Glossary · Moves & change

What is move management?

Short answer

Move management is the planning, coordination and execution of workplace moves, from one person changing desks to whole teams relocating across floors, buildings or cities. Workplace, facilities, IT and HR teams use it to decide who moves where and when, sequence the work, tell people in advance and keep floor plans and systems accurate afterward.

Also called office move management, move coordination, corporate move management.

How it works

A move starts with a reason: a restack, a consolidation, a lease event, a reorganization or new hires. The move team sets the scope, records where everyone sits today, and designs the target layout against real attendance and team needs rather than headcount alone.

The plan becomes a schedule. Moves are grouped into phases so one team clears a zone before another arrives, with dependencies lined up: furniture, IT and phones, access badges, lockers, signage and any swing space. Each person gets a move sheet with their new location and date.

On move day the physical work happens and the records change: seat assignments, neighborhoods, floor plans and booking rules. The last step is review: confirm that systems match the building, gather feedback and note what to change next time. Most organizations run large moves as projects and small moves as a weekly routine.

How to measure it

  1. Track churn rate: people moved in a year as a share of the population.
  2. Track cost per move by move type, including IT and internal labor, not only movers.
  3. Count post-move issues such as missing equipment, wrong desks and access problems.
  4. Measure how long systems take to reflect a completed move.

Steps to manage an office move

  1. Define the reason, scope and deadline, such as a lease date or a restack.
  2. Record where everyone sits today and check it against the floor plan.
  3. Design the target layout from attendance and team adjacency, not headcount alone.
  4. Group moves into phases so each zone is cleared before the next team arrives.
  5. Line up dependencies: furniture, IT, phones, access badges, lockers, signage and any swing space.
  6. Tell each person where and when they are moving, with a personal move sheet, well before move day.
  7. Move, then update seat assignments, neighborhoods, floor plans and booking rules the same day.
  8. Review: confirm the records match the building, log issues and note what to change next time.

Examples

  • A consolidation onto fewer floors run in three phases over consecutive weekends, with move sheets sent a week ahead.
  • A weekly routine that seats new starters, relocates people who changed teams and releases leavers' desks.

Common mistakes

  • Planning from headcount instead of attendance, which lands teams on floors that are too full or too empty.
  • Updating seat and floor plan records by hand after the move, days late.
  • Telling employees at the last minute.
  • Running each move as a one-off with no shared plan across facilities, IT and HR.

How Kadence helps

Kadence Move Manager (WorkOps Pro) plans and executes new starters, leavers, ad-hoc assignments and team relocations, with seat recommendations, bulk auto-assign and bulk move uploads. Employees get move emails and a personal move sheet. In SpaceOps, stack and space plans built on real occupancy data are published to WorkOps as live neighborhoods and assignments.

Move management software · SpaceOps · Space management · Pricing · Office move checklist

Frequently asked questions

What does a move manager do?

A move manager plans and runs workplace moves: agreeing scope and dates, designing where people will sit, sequencing the moves, coordinating movers, IT, facilities and security, telling employees where and when they are going, and checking afterward that records match the building. In smaller organizations this is part of the workplace or facilities role.

What is the difference between move management and MAC?

MAC, for moves, adds and changes, names the routine stream of small workplace changes. Move management is the discipline that plans and runs moves of any size, from a single MAC request to a full office relocation. MAC work is one part of what move management covers.

How long does it take to plan an office move?

It depends on scale. A single desk change can be done within days. A team restack needs a few weeks for design, sequencing and communication. A whole-office relocation takes months, driven by the lease date, fit-out and IT work. Start from the date space must be vacated and plan backward.

What is move management software?

Software that holds the move plan in one place: who is moving, from where to where, on which date, with which dependencies. Good tools recommend seats from floor plan and occupancy data, assign in bulk, notify employees and update seat assignments and floor plans when the move goes live.

  • MAC (moves, adds and changes) The routine work of relocating people, seating new occupants and updating workspaces as an organization changes.
  • Office relocation Moving an office or department to another building, planned around the lease date, real attendance and a clear move schedule.
  • Churn rate (move churn) The number of people moved in a year as a percentage of the population, a measure of how much physical change a workplace absorbs.
  • Joiners, movers and leavers (JML) The process that keeps access, equipment, seating and records in step when people join, change role or leave.
  • Office move automation with AI Software and AI that recommend seats, assign people in bulk, notify them and update records for workplace moves.

Kadence editorial team · Last reviewed

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