Managing Adverse Weather at Work

6 March 2018

Debbie Morris, Somerset Chamber Member and HR Specialist from Concilium HR, shares her advice for employers on dealing with the HR implications with regards to adverse weather conditions. 

My recent article provided practical advice for employers on pay and contractual elements of managing snow days. Over the last few days, I’ve had some interesting conversations regarding what is actually reasonable for an employer to expect from their staff when adverse weather arrives. Reasonable often means different things to different people and in the case of the recent snow, is probably best redefined as common sense. Last week was unusual with maximum warnings from the Met Office and Police advising us to postpone all non-essential journeys. This leads to the question of whether getting to work is an essential trip? Employers may say yes but some employees are likely to say no! My personal view is that unless your business is involved in essential public duties, for example care workers, medical professionals, or emergency services, and where not reporting for work would negatively impact upon the health or welfare of another person (or animal), it is probably unreasonable to expect your staff to travel if they are not happy to do so. Is it worth the risk if staff do not feel safe or confident and travelling may result in an accident or becoming stranded? What if an accident leads to prolonged sickness absence or an insurance claim? As a business owner, I completely understand the need to ensure ‘operating as normal’ wherever possible, but not to the detriment of your legal duty of care to your team.

So what common sense options are there? Walking to work is the obvious one for those who live nearby. Individuals can take very different personal approaches with some finding very creative ways to get to work including skiing or walking long distances, finding local overnight accommodation or receiving lifts from friends who own tractors or 4×4’s. Whilst others take the opportunity for a snow day and whether that snow day is viewed as reasonable can sometimes depend on how bad the conditions actually are and how many other staff made it in from a similar location. If it is genuinely essential for your team to report for duty what can you do as their employer to help them arrive and get back home safely? Are you for example prepared to provide safe transportation, pay for local hotel accommodation or enable homeworking or remote working? Can you work flexibly and rather than staff being unpaid agree they can work additional hours to catch up afterwards? The more supportive you can be the more likely they are to make the effort to get to work!

A top tip is to clarify expectations and detail how you will manage adverse weather conditions with your team beforehand. Of course keep your customers and suppliers informed as early as possible, as grievances or complaints often result from misunderstandings and poor communication. Most customers are reasonable human beings who will understand that you need to offer reduced services due to skeleton staffing, and may actually value the fact that you care about your team’s welfare.