5 Packing Tips To Take The Stress Out Of An Office Move
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—moving can be stressful. An office move is no exception. There are so many aspects of an office move that have to be taken care of even before the moving truck arrives—and those aspects just multiply when you have to coordinate that with your staff members.
So let’s talk about one of those key stressful aspects of moving: Packing. In an office move with multiple staff members, organization, coordination and minimization are key tricks to taking the stress out of packing up for an office move. Here are a few packing tips your organization can use during an office move:
Packing Tip #1 – Decide: Trash it or Pack it? Before you or your staff even begins the packing process, each of you should evaluate and identify the items in your work areas that will not be needed in the new office location and disposed of them immediately. Why move these “Trash It” items twice when you can save time, space and money ensuring that only the necessary “Pack It” items will be shipped to your new location.
Packing Tip #2 – Third-Party Storage – For such items as hard-copy files which may be important to keep yet may not need to be readily accessible in your new location, a third-party storage company could be a viable option. (Of course we would also encourage keeping a soft copy of these files in case of an emergency.)
Packing Tip #3 – Take personal valuables and memorabilia home. If there is anything that can add stress to a staff member during an office move, it is having their personal memorabilia packed in with the rest of their office equipment and stuffed onto a moving truck in the hope that they will see them arrive safe and unharmed at their new location. Save them from that stress. Encourage them to take their valuables and memorabilia home with them until after the move. They can always bring those items to their new location after he move.
Packing Tip #4 –If possible, try to attain and utilize boxes that are the same size. This will help lessen any wasted packing space when loading the moving truck.
Packing Tip # 5 – Label everything! Proper labelling of packed boxes and other items that can be easily missed such as lamps and wall hangings will help ensure that everything will be delivered to your new office and not be left behind at your old location.
So don’t stress over the packing. Instead organize and minimize using the above five packing tips. Doing so will save time, space, energy and money.
Extend Your Brand Into Your Interior Design
OK. I’m about the make a statement that may have some of you in shock.
Ready? Here it is:
Interior design and branding should go hand in hand when designing or redesigning your office space.
Surprised? You really shouldn’t be. Consider this: “branding” by definition is the act of imprinting some sort of mark or unique identity to something in order to make it stand out or be memorable. Companies in general aim to brand their products and/or services with colours, artsy images, logos, a slogan or any combination of these so that the outside world will remember them…but what about when the outside world or even your staff comes into your office space? Consistency both inside and outside of the office can only further enhance your branding efforts.
So how can a company incorporate elements of its brand into the interior design of an office space?
First, consider your walls. Walls are the main canvas of interior design. Any or all components of your brand can be displayed on your walls. So if colour, for example, is a key component to your brand, you can either paint all the walls your brand colour, create an accent wall with your brand colour, or paint portions of your wall the brand colour. A logo can be painted or mounted on one of the walls in a reception area or boardroom. Artsy images such as waves, stripes or bubbles that may be related to your brand can be painted or stenciled as accents to your wall design. Even a slogan or mission statement can be stencilled or mounted on a wall of your office space in order to reinforce your branding efforts.
Now, consider your floors. Similar to walls, colour, logos, slogans or artsy images can be incorporated right into your floor or carpet design, budget permitting. Most companies that incorporate aspects of their branding into their floor design would primarily have this in their main reception area. (Of course, the floors would need a special coating to ensure such images remain intact in high traffic areas.) A smaller budget option would be to have welcome mats in your brand colour either with or without your logo or artsy image intact.
Finally, consider your non-fixed items such as desks, furniture, and accent items such as table mats, coasters, pillows, flower pots or other accent décor items. A simple application would be to purchase such items in your brand colours and have them placed in key areas of your office space. Some companies may take this step further and add their mission statement, logo or branding image on some of these items.
Branding is not just for outside the office. Whether you own or lease your office space, there is always a way to extend your brand into the interior design of your office.
Skimping on Quality Business Furniture Can Hurt Your Business
We see it all the time. Companies looking to change their office furniture will invest in higher quality new business furniture for areas that are often seen by visitors – like the reception area and the boardroom – but skimp on the quality and “newness” of the task furniture for their staff. That may seem like a great economical decision for the short term but in the long term, it could end up being one of the worst business decisions ever. Why?
1. It can send the wrong message to your staff.
While high quality business furniture in the “seen” areas will make a positive impression on your visitors, the lack of quality task furniture can give just the opposite impression to your staff. Think about it—your staff does all the work to make your company operate effectively. Making sure they have high quality business furniture to work with sends the message that you value them and their contribution in the success of your business.
2. Lower quality business furniture can eat up your profits…
(a) Through replacement costs
While investing in lower quality furniture may keep costs low in the short term, the “life” of the furniture is significantly less than that of higher quality furniture and therefore may need to be replaced much sooner or more frequently. Over a 10-year period, for example, you may find that you have spent more money replacing low quality business furniture than you would have if you initially invested in higher quality furniture.
(b) Through increased absenteeism and benefit payouts
Lower quality business furniture does not promote optimal comfort and positioning for everyday business tasks, hence there could be increased reports of back pain and carpal tunnel syndrome amongst your staff. In more severe cases, this could result in staff missing work for extended periods of time and your company having to pay increased disability costs.
3. It can contribute to lower productivity
Low quality business furniture will lessen you staff’s overall productivity. Lower productivity means less competitiveness.
So why take the risk? Invest in high quality business furniture for your staff’s everyday use. The continued success of your business depends on it.
Expert Office Renovators Launch a Newly Renovated Company Web Site
Familiar with the name DJ McGauley and Associates Inc.? If not, you will be once you visit this Toronto-based office space planning, renovation and relocation company’s newly renovated website at djmcgauleyandassociates.com .
Designed with customers in mind, the newly renovated website features larger easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate menus, photos of original work, clear descriptions of services offered and a video summarizing their six-stage approach to helping companies with their relocation, renovation and reconfiguration projects. This website is also mobile friendly.
***Have a Coffee On Us***
To celebrate the launch of this newly renovated website, DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. invites business representatives and real estate agents to navigate through the website and send us your comments by completing the form located on the right hand side of our website or just click on the Tim’s card. The first 50 people to respond will receive a Tim Horton’s gift card as a token of appreciation.
So don’t wait! Visit our new website for your chance to have a coffee and donut on us!
Top 5 Tips for Making Your Workspace ‘Work’ For You
You must admit. It is wonderful to get a new computer or laptop, new desk, new office chair or even a new keyboard and mouse for your workspace, but getting these items is not enough to help you work more efficiently. Even if your workspace has everything you need, getting these items to work for you is necessary for you to work better with them.
So how do you get your workspace to work for you? Well, here are a few tips:
Tip #1 – Make sure your workspace includes a chair with a back rest to support your lower back and is adjusted to a height to facilitate an optimum sitting posture. An optimum sitting posture is one where your torso to thigh angle is roughly 100 degrees, your feet are flat on the floor or on a foot rest, and your knees are bent at a 90 to 100 degree angle.
Tip#2 – Ensure the h.eight of the desk or table of your workspace is roughly 64cm to 75 cm up from the floor to compliment the optimum sitting posture and facilitate an optimum arm angle of 70 to 90 degrees when working with a keyboard or mouse.
Tip #3 – Whether your workspace includes a laptop or desktop computer, make sure the top of line of text on your screen is adjusted to be at your eye level and is roughly 40cm to 76cm away from you. Also, your keyboard and mouse should be placed beside each other and positioned so that your wrists are relatively straight when using either of them.
Tip #4 – Have proper lighting in your workspace to minimize eye strain. If necessary, position a desktop lamp opposite your dominate hand to add sufficient lighting and minimize shadowing to your workspace. Also, control glare by either positioning your workspace beside or parallel to a window to minimize glare from windows, or between rows of overhead florescent lights to prevent glare from them. Otherwise, you can adjust the angle of your screen or add anti-glare screen protectors to help minimize glare.
Tip #5 – If using a phone or mobile, make sure it is within arm’s reach to reduce repetitive over reaching. Alternately, consider using a headset.
Why settle for an insufficient workspace? Follow all of these tips and your workspace will ‘work’ towards optimizing your comfort, reducing strain on your body and allowing you to function more efficiently.
Corporate Space Planning & Relocation Advice 