Please read the following guidance on how to manage your business and your staff during periods of adverse weather.
Issues to consider include the following:
Premises: do you have contingency plans if your premises are inaccessible? What would happen and how might you continue to operate if your premises were damaged (eg by fire), evacuated, flooded, snowed in, without power etc?
Health and safety: severe weather can have serious implications for employers. Apart from the fact that some employees may not be able to get into work, others who, for instance may work outside or have to drive as part of their job role, may not be able to safely perform their duties. The health of those who work in the open air may also be at greater risk. It is important that a risk assessment is carried out in these circumstances. Take steps to ensure the safety of those who have to travel, and do not encourage employees to travel in dangerous weather, either during working hours or when travelling to and from work, unless this is necessary.
Data: might your only source of data and records be wiped out in the face of an extreme weather situation? Can you get to essential contact information in a situation where few employees can access the workplace?
People: how will you quickly communicate the situation to all your employees (and others, such as suppliers or clients/customers)? If the normal operational part of your business is compromised, are your employees expected to carry out some other work-related tasks? If so, do your contracts provide for this? Is the extent of the required flexibility clearly specified, and any changes to the payment arrangements? What are people’s expectations? What do you expect of them in a crisis? Goodwill is difficult to describe or rely on. Have you generated sufficient loyalty to ensure that your employees will behave honestly?
Pay: what do your contracts of employment cover in expressed and implied terms? Do your contracts, absence policy or handbook specify what happens if your employees (through no fault of their own) are unable to work or have to work reduced hours? Do you have sufficient fall-back plans and information to run your regular payroll?
If no plans are in place to deal with such extreme situations, this can result in numerous people issues to resolve, when all you really want is for people to return to work and show flexibility to help you get back to normal as soon as possible.
It’s worth learning from the experience of those who had to deal with such issues during the floods of summer 2007. Sheffield Teaching Hospital found that during the flooding some staff were able to travel to work and others were not. The HR Director took a firm stance, communicating that time not at work would have to be made up, or annual leave taken. Although this was viewed as harsh by some, this clause was clear in the employees’ terms and conditions, so there was no formal union action, just some disgruntled employees. The Trust distinguished between those directly affected by extreme conditions, eg home being flooded, as qualifying for compassionate (or emergency) leave, and those who were not. The latter group were reminded that they should make every attempt to get to work, otherwise their options were unpaid leave, annual leave or being able to make the time up. It should be noted that if a home working option can be offered and suits the job role, then this is a positive way forward too.
Making contingency plans
Having a contingency plan or business continuity plan will help to minimise the disruptive effect of large scale absence. When developing the plan, it is important to consider the following guidelines:
- What is your main goal? Probably to maintain business operations, so look closely at what you need to do to deliver a minimum level of service and functionality.
- Define time periods. What do you need to do immediately and how long can you manage to operate in a crisis situation?
- Who is going to be responsible for ensuring the plan is implemented? Possibly an operational manager or other senior manager/HR person?
- What can you do to minimise the impact of large scale absences? In the case of absences caused by bad weather, consider any alternative means of transport – for example, whether you can organise transport by identifying those who have 4×4 vehicles who might be willing to pick up their colleagues. You can also consider whether or not it is feasible to work from home – if so, do employees have access at home to the information they need to continue to work and do they have an appropriate environment at home to carry out their work (and to ensure that work is backed up and kept secure)? Consider data security when you plan for employees to access organisation infomration via shared servers, cloud access etc to be compliant with data protection limitations.
The following actions are recommended:
- Ensure that you can contact everyone quickly in the case of emergency/closure. Some organisations have a ‘contact pyramid’ which allows one phone call to lead to others passing on the critical message such as when the premises are expected to be usable again and what the individual should do in the meantime (such as using a website, local radio, certain mobile number etc). Think about who should be included, for instance emergency services in extreme cases.
- Consider a regular off-site backup process for your systems and records, either electronically or stored elsewhere.
- Consider whether your key employees should keep data on a portable USB device or cloud storage in case of an emergency (eg facilities and security information). Ensure that such records still comply with the Data Protection Act.
- Whether you have in-house or contracted out security, ensure that there is a procedure in place to prevent breaches such as theft or access to company sensitive information.
- Consider whether you could set up a reciprocal agreement with a similar business as a temporary/fallback arrangement in an emergency.
- During a non-crisis time, convene a group of employees who represent all of your business activities, and brainstorm the sort of questions people might ask/issues which might come up and prepare your response/strategy to deal with these.
- Consider whether you need a lay-off clause in your contracts of employment: if so, adhere to a fair process for varying contracts.
- Once you have a contingency plan agreed, ensure it is available to all staff who will be involved in a crisis situation. Get them to keep a copy accessible at all times both at work and home.
- Regularly review the plan, test and update it as necessary.
