Sunday, January 5, 2014

How to Deal With a Snow Day?

<Best Offerimg src="http://0.tqn.com/d/humanresources/1/0/k/H/iStock_000015499819XSmallwoman-coffee-home-fireplace.jpg">

Ready for a big storm? It's time to talk about pay for inclement weather days. Winter is here and companies need to be prepared for upcoming storms with a bad weather procedure.

In fact, looking at the weather map this morning, snow is predicted starting tonight through Sunday night with a currently projected 14" of snow where I live. And, in other parts of the country, the wind chill is -35 and over 18" of snow is predicted. We may be the lucky ones.

The prospect for bad weather in the winter sparked a discussion in my company about whether we should close the offices for the day, when a major snow storm is predicted, so that employees don't try to make it into work in dangerous driving conditions.

The discussion gave me pause for the telecommuting policy that I am writing, too. The policy needs a clause that deals with bad weather days. We encourage employees to work from home when weather makes commuting too dangerous.

For some employees, this is impossible though, because closed childcare facilities make working at home a challenge. Some jobs, such as shipping, are not conducive to working from home. You can consider asking these employees to use PTO time, but this approach is definitely dependent on the honor system. You absolutely want to avoid policing and other actions that tell employees that you don't trust them.

But, fortunately, most jobs have, at least a few components, that can be accomplished in the technology-rich wonderland that we all now inhabit. Our final word to employees is that if hazardous conditions beyond the normal appear, the office is closed. They are to work at home and do something that is beneficial for our company.

What do you do for employees during hazardous weather? Here are my new recommendations: Employee Pay for Snow Days, Rain Days, and Emergencies.

Classes on the HR Site

This might be a good week to take a look at one or more of the classes I offer on the site: Conduct Powerful Job Interviews consolidates my most comprehensive material about interviewing. How to Recruit and Hire the Best, updated with new recruiting tools such as LinkedIn and Facebook, might also meet your needs. Perennially popular, Powerful Performance Management will prepare you to work successfully within or transform your current performance review system.

Image Copyright StockLib

No comments:

Post a Comment