnishings and equipment to it, but also the price you will pay for the lost productivity that is inevitable.

You can mitigate the productivity problem by planning ahead and getting employees to work remotely while the move is taking place, and this is just one of the small but significant efficiencies that help HR pros boss the relocation process.

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