5 things you may not have considered for your office move

Moving your office or business involves a long checklist of things to remember, and it’s easy to let items slip through the cracks. Here are a few things you should consider in the time leading up to an office move.

1. Create a floor plan as soon as you’ve selected your new space. This allows you to consider your furniture options well before relocating. Can you reuse or repurpose your existing furniture? Do you need to purchase all or some new furniture? If you don’t need all of your existing furniture, you can sell or decommission it before the move. By eliminating the need to move it twice or put it in storage, you will ultimately save time and money.

2. Consider the HVAC requirements for any equipment your company uses. It’s important to address this with your architect or space planner before the move, eliminating last minute scrambles or expensive fixes.

3. Think about destroying or archiving old files and paperwork – a move is a great time to purge. Just make sure you account for sensitive documents and have a plan in place to protect your company’s privacy. You should always destroy sensitive documents through a certified shredding company.

4. Did you know that moving does not require hundreds of cardboard boxes? Consider ways to make your move greener – ask your moving company if they offer crate rental versus corrugated material. This option saves time and money and is better for the environment.

5.  Remember to change your address. This may seem like a no brainer, but make sure you apply that change everywhere it’s required.

• New stationery and business cards
• New building signage
• Company vehicle signage
• Vehicle registration
• Website and social media pages
• Ongoing advertising
• Yellow pages listings
• Etc.

Hiring a qualified moving company that specializes in commercial and office relocation and is certified by the International Office Moving Institute (IOMI) can alleviate the pressure to remember every detail of your move.

Tradeshow Exhibit Transportation

You've invested thousands in your upcoming industry tradeshow. You have giveaways, booth staff, marketing materials and a great attention-grabbing idea to attract attendees to your booth.

After many months of planning, set-up day arrives and the exhibit doors open, the enormous convention hall is filled with the sounds of booth displays being erected in every direction you look. You finally arrive at your space, armed ready with your tool belt to find…an empty space.

Exhibit transportation is often the most overlooked and undervalued aspect of tradeshow planning. Choosing a vendor experienced in booth transportation is paramount to the success of your show. The marketing aspect of the show often overshadows the critical logistics decisions that need to be made to avoid costly and embarrassing transportation blunders. Choosing an experienced transportation provider is the first key to your success in tradeshow planning.

Here are some tips for finding professional transportation companies who are experts in exhibit shipping.

Choose an experienced provider 
Ask companies for references and ask acquaintances at trade shows for guidance on which is the best company around. Reputable companies may have slightly higher rates because they understand the nuances of this type of transportation, but it is always better to pay more rather than face undue delays or worse, no booth at all!

Don’t wait until the last minute
If the event sponsors have made arrangements for an advance warehouse, use it. Unforeseen circumstances like bad weather can cause flight delays, and transportation companies can be victims of these unavoidable circumstances. Label all crates properly and mark with paint or stickers so as to easily identify your booth in a sea of display crates.

Backups
Bring copies of all your show forms, including registration documents and confirmations, just in case. Make backups and duplicates of all audio/visual presentations you’ll be using.

Five tips for planning and designing your office

Your new work space design can have a huge impact on the future of your business. Your choices can either make your employees more productive—or less productive. More productive employees, of course, means a happier, more efficient office environment which translates into better customer service, more sales and bottom line profits.

Here are five tips for planning and designing your workspace so that you not only get the most efficiency out of your space but also receive the best results from your employees: 

1) Try before you buy. Many companies change to a new workstation design when they move. The high walled cubicle is replaced with a lower wall cubicle. Some companies decide to use “hotel workstations” to condense space.  This means they are condensing space by using workstations where there are no permanent desk assignments, and a receptionist assigns a work station to each employee for the day.

This changes the dynamics of your office and employee interaction. So before you make a large investment in new workstations, sample the type of station you are considering. Try out the look, feel and functionality in your office setting before you buy. 

For example, after you approve your design, our crew puts a couple of the workstations you are considering into your office right alongside your old workstations so you can see in advance if the new workstations will provide a better working environment. Once you agree to the new workstations, an exchange program gives you credit towards your new workstations.

2) Use a full-service provider. When you use multiple companies each selling one piece of the puzzle, often you’ll find you end up with what is their highest priced product instead of the best solution for your situation. For example, when using multiple vendors, a furniture vendor might only show you all new furniture, when really you could reuse your existing furniture and only need new chairs.

A full-service provider will present you with every option available including reuse and re-manufactured furniture solutions. To save yourself aggravation and money and ensure you’ll be presented with every option, use a single source to plan, design and furnish your offices.

3) Get value for your existing furniture. Before you call up the liquidator who will give you next to nothing for your furniture or make arrangements to haul your furniture off to charity, consider relocating your furniture to get more value from it. A professional mover with a national footprint can give you the ability to relocate furniture and use it in another location in the country. For example, if you are decommissioning a location in Jacksonville, Florida and opening a new location in Phoenix, Arizona, you can use the value of your furniture against the procurement for your new office.

4) Use a licensed stage planner and designer. One of the big advantages of dealing with a full-service provider is that you have full access to a licensed stage planner and designer. This will bring options and ideas about how to put together the ideal working environment that you might never have considered and ensures you get the quality service you are expecting.   

5) Allow enough time. The more time you have to plan the process and your space, the better the end result. You are more likely to end up with an ideal solution versus a “second best solution” that was put in place for the sake of expediency.  

Combining services by using a single source workplace solutions provider can add significant cost savings to a project. You will ensure all the pieces of your new workspace fit together properly, meet your requirements and create the best possible working environment for your employees.

Happy New Years 2014!!!

Happy New Years 2014!!!

Cant wait to see whats in store for this year!!!

Executive relocations: Top 5 tips for moving your CEO

Being charged with coordinating an executive relocation can be nerve wracking to say the least. What extra steps should you take to ensure a smooth transition for your company’s CEO and other executives?

When working with your mover, make sure to emphasize the importance of this move and who it is for; confirm that they will focus on doing all they can to satisfy your executive’s needs and expectations. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1.    Select a mover who offers settling-in services that include cleaning, unpacking, organizational assistance, maid service at origin and destination, and a professional handyman for electronic setup and/or art installation. This may cost extra if it is not part of a VIP move program, so please clarify with your mover beforehand.

2.    Flexibility should be a high priority with executive-level moves due to the demanding work schedules and changing needs of his/her company. Your moving company must be able to comply with such changes, whether they are last minute or not.

3.    Many executives have high-value items that typically require additional valuation or insurance coverage and appraisal needs. Before the move, arrange for an appraiser to go to the home to assess items and provide a full report. Also, any thoughtful inclusions are important. For example, executives moving with children and/or pets may benefit from having childcare and pet services as part of their package.

4.    Provide exclusive use of the entire truck (when the driver remains with the shipment from origin to destination and no one else’s belongings are on the truck). This will help avoid extra storage time, reduce expenses and ultimately help the executive and his/her family settle in faster.

5.    For the highest level of service, have a full-time onsite project manager onsite at both locations to act as liaison for the transferee/executive.Work closely with your mover to stay one step ahead throughout the move process, and you will make these transitions seamless for your company’s executives. After all, will you ever have a more important customer to impress?

Suddath Relocation Systems takes top honors at the 2013 UniGroup annual convention

Suddath received significant accolades from UniGroup (United Van Lines and Mayflower Transit) for its services in the moving industry. Among its peers of nearly 1,000 agents, Suddath accepted 29 awards at the 2013 UniGroup convention, inclusive of almost all categories – sales, fleet, safety and loss prevention. Suddath continues to set precedents in the industry and is proud to be the largest agent of UniGroup, the leading and most prominent van line in America.

For several consecutive years including again in 2013, Suddath received the president’s club award for overall market leadership and record earnings. Other awards include excellence in loss prevention, which recognizes best in class safety performance nationwide; hauling awards for the greatest hauling revenue in two categories each for household goods; logistics and exhibition; the overall top hauler for all lines combined; and three for sales achievement.

Additionally, the national logistics fleet van operator of the year award was given to the late Charles “Chuck” Ross. This award is given to the van operator who exemplifies quality, customer service, claims prevention, an impeccable safety record and overall exceptional performance.

Suddath is very proud of its team of dedicated professionals and thanks each and every member for making Suddath an industry leader.

How to write a tiered relocation policy

Are you in charge of your company’s employee relocations? When companies grow and begin offering relocation as part of their benefit packages, it often falls on the human resource benefits manager to write their company’s relocation policy. But where do you start?

When it comes to your company relocation policy, like other employee benefits in your company, a growing trend is offering a tiered policy that is based on the employee’s position or tenure with the company.  A tiered policy actually decreases the work required by the HR staff and eliminates the need to negotiate every employee relocation package individually. Having a one size fits all typically may leave you creating exceptions at every turn.

An example of a three tiered relocation policy is laid out like this: The highest tier covers everything in the added services categories and is typically reserved for executive level employees. Mid-management is a second-level tier and includes partial coverage of services.  And the lowest tier, typically reserved for hourly or non-management employees, covers the basics only.    

Services are grouped into several parts of the relocation process and usually help to develop your relocation policy. These parts include:

• Pack / load / unload – These basic services are generally included in all levels of relocation policies. By including packing in all relocation policies you’ll help to avoid issues down the road because often times the mover does some or all of the packing.
• Weight limits  - Policy weight limits are generally tiered based on the employee’s position in the company.
• Third Party Storage – The length of storage can vary based on the employee’s position in your company and type of move (one-way or two-way). For example, executives and managers are often only eligible for storage. Executives are typically offered 60 days storage and mid-managers 30 days.
• Car shipment – Typically the number of vehicles shipped increases based on the employee’s level in the company. Top tiered coverage typically covers two or more cars, the second level tier typically covers one car and may have a mileage requirement. The lowest tier usually does not cover car shipment.
• Third party specialty services – Policy coverage of third party services like crating large items for moving such as pianos, pool tables, and grandfather clocks can also vary based on the employee’s position in the company.  Examples of other third party services, usually part of executive relocation policies, can include: cleaning services at the origin and destination, appliance disconnect and reconnect services, and handyman services among others.
• Wine shipment – Wine shipment can be included, typically this service is reserved for the top tier of a relocation policy only.