Tradd
10-12-14, 8:40pm
I did this just three years ago when my company merged with another one. We moved into their space (we just had office) as they had office + warehouse space. We knew we'd be moving sometime in the next 6-12 months as the warehouse is overflowing (we have cargo stashed in rented space at another warehouse), but it's apparently going to happen before the end of the year. We're just moving two blocks.
We're going to get bigger cubes (current ones are 6' x 6') with walls about waist height. Current walls are about 6' high. I was the only one who really didn't mind the small cubes. My only issue is that I need to keep a lot of reference materials and files for things in progress readily at hand since I do all the Customs stuff. I didn't have space for that.
I had to chuckle to myself at this: the regional VP, who had been in our office a lot what with the previous GM getting fired, the planned move, etc., told my immediate manager that she had way too much personal stuff in her office. That wouldn't be allowed in the new building. Her office has boatloads of family pics, all over the walls, her desk, and the window sills. Plus multiples of the decorative plaques (some quite large) that say things like "Sisters are best friends." There are several others who have so much personal stuff in their cubes that I wonder how they have any working space.
No hanging things on the cube walls in the new building. This irks me because I do hang up reference materials that I need to have handy and use many times a day - such as our extension list.
But it's time to declutter again. I've been working on that already. But this move is going to be much different than the past one. As the supervising broker, I'm responsible for all our back files, which by law must be kept for five years. They're on a mezzanine of the warehouse, right off the second floor where I am. But it's open to the rest of the warehouse, and the boxes are black from soot from the propane-powered forklifts. Ugh. Good news, though. The corporate customs compliance folks are in the process of getting Customs to approve us keeping all files in electronic form, not paper form. We'd still have to keep the paper files for something like six months, but that would be so much better. We're still in the process of getting everyone to scan completed files into the system.
On the workload front: things are slowly getting better. New people have started and we're getting them trained. My hours are now mostly 8-7, rather than 8-8 or 8-9. But I'm on vacation for a week, beginning next Wednesday, and right now I'm just trying to get things cleaned up and done ahead.
We're going to get bigger cubes (current ones are 6' x 6') with walls about waist height. Current walls are about 6' high. I was the only one who really didn't mind the small cubes. My only issue is that I need to keep a lot of reference materials and files for things in progress readily at hand since I do all the Customs stuff. I didn't have space for that.
I had to chuckle to myself at this: the regional VP, who had been in our office a lot what with the previous GM getting fired, the planned move, etc., told my immediate manager that she had way too much personal stuff in her office. That wouldn't be allowed in the new building. Her office has boatloads of family pics, all over the walls, her desk, and the window sills. Plus multiples of the decorative plaques (some quite large) that say things like "Sisters are best friends." There are several others who have so much personal stuff in their cubes that I wonder how they have any working space.
No hanging things on the cube walls in the new building. This irks me because I do hang up reference materials that I need to have handy and use many times a day - such as our extension list.
But it's time to declutter again. I've been working on that already. But this move is going to be much different than the past one. As the supervising broker, I'm responsible for all our back files, which by law must be kept for five years. They're on a mezzanine of the warehouse, right off the second floor where I am. But it's open to the rest of the warehouse, and the boxes are black from soot from the propane-powered forklifts. Ugh. Good news, though. The corporate customs compliance folks are in the process of getting Customs to approve us keeping all files in electronic form, not paper form. We'd still have to keep the paper files for something like six months, but that would be so much better. We're still in the process of getting everyone to scan completed files into the system.
On the workload front: things are slowly getting better. New people have started and we're getting them trained. My hours are now mostly 8-7, rather than 8-8 or 8-9. But I'm on vacation for a week, beginning next Wednesday, and right now I'm just trying to get things cleaned up and done ahead.