Over the past year it has become obvious that physical offices are becoming a smaller part of operations for businesses across sectors. As such, many businesses are making a major shift from physical office locations to more remote work for their employees and management. While moving away from offices won’t work in every instance, it can be a great way to increase productivity and decrease costs for a variety of businesses, if you can make the transition smoothly. 

Start Making Employees Full-Time Remote 

The first step in moving away from physical offices is to start moving your employees to working remotely. This project can be as gradual or as quick as you believe will work for your team, it just depends on the specifics of your company. It can help to start one department at a time, or to initially move individuals to part time remote and part time in office and slowly transition them to fully remote. If you decide you would rather move more quickly, make sure you have clear expectations in place to help the transition go a little more smoothly. 

End Leases and Sell Property 

Once you have started the transition for your employees, it is time to start working towards no longer paying for the office spaces you have. Whether you lease a space or own it, getting rid of the property can take financial stress off of your business. Appraisals help determine an accurate value for your company’s property. Once you know what your property is worth, you can move towards a sale with confidence in the profits you will make from the experience. 

Make Communication a Priority 

Communication is always important to businesses, but it is especially important when your employees are all working remotely. In this case, you want to make sure that you are prioritizing communication and collaboration. Invest in tools that make communicating with your team simpler despite the distance and flexibility of your schedules, this will make life easier for everyone and improve your workflow as everyone transitions to working remotely. 

Moving to remote work can be a great move for any business. It comes down to making sure your team has the tools they need to function well, even when they are not in the office. It is never too early to start working towards a fully remote business structure.

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