Storm Dudley and Eunice hit the news this week, disrupting travel and causing power cuts. Winter weather will likely challenge some employers every year, as the nation faces the busy work commute. So, what steps might employers wish to consider? Use these three simple steps, to help tackle the classic British weather.
Three Key Steps
- Encourage awareness and planning – Remind employees travelling to work to check ahead. A quick email to your team can avoid issues arising and allows extra time for planning and preparation. You can also consider alternative travel options where appropriate.
- Communicate with employees – Nobody likes to be late and leaders hate wasting their time, monitoring lateness. If employees attendance is impacted by adverse weather, and it’s been a while since the last storm, remind employees of all steps required. You can create a company lateness reporting procedure if they become delayed.
- Identify options – In general practice, you don’t need to pay your employee if they can’t attend work due to bad weather. However, it’s important to check your policies and look at past practice because if your organisation has been more generous in the past, and given employees an entitlement, you might need to pay in that situation.
Where possible, take a flexible approach to your employee’s attendance if it’s affected by bad weather. Allow an employee to work from home for the day if appropriate or let them use holiday as an alternative to receiving no pay. If an employee is a hybrid worker, or there are other specific issues that needs to be taken into consideration, seek advice on the facts of your case before taking action.
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