Your company may be growing, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you need a big office. A larger one could give you more room for extra employees and equipment, and clients are likely to be impressed by it.
However, this added space will come at a greater cost and will likely require more maintenance. Consequently, you don’t want to upsize your office too soon. You could make your small office space look and feel bigger as well.
Just when should you put off upsizing? And what can you do to cope with a smaller office? This post offers a few tips.
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Reconfigure Your Existing Office Layout
It may be possible to make do with the space you already have by simply rearranging the layout. There could be ways to better position desks so that you can fit more people into your office.
There may also be unused equipment that you can get rid of or equipment that you can scale down.
Old filing cabinets could be removed by digitizing information in them – allowing you to put desks in their place. Unnecessarily large desks may meanwhile benefit from being replaced by smaller desks.
Consider Embracing Remote Working/Hot-Desking
Not all your employees may need to work in the office at the same time. Encouraging some employees to work remotely each day could allow you to embrace ‘hot-desking’.
Instead of every employee having their own desk, you can allocate desks to a certain number of people, while the others work remotely.
A growing number of employees want the option to work remotely. At the same time, you can still give them the option to work from the office on some days so that they’re not working from home full-time.
Give Up Meeting Space For A Big Office
A lot of offices have designated meeting spaces, but this isn’t always used regularly. Turning this meeting space into extra space for desks could allow you to hire extra employees without having to move the office.
There are many other ways to still conduct meetings including Zoom calls, hosting meetings outside, going out to lunch, hiring external meeting space, or simply relying on group chats.
Weigh Up The Costs Of A Big Office
More room could cost you a lot more money in rent and bills. You also have to consider the cost of the move itself. By budgeting ahead, you can work out whether the costs are feasible.
It’s possible that by shopping around, you may find that you can reduce the cost of a larger office and make it affordable.
Compare quotes of commercial moving companies to find the best price and consider looking in different locations for larger offices. (In some cases, it may be possible to rent a larger office for the same price you’re paying now just by moving to a less attractive location).
Know When It’s Impractical To Stay Put
If your company is growing rapidly and you have a very small office, there may come a point when it becomes impractical to continue operating from the same office.
There are only so many desks or a big tall guest chair that you can squeeze into a building until it becomes cramped and uncomfortable.
You don’t want it to get to this point. If letting employees work remotely isn’t possible due to security or communication issues, you may get to this point more quickly.
Usually, once people start complaining about a lack of space, you know that it’s time to upsize and look for a bigger office for your small business.
Read: Tips to Make A Small Office Look Bigger
Your Turn On Having A Big Office
Have you had to increase the size of your office space for your small business? I”d love to hear about why and how you made it bigger or moved to a new big office location.
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