Relocation of HQ

[Guest Pamela Michel]

Due to massive growth, my company will be relocating its hq for the 2nd time in 4 years. This new location is 7 miles from our current site and 20 miles from the original site, but we fear a potential loss of employees if we do not offer benefits to having them stay & travel the extra miles. I am, therefore, looking for suggested percs or benefits which we may offer to make the additional drive or ride time worth the effort.

[Sheila K]

Pamela:

We have just made a similar move at our company. We have done or looked at doing the following:

Flexible scheduling

Extra perks for carpooling (monthly drawing for cash, covered parking, etc.)

Directory of local businesses

Day care accomodations

Tele-commuting

We had some folks leave when the move was announced, but we have not lost anyone since we moved into the facility.

Our directory of local businesses is set up on the network and includes information on restaurants, day care, retail stores, auto repair, and other services that employees may need to find closer to work.

Good luck...Sheila K

[Lisa Hand]

See the next posting

[This message has been edited by Lisa Hand (edited 09-02-98).]

[Lisa Hand]

While a manager at a Fortune 500 company, I was the project manager for our relocation to a new and larger facility. 7 miles is not a great distance (depending on where you are located) and should not be a significant problem if you utilize some effective change management. The above suggestions are great for improving on-going work environment. For the actual move consider the following.

1. Get the employees' input for the new facility -

2. since you are growing fast, the current space is crowded and does not meet your needs - do a survey for improvements for the new space and publish results with the suggestions that are being used.

3. Form moving teams with supervisors from each department in charge to work with the project manager and the moving company

4. Let the employees select the artwork - we had a theme and then passed around books of available posters and each section selected what would go in their area.

5. Have a project manager - this is a full time job.

6. KEEP EVERYONE INFORMED!!!! - even though it is a good thing to move to a better and bigger space - lots of people hate change. The more informaiton they have, the better they feel about the process.

With the employees involved, informed and part of the process, we moved on time and under budget. Good Luck.