Search results

This research investigates the literature and perspectives of bilateral domains of experts, the facilities management (FM) and real estate management (REM) professionals. It provides insights towards a comprehensive understanding of office facilities relocation as organizational workplaces.

An investigation of the literature was conducted, to identify design aspects, drivers, challenges, and technical and functional considerations of the workplace relocation. A structured survey was utilized, as face-to-face interviews with 32 FM and 32 REM professionals, to explore and compare their perspectives and expertise.

The study identified key aspects for workplace relocation that were rarely focused on, holistically, in the literature. The research led to identifying the drivers, challenges, considerations, scenarios, and design needs pertaining to the implementation, acquisition, and occupation of the workplace in times of relocation. There is a dispersed view on workplace relocation between FM and REM, which requires alignment. FM and REM experts' perspectives were intrinsically discussed to ascertain the identified key areas.

Workplace relocation is a change that disturbs almost every workplace around the globe, at least once in its life cycle. This study enlists comprehension of the knowledge obtained from a review of the international literature, to provide a holistic guide for organizational decision makers, and interlink FM and REM professionals' perspectives, for enhanced decision-making.

This article reviews the literature on workplace relocation, covering FM and REM domains perspectives to advance the organizational workplace relocation practices.

Reviews and integrates UK and North American research on job relocation relating to managerial and professional employees. Notes evidence which indicates an increasing level of reluctance by such employees to relocate for job reasons. Examines barriers to domestic relocation, including those related to financial and personal reasons, and organisational interventions designed to overcome them. Recognises that traditional forms of organisational intervention to alleviate barriers to relocation may be becoming less effective despite careful targeting. Analyses research data from the UK local authority sector to explore the effectiveness of organisational interventions to overcome barriers to relocation. Uses force field theory to evaluate the relationship between these barriers and organisational interventions in relation to organisations in general and UK local authorities in particular. Draws conclusions about the nature and use of organisational interventions to overcome barriers to domestic relocation, and discusses the applicability of the findings drawn from the UK local authorities research data.

Pre‐relocation measures as well as measures collected subsequent to it were used to predict employees’ post‐relocation adaptation in a case where an entire plant relocated its premises. The distance between the old and the new site did not require home relocation, with the result that the change was deemed less of a “family issue” than an essentially work and organizational change. The sample consisted of 176 employees, for whom matched before and after questionnaires were available. Pre‐relocation measures included demographics, justification of management’s decision to relocate, and positive and negative emotional reactions to the move. In addition, measures of perceived changes were taken after the move. The three post‐relocation adaptation measures were work satisfaction, loyalty to the organization, and relocation satisfaction. Findings are discussed in the light of previous findings, although most of that research dealt with individual as opposed to plant relocation, and of very few studies dealing with post‐relocation variables.

The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of the management of office relocations in Finnish organisations with a focus on the use of, and need for, external advisory services.

The study used a sequential mixed method approach. First, the use of relocation-related services, and organisations’ perception of the need for them, was assessed through a questionnaire sent to all organisations with more than 50 employees in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area (HMA). The data includes 83 responses. Subsequently, service experiences, perceived service needs, and the challenges that organisations face in relocation are studied through thematic interviews with 15 organisations that have recently relocated.

The findings show that, despite facing many challenges when relocating, many organisations do not consider using external service providers. Most organisations do not acknowledge the complexity of the process until afterwards, and they also lack knowledge of the availability of relocation-related services.

The main limitation is the population size of the questionnaire. A larger population would have allowed for more generalisations, but the results do provide insight into the organisations’ issues in managing their relocations.

In order to facilitate the better organisational relocation experiences, and to develop the market for relocation-related services, service providers need to begin educating organisations of the challenges and opportunities of relocation, and successively increase the awareness of the availability of services.

Relocation, when it is considered in the literature, is most often construed as being about location, or site selection. This study approaches the phenomenon from the organisations’ perspective and considers relocation a process that needs to be managed.

This study aims to identify research gaps on workplace relocation, through investigating and critiquing the published literature, in the facilities management (FM) and real estate management (REM) domains, over three decades.

An extensive literature review was conducted, using academic search engines, using qualitative analysis software, in the domains of FM and REM, on workplace relocation, from 1990 to 2020, chronologically. The paper proposes future research directions through a maturity matrix.

Several gaps in workplace relocation research were identified, including the need for a wide-ranging coverage of workplace relocation lifecycle, a review and assessment of factors affecting workplace relocation over its lifecycle, studies on large organizations mobility, studies of international experiences on workplace relocation, absence of a holistic framework for the workplace relocation process and digital tools and solutions to facilitate the processes. A three levels maturity matrix for future research, proposing the adoption of qualitative, quantitative and applications research approaches, was presented.

This study enlists a chronological comprehension of knowledge obtained from the review of the internationally published literature. The research investigated and identified gaps, gripping for future research efforts.

This study reviews 30 years of published literature on workplace relocation and proposes topics for advancing future research, collectively.

The purpose of this paper is to holistically identify and assess the factors affecting the workplace relocation process during its various phases, namely: pre-relocation, relocation and post-relocation. The factors assessment evaluates the perspectives and level of agreement between facilities and real estate management professionals.

Literature review was conducted to identify the factors affecting the workplace relocation process. In total, 34 factors were identified, which formed the basis of a questionnaire survey to assess their importance. Responses to the questionnaire survey were obtained through face-to-face interviews with two groups of professionals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, 32 facilities managers (FM) and 32 real estate managers (REM). The questionnaire utilized a 5-point Likert scale of importance.

The research delivers rankings of the identified factors for prioritization. Where a moderate (to high) level of agreement between FM and REM professionals was remarked. Significant factors include: “availability of workplace health and safety plan”, “analysis of business needs for relocation”, “cost control and management of the relocation process”, “availability of maintenance plans” and “selection of fit-out contractor”.

The study provides a significant contribution to research and professional practice, while no comprehensive studies have been conducted on the various phases of the relocation process. The findings of this study are genuine to keep professionals and practitioners on the ball managing their workplace relocations, overcoming their unforeseen struggles, resourcefully and efficiently.

The purpose of this study is to propose a framework model for workplace relocation.

Published literature was reviewed to comprehend the broad aspects of workplace relocation. The current practices of workplace relocation were investigated by corporate real estate (CRE) professionals. A generic framework model was developed to guide organizations upon the process of workplace relocation, over its lifecycle. The framework is validated by semi-structured interviews, conducted to ascertain its importance and applicability.

A validated integration definition for function modeling framework for the process of workplace relocation was developed. It consisted of three systematic processes, aligned with its lifecycle, namely, initiate the pre-relocation activities; implement the relocation activities; and conduct the post-relocation activities.

The workplace is a linkage between people, business processes and information technology, that provides a physical medium for interactions and provision of services. Workplace relocation is an opportunity to introduce elements of change. Yet the process of workplace relocation has been under-valued by practitioners in the CRE industry. The developed framework can be adopted as a standardized process for the relocation of workplace facilities. In terms of clearly structuring the workplace relocation processes, the study contributes to making these processes more transparent and aids accountability for decision-making. It is a time-saver and guiding model for organizations endeavoring on relocation.

Corporate relocation is a rare event in the history of an individual company. The choices related to location, building and workplace constitute major long-term strategic decisions that determine the company’s future operating environment. However, business decision-makers often do not evaluate all the aspects of relocation before making relocation decisions. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to systemise the knowledge behind corporate relocation and the strategic qualities and impacts of these choices.

This conceptual paper is based on a comprehensive literature review of 74 articles on the strategic qualities of short-distance corporate relocation of knowledge-intensive firms. Based on the review insights, a conceptual model of the strategic operational qualities for work environment selection is developed.

This paper identifies three strategic layers of physical environment change, namely, location, building and physical work environment, which need to be considered when deciding to relocate. Corporate relocation affects a company through five operational qualities, namely, staff productivity, costs, employee retention and availability, operational changes and organisational culture.

Relocation is a complex process for an individual company. Justifying choices based on direct costs can lead to unexpected changes in indirect costs for the company. This paper helps decision-makers understand the strategic importance of corporate relocation, identify relocation goals and plan successful relocation.

This paper uses a strategy and organisation lens to provide a systematic overview and synthesis of the strategic qualities of short-distance corporate relocation of knowledge-intensive firms.

This paper aims to examine short-distance firm relocations, the most frequent form of relocation, to better understand how employees as individuals experience those relocations.

This study was a multiple-case study with five organisations that had relocated within the same metropolitan area during the previous 18 months. To understand why and how the relocation was carried out, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with company representatives who were actively involved in making decisions and executing the relocation of their organisation. Subsequently, to study the employees’ experience and perception of the process, 17 employees who did not have an assigned role in the process were also interviewed.

The findings show that even within the same organization, people experience relocation differently; therefore, the employees should not be treated as one object of change but as several individuals who experience change. Further, it was identified that relocation included both location and workplace change aspects.

The study is of qualitative nature and, therefore, the findings should not be generalized to individuals outside of the context of study. Instead, the value lies in the description and the themes developed in the specific context. The findings show that emphasis needs to be put on how the relocation process is managed, and that relocation change management efforts should include both location and workplace changes.

This study provides new insight on how individual employees experience the relocation process and augments the previous body of knowledge on employee experiences and satisfaction with various elements in the work environment and/or with new ways of working, and the previous studies on relocation that focus on comparing employees’ experiences of the old office with the new one.

Critical issues facing management in a rapidly expanding, yet under‐researched, phenomenon, are outlined, namely the management of company relocation. After surveying the strong evidence for the growing tendency to relocate, some of the central processes involved are analysed, in particular: the decision‐making process (to relocate), the HR policies and the communication problem, the major issues in the relocation period itself, and the aftermath.