International Women’s Day

WEConnect International is the leading supplier diversity initiative spearheading the connection of women entrepreneurs to multinational corporations and European government bodies.

Its mission is to help drive money into the hands of women business owners by enabling them to compete in the global marketplace.

WEConnent has a vision for a world in which women have the same opportunities as men to design and implement business solutions that create wealth and the sustainable prosperity of their communities.

As a business owned and managed by women, we are incredibly proud to be featured by and be part of WEConnect on International Women’s Day and for the spotlight to be shone on our company and the work we do.

Here is the feature:

Elevator pitch: The workplace has changed. MovePlan is a leading workplace specialist, partnering with companies around the world, helping them effectively master change – whether they are relocating or redefining their workplace of choice. MovePlan works with their clients on the ground, assessing their needs and producing bespoke, actionable solutions.

Business category: Change management, workplace solutions and move management

What differentiates you from your competition?

The office has taken a big step into the brave new world. One size does not fit all and so every organisation is currently taking stock of its individual goals and culture, as well as the evolving demands of their employees to ensure the right approach.

MovePlan is a somewhat unique business in this industry. By blending move and change management, it has carved a niche for itself that competitors tend not to be able to compete with.

Most competitors offer a plethora of real estate services, or management consultancy, with move logistics or change management comprising just a small part, whereas for MovePlan, they are core competencies. This allows the firm to focus its time and effort on honing procedures and ensuring that they are rigorously implemented, with consistency of service on an international scale.

MovePlan’s international presence has also been a key differentiator. The company has grown at the invitation of its clients who like the way the team operates and encouraged MovePlan to expand overseas.

Example of a defining achievement of your business: Over the years, MovePlan has helped many organisations recreate and define their place of work. It was this unparalleled experience that awarded the team some prestigious projects.

In the wake of Brexit, MovePlan won the tender to support the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to relocate from Canary Wharf to Amsterdam.

MovePlan first worked with EMA back in 2013, supporting the company and its staff as they moved into the Canary Wharf office. It was MovePlan’s strategic guidance and seamless execution of the first project, along with its vast international experience, that awarded the team this new project. It’s worth noting that when MovePlan responded to the tender, the team was still unaware of where the Agency’s new home would be. It was only in late 2017 that the Netherlands won the European bid to host EMA.

The Brexit project with EMA soon developed from a single-focused relocation plan to a company-wide workplace consultancy project – change management in its true sense. In addition to successfully relocating EMA’s 700 staff from Canary Wharf to temporary accommodation in Amsterdam initially, MovePlan worked closely with the Dutch Ministry of Health (who was responsible for the overall relocation) to devise a strategy on how best to communicate and engage with all stakeholders.

The whole project saw MovePlan permanently relocate not just EMA’s 700-strong team, but the additional 2000 agency assets, nearly 500 linear metres of documents and files, and over 1400 pieces of furniture. This large-scale international project spanned eight phases, from decommissioning their London office, to optimising and reconfiguring office in Amsterdam.

An important aspect of the relocation was that a large percentage of the staff were also personally relocating with their families and children. Whilst MovePlan wasn’t involved in these independent moves, it was incredibly challenging to merge timelines as the team did not have sight of the moves that were personally managed by the staff. The MovePlan team made a conscious effort to actively listen to all those involved, keeping them abreast of all developments regularly.

Once the staff had been relocated to Amsterdam, MovePlan engaged in their final phase of the move, and developed an in-depth training plan with the agency to help people acclimatise to the new location. MovePlan continued to work with EMA in the Netherlands to ensure that the 1000+ staff (which EMA added over the course of the move) were successfully moved into the permanent building.

Key clients: Clients of all sizes, across all industry sectors, trust MovePlan to manage their moves and master complex, business-critical change. Over the last 36 years, MovePlan has built a roster of clients including multinational corporations, pharmaceutical companies, international banks, financial and legal services providers, tech firms, educational institutions, and government departments. You can find out more here.

Website address: www.moveplangroup.com

Business contact:
Siobhan Byrnes, Regional Director, EMEA
Email: Siobhan.Byrnes@moveplangroup.com

Number of employees:  100

Location: MovePlan operates from 15 international hubs: London, Dublin, New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Toronto, Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai.

Geographical scope:

MovePlan’s team of experts has worked on sites across EMEA including Amsterdam, Beirut, Brussels, Cairo, Dubai, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Lagos, Munich, Johannesburg, Romania, Rome and Sofia as well as Asia Pacific and the Americas.

Business description: With over 30 years’ experience, MovePlan partners with organisations across the globe to master and deliver workplace change.

MovePlan works with businesses of all sizes, across all sectors, to provide strategic counsel and deliver bespoke, actionable solutions, from change management to relocations and space optimisation, to achieve workplaces of choice with zero downtime.

MovePlan’s global reach, coupled with its expertise and local understanding, offers a unique line of sight into working processes, employee behaviours, and environments. With 70% return business and the trust of clients including Microsoft, Bloomberg, HSBC, AstraZeneca and Expedia, MovePlan is proving integral to defining the next chapter of the workplace.