Employee perceptions of short distance relocation – A longitudinal study of a Finnish case

This paper investigates the social impacts of short distance office relocation on individual employees, teams and the organization. The paper studies the employee experiences, engagement and change management communication, as perceived by employees during relocation. The social impacts are identified based on the experiences of approximately 15% (nine employees) of the subject organization two months before, one week before and four months after the relocation. The qualitative data collection is conducted by semi-structured interviews, diaries and participatory action research. The subject organization relocated from a closed cell-type office environment into a new building with open office layout located on the same site, implementing an activity-based working policy. The relocation was planned and communicated well ahead within the organization including employee involvement; in fact, some experienced relocation fatigue as they considered it was being treated as a “bigger-than-life” occasion. On the other hand, certain employees did experience resistance towards the change. Before the relocation the subject organization’s old premises were considered inadequate. Still, employees had concerns about the new open office environment including the adoption of new ways of working. After the relocation, for example, less paper-dependent working practices were adopted, whereas challenges related to, for example, ergonomics were still constraints to some employees. Experiences of improved inter-organizational communication were reported by most while others experienced just the opposite. Since the last interviews were made four months after the move, certain post-occupancy implications were possibly not yet fully experienced. The paper provides information on the social impacts of organizational relocation process as it identifies employee perceptions during a relocation process with minimal influence from location change. Moreover, the threefold longitudinal research approach enables possible time-depended development of adaptation of change in employee perception to appear and to be analysed in more detail.