This is a contributor’s blogpost …
So, you’ve decided to take your business to the next step and you’re going to rent some office space. This is a huge step forward in growing your company as it means that you now have a central hub that everything happens from. This is where you and all of your employees will be, along with all of your equipment. There are some things that you need to take into account when renting an office space, so carry on reading!
Size
The size of your office really does matter. Offices have to be the correct size and shape for your work force, otherwise it could cause massive problems in the long run. There are 2 problems that it comes down to with size, if it’s too big or if it’s too small. If your office space is way too big then you’re going to be paying a lot more money for it than you would a smaller, more fitting office. You’ll be wasting money that could otherwise be re-invested into the company to make it grow! This can be grown into through time though, the more serious problem is if you get an office that is too small. This can really create a problem. Offices that are too small obviously cannot house all of your workforce, which means that you either have to make redundancies or get a new office space, and if you’re already settled into your current space and have a long contract with them, this can create a huge problem. It’s often good to get office space that is a little on the larger side than what you need just to take into account workforce growth, but don’t get too far ahead of yourself!
Safety
Not only do you have to be able to fit everyone in your office, they have to be safe in there too! Your employees’ safety should be of the highest importance for you, if not for their good but because you share the office with them too! Your office space normally will not come with any safety equipment so it’s important that you are able to provide some. Locked doors will obviously come supplied, but for other dangers such as fires you have to have the correct equipment in place for your employees to use to help. Fire extinguishers are the best piece of safety equipment to have in your office. They are cheap to buy, easy to mount to the walls and have a huge benefit of keeping people safe! Anyone can operate them to save the building from a fire, so definitely invest in some of these!
Location
This one is a bit because it entirely depends on your business’ needs! However, most businesses will benefit if their office is located in a city. Why is this, you may ask? Well, for a start it means that you’re in close proximity to other businesses. Deals are often struck from face to face interaction, old school haggling still goes on and if you’re going to be building links with other businesses you have to be able to get there! It also gets you noticed, everyone will be aware of you moving in and so it gets you some free advertisement. Secondly, it makes it easier for all of your employees to reach. It can be a pain to get to a big city, however it makes it so that everyone can travel there because it’s a central hub for business. It also means that you can take more people on because of the fact that everyone can get there, another big plus. It can be hard deciding what area you want your offices in, but this can be easily solved by using google maps to see which place is best to put your office. Once you’ve decided on where you want it, go ahead and start searching!
You must do all of these things when getting a new office space. It’s important that everyone who works for you can get there, or else you’ll not have a work force! You need it to be just the right size for you too, too little and you’ll have to start laying people off or looking for a new office, too big and you’ll be overspending, and of course you have to keep the office a safe environment by having the correct equipment in place. None of these can happen without the correct business funding though, and there are a lot of different types so read this if you’re stuck confused with it all!
