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April 25, 2022

Moving into a Smaller Commercial Building? Tips to Make That Happen

Moving into a smaller space can be difficult for businesses; for the same reason, it can be difficult for families moving into a smaller home. Downsizing is tough! To make sure that your new office space is the right size for your business, you’ll have to think about which items you choose to move and other factors. Here’s what to know about moving into a smaller commercial building.

Convert to Digital Records

Paper records can take up a lot of space – and in some cases may not be necessary anymore! Many businesses have already converted to digital records, making life easier for you. Because of all the companies that rely on paper records, many types of software can help you make this conversion.

Buy a scanner to scan your old records, then dispose of them safely and securely. If you’re throwing away sensitive information about clients (or your employees), you’ll need to have those papers destroyed or shredded. To be safe, subscribe to a secure service on the cloud, or buy an external hard drive that will enable you to keep backups of your records. You can’t afford to lose your company’s data!

Eliminate Clutter

Be sure to clean everything from your desk drawers to your filing cabinets to eliminate the clutter your business doesn’t need anymore. Removing clutter makes moving easier (because there’s less stuff to pack) and makes your move less expensive. However, eliminating clutter can take a while, so give yourself time to get through this process.

Establish a Downsizing Committee

Don’t try to get through this work alone. Instead, establish a downsizing committee that can help you make decisions and get through the work of downsizing. This helps spread the work (so everyone can continue their regular jobs) so that you won’t miss out on any opportunities to reduce the size of your business.

Two heads are better than one! If you’re working with a committee, you can count on the other people in your business to develop more ideas for getting the work done than you may have been able to come up with yourself.

Get Rid of Items Not Often Used

Does your business have a lot of old printers they no longer use? Or maybe old desk furniture that no one needs? Get rid of items that you haven’t used recently. To make it easier for your staff, establish a rule that anything that you haven’t used in the last two years should be thrown away. This will help you avoid throwing out anything you need and make it easier to decide what to get rid of.

Give Yourself Time for Downsizing

Getting rid of things takes time, so get your start early. If you have many employees who will be getting rid of the things they need, ask them to set aside an hour a week to downsize. Doing this makes reducing a more manageable task.