Change Management for an Office Relocation: How to Get Employees on Board with the Change
Alessandro Nicotra
Working Worlds
In short
— An office relocation can initially lower satisfaction. What is crucial is whether employees understand and share the reasons.
— Participation makes an impact: Those who take part in workshops and surveys are more satisfied with the new office.
— Change begins with the first conversation and only ends when the team feels at home in the new space.
A new office changes more than just the address. It changes where you sit, whom you meet, and how you work. Anyone who only communicates this when the plans are finalised will face resistance. Those who involve people early on will see a relocation turn into a new beginning.
Those who help plan love moving in.
Why do new offices fail to gain acceptance?
Because space is personal. A study from Finland followed employees before and after moving into a new office. Satisfaction with the work environment dropped significantly, and 58 percent saw no opportunity to influence the design. One factor had the strongest impact: whether employees shared the reasons for the change.
It is often claimed that 70 percent of all change projects fail. According to a study in the Journal of Change Management, there is no reliable evidence for this figure. What is proven, however, is that good change management makes the difference: In a survey of more than 2,600 practitioners, projects with excellent change management achieved their goals significantly more often than those with poor change management (Prosci).
What does participation achieve?
Greater satisfaction—and even more so the more actively one participates. A study involving nearly 700 employees of a Swedish public authority showed that those who took part in workshops and information events were more satisfied with the new office, and the effect grew with the number of events attended. The SECO also lists low involvement in decision-making as a psychosocial risk in the workplace.
In Switzerland, the ZHAW, together with the FHNW and Health Promotion Switzerland, investigated how office spaces and change processes affect health. Their conclusion: It is not just the new workplace that counts, but also the design of the journey to get there (ZHAW, Offices, Change and Health).
Northeastern Switzerland Office
How do you manage the change in practice?
In four steps that span the entire project.
Listening. A survey, interviews, and walkthroughs reveal how the team currently works, what it needs, and what it fears. The Workplace Intelligence survey takes only a few minutes for participants and remains anonymous.
Co-creating. In workshops using models, samples, and floor plans, employees help make decisions. A sounding board from the team accompanies the project right up to moving in. This is how the room modules were created with user representatives at the Bern University of Applied Sciences campus in Biel.
Testing. In a pilot area, a team tests new ways of working in everyday life before they apply to everyone. What doesn't fit is adapted.
Arriving. Clear messages, shared ground rules, and designated contacts within the team turn the move into a fresh start. At Kanadevia Inova in Zurich, change management accompanies every construction phase so that each team knows why it is moving and finds its way around from day one.
How do you measure whether the change is successful?
With a pulse check before, during, and after the move. In Workplace Intelligence, we plan change communications using a stakeholder map and an action plan, checking in on sentiment at short intervals: before the move, in temporary quarters, and after moving in. Results are only analyzed in aggregated form. This makes it possible to see where issues lie while there is still time to respond. Learn more about the process in the article Relocating without grinding to a halt.
What are the benefits for the company?
Projects that achieve their goals and a shorter slump after the move. In the survey by Prosci, 88 percent of projects with excellent change management achieved their goals, but only 13 percent of those with poor change management. A new office that is not embraced is an investment that does not work.
Change management also saves time and rework. Concerns that emerge during the workshop can be addressed in the plan. After moving in, the same correction costs many times more.
Evaluation of a survey as a schematic
Frequently Asked Questions
When should change management begin for an office move?
With the very first discussion about the project, not just shortly before the move. The sooner employees understand the reasons, the more likely they are to support the change.
Who should be involved?
Executive management, HR, facility management, and representatives from the teams. A sounding board continuously incorporates employee voices into the project.
What is a pilot space?
An area where a team tests new ways of working in everyday practice before they are implemented for everyone. The experiences are incorporated into the planning.
How do you handle resistance?
Take it seriously and ask what lies behind it. Often, there are specific concerns—such as about quietness, storage space, or one's own desk—that can be addressed in the design.
How long does it take for a team to settle into the new office?
Usually a few months. A follow-up survey after three to six months reveals what is working and what needs adjustment.
Sources
Workplace change process and satisfaction with activity-based office, Sirola et al., Facilities, 2022
Do 70 per cent of all organizational change initiatives really fail?, Mark Hughes, Journal of Change Management, 2011
The Correlation Between Change Management and Project Success, Prosci, 2026
Implementation of Activity-Based Workplaces: The Importance of Participation, Bergsten, Wijk and Hallman, IJERPH, 2022
Psychosocial risks in the workplace, SECO
Offices, Change and Health, ZHAW with FHNW and Health Promotion Switzerland, 2015–2018
A new office is only truly finished once the team feels at home in it.
Contact
Listening is our first draft.
Every project begins with a conversation. Tell us what you have in mind: a new working environment, a restaurant, a space for the future. We bring an open mind, curiosity, and experience in strategy, interior design, and lighting. We'd love to meet at our studio on Gutstrasse in Zurich. Or wherever your project is coming to life.