There are plenty of guides on how to pack and move to a bigger office, but how do you know when it’s time to move your office to a bigger space?

Obviously, one of the first clues that it’s time to start looking for a new lease is when you can afford it, but there are other signs a new location can help your business grow.

There is simply no more space

If your current office space is feeling cramped, you have probably considered moving. Running out of space is one of the main reasons that businesses relocate, especially if they anticipate that growth will continue.

However, take a moment to analyse your current space. Sometimes a purge and re-organisation is all it takes to extend office space. Westgate Group opted for a new desking system to maximise their existing space to extend to get 5 extra years use from their existing premises.

· Are you holding on to a lot of old physical files? Digitalise all of the information you can, and clear out the unneeded filing cabinets.

· Do you have equipment you don’t really need? If your office needs a printer, but you rarely make copies, you probably don’t need a giant industrial copy machine and printer combo.

· Is your office furniture and layout efficiently designed for the space? Sometimes a little rearranging can open up a surprising amount of floor room.

If you’ve looked at these potential solutions and find that you have simply outgrown your space, it’s time to launch the search for a new office. When you’re looking at potential offices, keep in mind your company’s long-term growth plans. Your goal should be to find an office with space that you can grow into while staying within your current budget.

You can’t effectively organise departments

Maybe when you moved into your current offices, you were quite happy with the thought of moving to new floors if required. However, this rarely works. Collaboration between staff on different floors is laboured and therefore dies off due to the distance and effort to get there. This leaves staff feeling disconnected from other departments and the company as a whole, often leading to increased tension.

HR problems

When the office is not up to scratch, you will experience higher incidents of staff conflict, absenteeism and high staff turnover over increasingly petty things such as parking. If staff can’t work to their potential, low morale kicks in – leaving to productivity dips. After all, we all need some private space to get on with high concentration tasks otherwise we just get frustrated.