Undertaking an office redesign is a wildly exciting time for any business. A redesign, renovation, or even a reimagined layout in the office can help usher in a time of renewed spirit, well being, and productivity. While it may be easy to recognize your current space isn’t helping your organization and staff achieve their short and long term goals, it’s another thing to consider uprooting the entire working environment and potentially halting any forward-moving momentum.

There’s a lot of pros and cons to weigh out before you begin to tear down walls and look for new office furniture. There are contractors to consider, contemporary design trends, eco, and sustainable products – but the biggest consideration is often ranked last for some over-eager organizations who are keen to get the ball rolling, so to speak.

Investigating how to minimize downtime during an office redesign is a proactive way to help balance incoming and outgoing tasks, delegate plans, and keep your staff motivated and in-the-know while the dust flies. A good strategy is where it all starts – take a deep breath – it starts now.

 

Move Management Software

Move management systems (MMS) are critical for offices on the move, or offices undergoing a renovation or redesign that means jumping ship for an extended period of time. The gist of MMS is to unite and connect every department in your organization in such a way that reduces confusion and shortsightedness and eliminates a surplus of responsibility on management to answer questions when they’re spread thin trying to keep a redesign under control.

Move management software seeks to unify a company on one single system or server by streamlining processes and mobilizing your workforce through a time of locational uncertainty. With an automated workflow and a dedication to improved customer experience, a moving management system is all about tailoring your redesign process to iron out as many potential roadblocks and speed bumps as possible.

When your company can access one succinct system for every team member, you’re able to focus your businesses’ attention back onto customer service and the continued completion of tasks.

 

Keep Staff Well Informed

Let’s imagine that a month-long hiatus isn’t in the cards for your business. You’re plowing forward with your redesign plans and you’re motivated to keep staff working, on task, and completing goals. Even the most headstrong plans can be blown off course by a simple change of setting, so keeping everyone in tune with what’s happening is paramount to the success of your business.

Unnecessary chaos, confusion, and frustration are the likely results of an employee base that’s been left in the dark through a troublesome time – don’t let that happen.

Even the smallest office redesign plans can uproot and affect hundreds, if not thousands of people; from employees and freelancers to subcontractors and clientele. When the lights inevitably go out for construction and your team finds themselves potentially spread out in the world of temporary remote work, or in a temp space that doesn’t compliment their workflow, communication is going to be your best bet in reducing costly downtime and maximizing the chance for continued success.

Host weekly meetings and open the floor to employees to address any concerns they may have, share ideas on how to streamline efficiencies, or simply to update them on the office redesign or renovation progress. Share successful checkpoints in the build and seek to provide a timeline for their eventual return – and don’t be afraid to share unforeseen hurdles or setback in the construction phase. Employees are the heart and soul of your business, and they deserve to know what’s up – good or bad. The willingness to engage in this discourse will help create an environment of trust and confidence between management and employees.

When employees feel they’ve been heard, addressed, and listened to, you’ll stoke their internal fire and send them back to work with a spring in their step. A motivated working environment means ensuring everyone has their opinions heard – finding a proactive way to liaison between the workforce and management is critical.

 

Respond with Authority

Communication is a bit of a two-sided coin. It’s one thing to talk the talk — it’s time to walk the walk.

Holding weekly update meetings, or hosting weekly problem-solving brainstorms is only effective if your management team knows how to respond in such a way that inspires confidence and sure-footedness. Accepting that you may or may not be privy to all the answers is part of this equation – we’re all human, after all – but seeking to inform yourself so you may respond to your staff promptly and with authority makes all the difference when questions are being asked.

Communicate with your design-build team, your contractors, your clientele, and your department heads prior to walking into the perfect storm. Educating yourself on the state of affairs to the best of your ability will give you the ability to respond with authority.

Sometimes this can mean responding to a slew of concerned emails over the weekend, or taking the time to address silly or unnecessary questions that seem trivial at the time – but it’s the ability to give an answer that employees are after. Employers who have sought to put the business into a state of potential disarray thanks to a time-consuming redesign

 

The Design-build Mantra

One of the benefits of hiring a design-build firm to undertake your redesign plans is eliminating the old school multi-channel approach to building. Eliminating avenues for things to go wrong, or for miscommunications to fester is a huge benefit in dealing with one firm, rather than a slew of contractors and sub-trades.

The design-build mantra keeps everything in-house, from the initial brainstorm to the design, to the demo and construction or your new space – it’s all in the capable hands of one succinct firm with the experience to get it done well, and in good time to eliminate downtime for your business.

Let’s imagine you host a departmental rep communication session two weeks into your office redesign – Joan from accounting has a question about the new delivery set up, while the marketing team has concerns they’re not going to have enough space to facilitate a collaborative work environment. Meanwhile, the sales team wants to make sure they have the room to accommodate a semi-private conference room for large sales meetings with clients. Rather than having to bounce between a few different contractors searching for answers, the benefit of working with a design-build firm like Aura Office Environments is everything can go straight to one source. 3 questions, 1 point of contact; all the while eliminating downtime waiting for answers.

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Minimizing downtime for your staff is one of the most important aspects to consider when thinking about an office redesign. Downtime affects employees differently, and the larger picture demands we consider how a redesign will affect more than commute times, working hours, and project deliverables – downtime can also profoundly affect client relationships.

We strongly believe the best ways to minimize downtime are communicating the progress of your project and giving respect to how your employees work to guarantee success during a redesign. In either case, minimizing downtime is all about making our workforce feel empowered to speak up, be heard, and to be a part of the solutions that make your office environment a great place to work.

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