The Office Move Responsibles

I got into the office move project by informing István Petényi that I would gladly take the process on, and as I had already moved an office of 1 200 headcount, I also had the experience for it. The office move responsibles concept had grown out of my takeaways then. First, we formed a project team that we created based on the organization chart. The office responsibles took the role of representing their department in the office move project and taking the relevant information to their department end the other way round. We needed the team managers’ support within the departments; the office move responsibles also liaised with them.

The office move project consisted of two parts: first, preparations, which took a longer, 1.5 years’ period at least. We included planning, agreements with the suppliers and partners supporting the office move; they started with the preparation and ended with the practical new office plans. It was a key aspect as well that we should have the shortest possible downtime in the case of the lab, for instance. The coronavirus pandemic made it difficult for us, but finally, we could resolve all issues in time.

The other large part was coordinating the office move itself. The office move responsibles played a key role in it, too. They managed the external companies, resolved various conflicts and helped with labelling as well. We compiled a plan, which was already very ambitious in itself. According to it, we wanted to execute the office move between 1st December and 10th January, taking the festive season into account. When we initiated the project, I thought it would take 3 months altogether, but we could deliver in 1.5 months using a week by week move agenda. We could move one unit in 3 days instead of a whole week.

We couldn’t have done it without the team. The success we achieved is their merit: being accustomed to each other, loads of time and energy they invested in, understanding the task, efficient collaboration and strong ownership all significantly contributed to the results. They also participated in the preparatory stage, added their experience and ideas to the process, took the information back and forth, held the department tasks together. They continuously did a splendid job!

The duties did not end with the implementation phase; the follow-up came after. All the boxes moved had to be packed out; new furniture sets arrived, and we had to find places for them. The follow-up included packing out and handling all the problems that turned up related to them. It lasted from the closing of the office move itself, from January-February until the middle of the summer. The complete team actively took part in it, and they have been doing certain duties until today.

The office move period required 100% presence; team members, therefore, had to be freed from their other responsibilities. Then, of course, everyone has returned to their projects. Regardless of this, it required much extra time investment from the colleagues, team members, and many times even 100% presence was not sufficient. They worked a lot in the evenings, at weekends, on public holidays. Thank you for all the work you have dedicated to the project!

The office move project was quite a big challenge: it required a lot of time, but the participants learned a lot from it, and they even enjoyed the process, as far as their feedback is concerned. It isn’t a coincidence that the team has been gladly, harmoniously and voluntarily applying for such responsibilities since then. They were happy about the success of the office move, and I welcome the recognition they’ve received; they certainly deserve it for the conscientious work!