Disposing Unwanted Office Furniture and Items

Office moves can be exciting. You will be in a new space with a new office layout and perhaps new furniture. But disposing unwanted office furniture or large items can be daunting.

 

Here are some ways you can dispose your unwanted furniture or large items:

 

  1. Offer to Employees

Your employees may be interested in acquiring pieces of furniture, electronics or office items. You can consider selling items to them at a discount or offering it to them for free. This is better for the environment and also reduces your disposing cost. Most importantly, it builds good will with your employees.

The demand for workspace furniture is particularly high during the COVID-19 pandemic and news outlets have reported a shortage of office furniture on numerous occasions. This disposing option may be exceptionally welcomed by your employees, particularly for workspace furniture, at the time of COVID-19 pandemic.

 

  1. Donating to Charities

Here are options for donating your office’s used furniture and appliances:

Green Standards, a strategic partner of The Office Mover, is aligned with over 17,000 non-profits and delivers gently used office furniture to schools, foundations, charities, social programs, and more.  They can be a hassle-free option to help you get your office furniture and unwanted items into those that most need them.

 

  • Electronic Recycling Organizations

There are various electronic recycling social enterprises across Canada. They accept old computers, laptops, printers and many other types of electronic devices to reduce the environmental impact of electronic waste and to make technology more accessible for the marginalized populations or under resourced not-for-profit organizations.

 

Habitat for Humanity is a great option for donating major appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, etc. The items they accept are resold at the store level with proceed supporting Habitat for Humanity home builds.

 

  • Furniture Banks Across Canada  

Furniture Banks across Canada help individuals and families transition out of displacement and homelessness through a furnished home. Some unwanted items you may have could be suitable for this cause. Some of the Furniture Banks in Ontario include:

 

  1. Disposal to Waste Management and Local Scrap Yards

Last but not least, items with little reuse value can go to disposal or for metal recycling. Most commercial relocation service providers, like The Office Mover, offer disposal services. They can send your disposable items, large or small, to waste management companies or local scrap yards, making it hassle free for you.

Be sure to clearly communicate and label items to keep and to dispose if you plan to use your commercial relocation service provider to both move your office and dispose items at the same time.

 

Commerical Storage Solutions and Cost

Looking to downsize your office, move or temporarily storing office belongings. Did you know that many commercial moving companies also offer temporary and long-term storage solutions? They can store a variety of items from vital records, equipment, surplus office furniture, to high value assets such as paintings.

While planning an office move, there are a lot of decisions to make – what to keep, what to dispose and what to put into storage. Your commercial moving company can provide you with turnkey storage solutions for the items you would like to store either temporarily, while you are settling in or arranging for the logistics of those items, or for the long term.

Instead of coordinating between your commercial moving company and a commercial storage company, your commercial moving company can take all your office items – those to be moved to a different location, those to be disposed and those to be stored – all at once.

How much does commercial storage cost?
As a rule of thumb, commercial storage is changed by storage pallet (approx. 40” x 48”) and by month. In Ontario, commercial relocation companies and commercial storage companies charge between $75 – $150 per storage pallet per month.

The Office Mover offers secure, temperature controlled commercial storage for our clients. For more information, contact us at info@theofficemover.net or 905.673.6683 (MOVE).

image of an office space

Checklist When Looking for a New Office Space

 

When considering an office move, there is a lot to take into consideration to ensure your new space meets your current and future needs. There are many more options in the market today, compared to before. Companies can consider both a traditional long-term office lease, as well as, renting office space from a co-working space for greater lease flexibility.

This is also a great opportunity to consult your staff and better understand their needs and preferences.

Below is a checklist of things to consider when looking for a new office space:

Image & Feel

  • Type of Building
  • Location in Building
  • Location on Floor
  • View
  • Office Building & Floor
  • Size
  • Quality of Improvement
  • Signage
  • Visibility

Location & Accessibility

  • Geographic Location
  • Freeway Access
  • Public Transportation

Employees

  • Number
  • Sizes of Offices & Work Areas
  • Special Needs

Reception Area

  • Seating
  • Upgrades

Conference Rooms

  • Seating capacity
  • Image
  • Public / Private

Work Areas

  • Closed Offices or Open Space
  • Sizes of Offices, Meeting Rooms, and Open Area
  • Equipment
  • Special Electrical Needs

Amenities

  • Lunch Rooms
  • Lounge
  • Rest Rooms

Parking

  • Number on Site
  • Total Required
  • Cost

Mechanical Systems

  • Elevators
  • HVAC
  • Operation
  • Special Electrical Requirements

Security

  • Building
  • Neighborhood

Budget / Cost

  • High / Low / Realistic Costs
  • Costs of Relocation

Timing

  • Occupancy Date
  • Time Line for Process

Lease Length & Options

  • Lease Length
  • Expansion & Extension Options
  • Termination
  • Contraction
  • First Right of Refusal on Adjoining Space

Business Growth Projections

  • 3 year
  • 5 year
  • 10 year

 

image of open concept office space

HR Guide to Business Relocation

HR & Employment Issues when Relocating Your Business

Business relocation is a key area in which businesses can re-energize their staff and position the business better for the future. This HR Guide looks at the positive impact that HR can play to achieve a smooth and happy business relocation. It looks at 7 key areas which HR needs to address and offers practical solutions to delivering the successful business relocation that the business shoots for.

 

Planning & Preparation

A business relocation is a major project and needs to be planned properly. There are so many things to consider when you move office – which is why, for many, relocation is ranked as one of life’s most stressful events! But it doesn’t have to be this way – because a business relocation (like any process) can be broken down into a series of simple tasks and checks.

The intelligent use of your business relocation project planning documents and office move checklist will not only help you plan the business relocation, but also act as your road map to carry out the many tasks involved with the project. They should include all of the tasks that need to be completed (and the steps leading up to them), the individuals, teams & companies responsible.

 

Change Management

Business relocation should be an exciting time for all. It’s an opportunity to affect positive change management, improvement in business performance, increased morale & momentum. But for some people change can be unsettling and this can certainly be the case with a business relocation where some staff might feel resistant to change. With this in mind, a business relocation will require businesses to fully utilize their change management skills. The key here is to anticipate the likely issues before they are raised as well as encourage open dialogue well in advance of any business relocation. Providing staff with a clear message of the reasons behind the move (and the benefits it will bring) will help get your employees on board with what you are wanting to achieve.

Remember that, at the same time as the business relocation process is going on, your company has to continue to run its business and focus on its existing workload and commitments. You will want to ensure that distractions are kept to a minimum and that any “negative vibes” surrounding your business relocation are dealt with before they get out of hand.

 

Communication – Often and Openly

Communication is vital – and your staff will appreciate being updated early on the rationale behind the business relocation and then regularly updated as the moving office process plays out.

While many of your staff will be excited by the business relocation, there may be some people who have concerns that need addressing. While many of these issues may seem trivial to the business – such as change in their commute schedule/route, parking space allocations, the location of their workspace in the new office space (who sits where and who get desks by the window can become a contentious issue!) or how big the kitchen facilities in the new office space will be – they are important to your staff.

It is well worth your Senior Management Team getting together in advance of any staff briefing to consider any potential issues with the business relocation and discuss how you plan to address them with a unified voice.

So – communication is the key. There will be some people, both internal and external, who will need to be consulted for their input to the planning process; there will be others who need to be informed; and everyone needs to be regularly updated to keep their interest and motivation levels high. If you keep the lines of communication open to all interested parties, internal and external, your business relocation will have a much greater chance of success.

 

Identify & Promote the Positives

A key part of the office relocation planning process is to think about the benefits that the business relocation will have for your staff. Perhaps your new office will have better facilities. It may be that your new office space is going to allow you to upgrade your systems which will improve your work processes. Or it may just be that your new office is nearer to clients, restaurants, bars, sandwich shops, shopping, offers better parking, is nearer to train stations and/or bus stops. Whatever the advantages of your new office space it is important that these are identified and communicated.

 

Involve your Staff

Staff involvement when moving office is an important part of achieving a successful business relocation project. It’s a fact of life that people that feel involved and engaged in a process will buy in to it more than when they feel neglected or excluded. Consider having a representative from each department on an internal “business relocation team” and hold regular meetings where you can involve them in each stage of the business relocation.

A key operational benefit of doing this is that they can then not only act as “champions” for their department but also identify any issues pertaining to their area of expertise prior to the business relocation – and then provide valuable input into the solutions.

 

Address Training Needs

In the course of a business relocation, it is highly likely that some of the equipment or working practices may be new to your staff. Do not neglect the need to address. Training on any new systems (IT or Telecoms) is often a key area that needs to be planned for.

 

Ask for Feedback after the Business Relocation

A successful business relocation project will often deliver a surge in business performance over the first few months after an business relocation. This is great news – but needs to be maintained. A key area to help deliver this improvement in morale and momentum is to ask for staff feedback on the business relocation. The feedback you receive will enable you to further reinforce the positives of the business relocation, address any issues and build on the successes that the business relocation has brought to the business.

image of an office with workers

Office Cubicles Refurbishing and Repair

Office furniture and cubicles work hard for you. Even with normal daily use, the best made systems can, over time, experience wear and tear.

New requirements can also arise. Organizational changes can mean need for different office layout and size of cubicles; corporate mergers, acquisitions, or brand updates may mandate new color schemes; new health and safety requirements may mean a configuration change in office furniture and cubicles.

You need to tackle these new requirements, as well as, ongoing upkeep in a cost-effective manner. Office furniture repair, maintenance and refurbishment can save time, money and resources by re-using existing furniture, or matching new or used inventory to an existing office plan. These are services The Office Mover provides.

There are two approaches to maintaining and re-using existing furniture:

Office Furniture Refurbishment
For larger, more complex cubicle restoration projects, office furniture need to be dismantled and brought on-site to the office furniture installation specialist’s location to re-upholster panels, make modifications to panel heights and widths to accommodate specific work styles, re-paints metal parts and cabinetry to match corporate color schemes, and refinishes scratched or worn wood surfaces to a full shine.

Office Furniture Repair
Repair services are performed at your office. Office furniture installation and repair technicians come directly to your office and make repairs such as grease stuck drawers, re-touch scratched surfaces, straighten dented panels, or replace lost or damaged parts like chair wheels, drawer pulls or broken locks. On-site fabric cleaning is also available for spot or full-panel cleansing to keep fabrics fresh, clean and bright.

 

Here are some tips for office furniture maintenance and up keeping:

  • Schedule regular maintenance (e.g. quarterly)
  • Ensure there is an annual budget allocated for such activities
  • Accumulate a list on an ongoing basis, in preparation to the scheduled office furniture maintenance date
  • Provide the office furniture installation and repair technician(s) the list so they can effectively use their time at your premise

 

Tips for Moving Your Computer Servers and Server Room

Moving servers and server rooms is one of the most mission critical parts of an office move. It is a huge responsibility for the IT department as a company can lose a lot of data or money if they experience significant downtime on their network or phones. Here are my top three tips to successfully moving your server room:

1. Order Your Phone Lines Months in Advance of Your Office Move

This is probably not new to you. Telco’s are famous for being slow moving. Not only does a regular order take several weeks to process, other issues can arise as well (e.g. technical problem, miscommunication). Waiting for telco’s is one of the common reasons companies have to delay an office move to their new location. You can get your order expedited but that will still take a couple of weeks and it will cost you. Start the process several months in advance of your office move to insure your phone lines are up and ready when your company is ready to move offices.

2. Pre-build Your Server Room before the Office Move Date

Consider pre-building a skeleton server room so that they can make a quick cut-over during your office move weekend. You’ll not only want to pre-build racking, but it can be helpful to have a firewall, ethernet switch, UPS, and wireless access points setup and ready to go in the new server room. Also, prepare plenty of patch cables and power strips on hand so that you have everything you need to reconnect the servers when they reach the new location.

3. Hire Helping Hands

The IT department will have a full schedule over the office move weekend so it can be helpful to hire a team to disconnect and reconnect your desktops. There are IT companies that specialize in this kind of things. They will place everything at the new location as it was previously arranged on each users’ desk and they will test each system to insure that it’s working so that your employees can settle in quickly on their first day in the new office. This takes a huge burden off the IT department and allows them to focus on higher-level issues.

The movement of the server room is one of the most important parts of an office move. Although it can be complicated, you are well on your way to a smooth transition from one location to the next by following the above tips.

 

Office Move Packing Tips

Although office moves can be exciting, packing and unpacking can be stressful. Any missteps can result in more productivity loss than originally anticipated.

Our Office Move Packing Guide will get you organize, reduce stress, improve efficiently and save money:

 

Document

Your move will be easier and smoother if you pre-plan. Here are several handy tips to help you get started.
– Create a thorough and complete inventory for your office move, including what you plan to move and what you plan to dispose
– Photograph or videotape any unique or valuable belongings

 

Communicate with Your Professional Office Mover

Ensure you communicate thoroughly with your professional office mover on your inventory of things to move and to dispose. Point out bulky or high sensitive items (e.g. servers) for moves. Inform them of the elevator situation (or the lack thereof) to avoid surprises.

This will avoid surprises and prevent your move plan to go off course.

 

Color Code Your Items

For larger office move projects, The Office Mover aid our clients by providing color coded moving bins. With our color coded bins, our clients can pack things that are meant to go to different locations, floors, and/or rooms during the office move. This technique helps speed up the move process and save our client money. It also gives our clients peace of mind as they can visually see if bins are relocated to the right spots.