It’s snow joke
With large parts of the UK suffering under snow and ice in the last week many businesses have been counting the cost. The House of Commons was informed that figures produced by a leading insurance company, RSA, indicated that the cold weather could be costing the economy as much as £1.2 bn per day.
While employees should make every reasonable effort to get into work, it is clearly not appropriate for them to attempt to travel if it is not safe to do so. Many warnings were issued last week that only essential journeys should be undertaken. Hundreds of motorists in Scotland spent an unpleasant night on the road last night as the motorway system ground to a halt as a result of the treacherous conditions.
Rail commuter routes into London were among the worst hit on Thursday with many services cancelled and others experiencing lengthy delays. Arctic conditions also caused the closure of hundreds of schools thereby presenting additional problems for working parents.
Which left employers with an issue – there is no legal right for employees to be paid if they do not come in to work but it seems unfair that wages are docked or employees forced to take ‘snow days’ as holiday if they have been kept away through no fault of their own.
Employers that are able to adopt a flexible approach to staff attendance and allow employees to work from home using phones, e-mail and internet access where appropriate, are likely to see minimum disruption to their business and escape a drop in morale and disgruntled staff who feel that they have been treated unfairly.
Retail and leisure sectors that rely on having staff at work and on passing trade will be the worst hit by the unseasonal weather but a survey conducted by Sky News of the FTSE 100 companies found that while 27% reported a short-term negative impact on business due to the winter weather, none expected to see any long-term lasting effects. Further, of the 73% of firms that saw staff take days off, 39% said that it did not matter as staff were able to work remotely.
It is not just during times of adverse weather conditions that businesses can reap the benefits of flexible working practices. Dr Helen Hill, director of policy and public affairs at the London chamber of Commerce and Industry, claims that a one-day closure of the Tube alone can cost the capital up to £48 million in lost productivity.
So, if you want your organisation to have a better guarantee of ‘business as usual’ during disruptive incidents (whether they are caused by the weather, strikes or security alerts) than businesses that are dependent on a central office base, you may want to ensure that working from home is a viable option for your staff.
Comments(0)
Comments:
Add a Comment: