What Should You Consider Before Changing Your Office Space?

Yes, we recently shifted to our new office space. More than 200 employees, huge servers, thousands of samples, piles of files, boxes full of tech hardware, all our office furniture and of course our precious coffee machines.

Phew!

We shifted lock, stock, and barrel and it was a mammoth size task. Nevertheless exciting. To be honest, sometimes there is no option. Once the organization grows, it becomes extremely necessary to mount up in every aspect for an all-round development. However, the process of relocation is a struggle even for the most well-organized people.  A number of factors come in line when a company decides to relocate.

While the parameters like location, parking space, cost, etc are the obvious ones, the parameters that make a difference in the work culture, comfort at workplace and productivity are the ones that really matter in the long run.

"If you look at history, innovation doesn't come just from giving people incentives; it comes from creating environments where their ideas can connect."

Let us take you through the things we took into account when we changed our office space and you could consider too.

1. Create a Space You Can Call Your Own

We, being a 3-year-old startup, have moved from one office space to another. Every time we grew, so did the team size and the need to move to a new office space. Even though we upscaled at those spaces over the period, we were not able to translate what we stand for through our workplace. We desired to have a space that we could call as our own, something that would clearly narrate our story. On these lines, we decided to relocate to an office that we have customized ourselves. The idea was to communicate our values as an organization and to be in sync with our brand identity. Being a packaging firm, we named the rooms and painted our walls based on the primary materials used in packaging which made our office space very packaging-centric.

2. Use the Available Space Efficiently

Division of the entire area in a way depends on the kind of employees, whether they are the ones who mostly sit at their desk or those who like moving around while they work. Realizing the dynamic nature of the Bizongo team, we knew we need to have more spaces to walk around than areas to sit. Also, the objective was to ensure that no person is tied to their desks and have enough space and freedom to mobilize.

Rather than just freeing up their legs, these zones proved to be good collaboration units where employees from different teams come together to solve problems rather than working in silos, which in turn results in increased productivity. We also included lockers in our office which is really amazing but you can alternatively add drawers too. Works great both ways!  

3. Plan a Flexible Layout

Companies need to grow and it needs a skilled lot of people to do that. While fixing the layout, we were aware of the fact that we might add up more people to our family at some point of time or the other. This is why we decided upon framing the layout in a way that it can accommodate more people when required, thereby maintaining the scope of expansion.

4. Don’t Make it Boring

One thing that had been clear in our mind is that by creating an inspiring workplace, any organization is more likely to end up with an inspired staff. Be it colorful decor, fun additions or graphics on the wall, it all ends up adding to the productivity in the work environment. When thinking about the same, the first thing that came into our minds was what people relate the most to and the answer was easy - quotes and characters.

So, it was decided to include the employees in the process and get motivating quotes from them. The thought was to put up quotes from their favorite movie or TV series on the wall and make employees feel more connected to their office. Quirky furniture, unusual seating arrangement and graphics on the wall were just a few more things to get the creative and intellectual juices flowing. On the top of it all, the ‘Wall of fame’ is the element that everyone loves. Having your achievements appreciated and taking pride in looking at the pictures put up on that wall is incomparable.

5. Make the Best Use of Technology

With the growing necessity of technology, we need to run at the same pace. Hence comes in technologically sound offices. Having three office locations made it even more essential to integrate quality technological devices so as to bring work to workers. This makes important meetings and monthly townhalls accessible to everyone in the entire organization. This also adds on to the ability to work from different locations and even from home in cases of urgency. Nonetheless, the scope of technology is quite vast and you can think and integrate more of the latest technologies in your workplace. For example, a digital receptionist can be so awesome, can’t it?

6. Give Employee Health a Priority

While we surely take care of the work going on in the organization, it is also necessary to look after the health of the employees. Acknowledging that, a storage of healthy yet savory munchies were made available to everyone. The idea of adding some sit-stand spaces was also driven by the fact that most of the work nowadays is done sitting in front of the systems and we wanted to avoid it to some extent. Spaces to move around and even play were added to make sure employees do not spend the maximum of their time sitting.

7. Add Interesting Areas

Along with keeping the work going, it is also important to maintain the fun at the workplace. To remove the mundanity from the workplace, game zones were added. This also serves the purpose of increment of productivity as employees get to take short times off from their work, get refreshed and resume the work. More of such added areas include the library which keeps the brain cells tingling and bookworms alive and the reception that acts as a business card for your organization. There’s also a pair of small sound-proof cabins, you know, for the professional calls that need absolute silence.

So are you a growing business too and are looking to shift to a new office space? No problem. We got you covered. Now you know what exactly do you need to keep on the top of your mind! Happy Relocation! Soon after relocation, Bizongo also introduced itself as a brand.

Want to know why and how ? Read up the story behind Bizongo's new avatar!