Relocating a business, like moving house, can entail a lot of time-consuming legwork. Hence, many years could go by without you even stopping to consider such a move. However, there remain certain scenarios where switching your firm to a new office could be very worthwhile.
A business is, after all, a regularly changing beast, and so an office that was right for it one day can eventually start looking ill-suited to the company’s needs. Here are several warning signs that this could be happening in your own company’s case…
There isn’t enough space in your existing office
If your company has grown significantly in its revenue and profit, you could naturally have started adding more employees to the team. However, whether you quite have sufficient physical space for all of them in the workspace itself is another question.
As your office feels increasingly cramped, this could make its occupants uncomfortable — and hamper their productivity as a result. One simple remedy for this problem would therefore be to shift the business into a new, larger office.
The office is in a tricky-to-access location
You would have good cause for concern if you keep hearing employees talking about how much they struggled to get to the office that morning.
The Home Based Business Infonet Center website warns that, if your company’s office is difficult to access, “you can expect your employees to start looking for a new job as soon as the initial enthusiasm wears off.”
You are struggling to cover your overheads
Some geographical areas are inevitably pricier to work in than others. Unfortunately, however, pricing is very much driven by demand — meaning that, if you are having to make a hefty financial outlay just to keep hold of your office, that could be because it is in a genuinely great location.
Still, some places can actually be unjustly overlooked as potential business bases, meaning that the attached rental fees can be appreciably lower. For example, if Manchester is too pricy for you, a better-value alternative could be somewhere just outside it, like Trafford.
Your office’s facilities aren’t up to scratch
While renting an office can give you a range of facilities as part of the package, those facilities might not strictly be the best your company can practically get hold of.
If you find that — for example — the telecoms infrastructure keeps faltering or you repeatedly run into onsite technical difficulties, a new office with better amenities could be what you need.
You shouldn’t fret if you aren’t up on all of the relevant technical jargon, as an office broker like Office Freedom could search for a suitable workspace on your behalf.
You can’t employ enough of the right people
Your business might currently be based in a place the most promising candidates don’t live in or aren’t willing to consider living in.
Conversely, as this SmallBusiness.co.uk article points out: “Moving to areas that have an overabundance of qualified applicants can benefit your business greatly.” You could enhance this effect by partnering with local hiring agencies.
