The HR Dept's Guide to Winter Weather

Learning the lessons from previous years, snowy and icy conditions have a huge impact on business operations.

We suggest checking the forecast for the coming weekend and week ahead as it is about to get very cold and there is the potential that we could be caught out by snow that has in the past, brought the UK to a standstill.

What can you do if you think your business might be affected by adverse weather?

• Employees should be aware of what they should do if they can’t get to work
• Employees unable to attend work should maintain regular contact
• Unauthorised absence (as usual) won’t be tolerated
• Employees can take annual leave
• Is home working possible?

It’s always a good idea to plan ahead. If you know that there is going to be a huge downfall of snow the following day, prepare employees. Do they work on laptops that they can take home? Being prepared for a ‘just in case’ scenario will make business operations run more smoothly.

An employee doesn’t have to be paid if they don’t show up to work. Bear in mind if schools and nurseries are closed, parents are entitled to take time off to care for dependents. However, note that this is unpaid leave.

Warn employees that transport lines may be affected, roads may not be fully gritted and that naturally the traffic is going to slow down, so allow plenty of time to get into work.  Like with all other things in HR, a common sense approach should be adopted.

If you do believe that one of your employees could have come in but they were actually just building snowmen and posting photos to Facebook and Twitter, call The HR Dept for advice.

The bottom line is that no one should ever risk their lives getting to work but it is the employee’s responsibility to attend work on time.

If you need advice on preparing a contingency plan for bad weather, or for dealing with unauthorised absence, call The HR Dept.