Office relocation decisions aren't made in a vacuum. When you move locations, whether you go across town or you go across the country, that transition has a wide effect on your business and on the lives and businesses of those that are affected by your operation. Above and beyond the impact on the community as a whole, there are specific stakeholders that are impacted by corporate real estate changes.
Employees at the Location
The most obvious stakeholders in an office relocation are the employees that work there. Small moves within the same office park or grouping of office buildings should have minimal impact on them, unless the new location has significantly different parking, access or amenities than the original one. Larger moves, however, have a much broader impact. If you go across town, for instance, you could disrupt commuting patterns. Locations that are significantly farther from employee's residences could even lead to increased staff turnover. While it's usually impossible to make everyone happy, paying close attention to a new location's impact on the personal lives of your employees can help mitigate the impact of the move.
Other Company Employees and Departments
A new location can be more or less convenient for the rest of the company as well. If the data connectivity available at the new location is not as robust as at the first, it could cause a problem for your IT department. On the other hand, if you're moving a field office closer to the airport, that office relocation will probably reduce the time, length and cost of business trips into the office for management staff and others that service it from afar.
If a move will necessitate increased shipping and mailing expenses, it's a good idea to factor that into your calculus, as well. For instance, if your new location is hundreds of miles away from the corporate center, calculate both the cost and the time impact of having to ship materials instead of running them down the hall or across the street.
Clients
For offices that receive few, if any, client visits, this is a non-factor. However, when your clients interact with your company at your office, they become major stakeholders in your space. An office relocation will inconvenience some and benefit others. Others may even forget you moved and you risk losing their business.
Vendors
Generally speaking, your vendors should worry about you and not the other way around. However, if your company needs to be physically close to vendors, a relocation away from them could be a major disruption. Not only will they lose the benefit of being close to a major client, but you'll lose the ability to have vendors and other service providers in your office when you need them as quickly as possible. It could also lead to reduced service or even to higher costs as they recalculate what it costs them to serve you.
An office relocation is a complicated process. Even before you start crunching the numbers, ask yourself how it will effect these four key stakeholder groups. Keeping them in mind as you plan your transition can help you to make it a more successful one.
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