.jpg)
An office move represents a significant operational change, but more importantly, it's a large-scale experiment in organizational behavior. The core hypothesis is simple: a strategically executed move can act as a catalyst, significantly boosting employee engagement, collaboration, and in-office attendance. The challenge, however, is mitigating the variable of employee resistance and turning potential disruption into a positive stimulus.
This playbook provides a systematic, three-phase methodology for turning your office move into a successful launch. Consider it your guide to testing our hypothesis and ensuring your new workspace becomes a vibrant, productive environment that your team is genuinely excited to be a part of.
Phase 1: Pre-Move Observation and Hypothesis Formulation
The success of your office move experiment begins with foundational research. This initial phase is about collecting preliminary data, observing variables, and formulating hypotheses about what will make the new space a destination. A global survey recently confirmed a critical variable: the quality of the workplace experience itself is now the primary determinant of office attendance, shifting the focus from mere presence to creating an environment people choose [1].
Build a Strong Communication Strategy
Hypothesis: Transparent, consistent communication will reduce employee uncertainty and positively correlate with buy-in for the move.
The first step in testing this is to design an internal communication plan that clearly articulates the "why" behind the change. To get this right, you need to understand how to build an internal communication strategy for hybrid teams. A key part of this experiment is establishing a centralized, reliable channel for updates. This is where Officely’s Announcements feature comes in. It allows you to disseminate information consistently within Slack or MS Teams, ensuring all your test subjects (employees) receive uniform updates without adding another tool to their stack.
Involve Employees in the Planning
To design a space that meets user needs, you must gather qualitative data directly from the source. Involving employees not only provides this crucial data but also introduces a powerful sense of co-creation and ownership.
Data Collection Methods:
- Surveys: Poll employees on desired amenities. Ask about everything from quiet zones and collaboration spaces to the quality of the coffee machine.
- Focus Groups: Form a "move committee" with volunteers from different departments to gather deeper insights and champion the project among peers.
- Q&A Sessions: Host forums with leadership to address specific variables and concerns head-on, building trust through transparency.
This data-gathering process helps ensure your new environment is optimized to support every work style from day one.
Create Buzz with Sneak Peeks
Before the full launch, you can run preliminary trials to test reactions and build anticipation.
Methodology: Share controlled stimuli, such as progress photos of the construction, design renderings of the finished space, or even a short virtual walkthrough video.
Objective: Transform the abstract concept of a "new office" into a tangible, exciting reality. This primes your team for a positive response and builds momentum for a successful launch day.
Phase 2: The Launch – Making Day One Unforgettable
The first week in the new office is the primary experimental phase. This is where you test the hypothesis that a positive initial experience will establish a precedent for strong, long-term attendance patterns.
Plan a Welcome Week, Not Just a Welcome Day
Instead of a single launch event—which provides only one data point—run a week-long series of experiments to measure engagement and make employees feel at home.
Proposed Initiatives:
- A welcome breakfast or catered lunches to test the impact of social incentives.
- Guided office tours to showcase new features and amenities.
- New company swag to reinforce a sense of shared identity in the new chapter.
- A happy hour or social event at the end of the week to observe informal network formation.
You can use Officely to organize social catch-ups and promote these events, making your effortless office management a core part of the experiment.
Showcase the New Amenities and Perks
Hypothesis: The easier it is for employees to access new amenities, the higher their perceived value and utilization rate will be.
Introduce new resources that make in-office work more valuable, such as reservable parking spots, dedicated project rooms, bike racks, or even catered lunches. Then, test the usability of accessing them. With Officely’s "Office Extras" feature, employees can easily see and book these perks right from Slack. This simple, frictionless process is a key part of our getting started checklist because it directly encourages adoption and helps you prove the value of your new amenities.
Make In-Office Collaboration Seamless
A core objective is to determine if the new space enhances in-person collaboration. However, a major confounding variable in any hybrid work experiment is not knowing who is actually in the office on any given day.
Officely solves this by providing instant visibility into daily attendance directly within Slack and Microsoft Teams. This allows teams to intentionally plan their in-person days, turning random office attendance into structured, observable collaborative sessions. By using a tool like Officely, you control for that variable and can more accurately measure the impact of your new space on teamwork.
Phase 3: Maintaining Momentum After the Move
The experiment doesn't conclude after launch week. This final phase is about analyzing the collected data, drawing conclusions, and entering a cycle of continuous improvement to optimize the space for the long term.
Measure What’s Working with Office Analytics
To validate your hypotheses and justify the investment, you must analyze quantitative, empirical data. Recent figures show that office attendance is steadily climbing, with May 2024 survey results showing it's at 76% of pre-pandemic levels in major hubs [2]. Benchmarking your own data against these trends is key.
Officely’s Insights feature provides the analytics toolkit you need to move from anecdotal evidence to data-driven conclusions:
- Office occupancy rates: Track daily and weekly attendance to see trends over time.
- Popular days for in-office work: Identify which days are busiest, which often aligns with industry data showing Tuesdays are a peak day [3].
- Desk and room usage: Analyze which spaces are in high demand versus which are underutilized.
This analysis empowers office managers to make informed decisions about resources, space allocation, and future workplace strategy.
Gather Continuous Feedback
A successful workplace is a dynamic system that evolves with employee needs. To ensure your office remains effective, you must implement a continuous feedback loop for iterative improvement.
It can be as simple as running polls or sharing links to feedback forms. Using Officely’s Announcements feature in MS Teams or Slack, you can embed these feedback instruments directly into daily workflows. Ask employees what they love, what could be improved, and what would make their in-office experience even better.
Conclusion: Your New Office Is a Catalyst for Culture
An office move is far more than a change of address; it's a powerful opportunity to build a more connected, collaborative, and engaged workforce. By following this three-phase playbook—building pre-move hype, executing a memorable launch, and maintaining momentum with data—you can transform your new workspace into a vibrant hub.
With a thoughtful, systematic methodology and the right analytical tools like Officely, you can ensure your new office becomes a thriving environment that employees are demonstrably excited to be a part of.
Citations
[1] https://gensler.com/press-releases/global-survey-workplace-experience-2024
[2] https://pfnyc.org/research/return-to-office-survey-results-may-2024
.svg)