Whenever a business relocates, it is undoubtedly hoping that benefits will accrue. Whether it be the expansion of the business by moving to larger premises or an office with modern facilities improving productivity, these are but two of the many advantages of office relocations.

Of course, it is not all plain sailing as there is plenty to organise including hiring a removalist company, keeping staff informed and communicating with suppliers and customers. There is also the planning of the move which includes arranging for office equipment and furniture to be moved, as well possibly having to order some anew.

This presents you with a fantastic opportunity to declutter your office so that when your staff arrive for work in the new offices, they do so in an environment where there are no piles of paperwork, broken furniture, unused stationery, or malfunctioning equipment. Decluttering also makes the entire relocation process easier. To explain further, here are ten tips to help declutter your office if you are relocating.

Assess What You Need In Your New Office: The first tip is to assess your new offices and how they will function, and then determine what quantity of office furniture and equipment you will require and what specific items will be needed.

Carry Out An Inventory Of What You Already Have: Next you should ascertain what you already have. Furniture and equipment should be split into categories relating to how new they are, they still work, they are damaged, and so on.

Ask Your Employees For Their Input: As they are the ones working with and using your office equipment and furniture every day, you should ask your staff for their options on what is needed, what is not, and what needs to be replaced.

Decide What Is Needed And What Can Go: You should now be in a position to decide what you are keeping and what you are going to discard. Be ruthless with this and take nothing that is not needed, or does not function properly.

Sell The ‘Good Stuff’: For any furniture or equipment that is still working or in good order but are not taking with you, consider selling them second hand. You can place a local ad, use eBay or if there is enough of it, a local clearance company might be interested.

Donate What You Can To Charity: For those who would rather just give away their excess furniture and equipment, or want to put it all to a good cause, then you should donate it to one or more local charities. As a hybrid idea, you could sell it all and donate the proceeds to charity.

Recycle Whatever You Can: For anything which you plan to throw away, your first consideration should be to pinpoint anything suitable for recycling. Examples include paper, cardboard, fabrics, wood, and glass items.

Consider Storage Facilities: If you have items that you wish to keep but which are not used regularly or used only seasonally,  you could consider using local storage services to store them, rather than them taking up valuable space in the new office.

Assess The Options For Going Paperless: Any part of your processes and administration functions that can move your office towards being paperless will certainly reduce clutter. Think about digitalising all your documents, for example.

Insist That The New Office Is A Clutter-Free Zone: Start the new office the way you intend to go on by telling all staff it is to remain clutterless…or else!