As we all know every other year we get 2 or 3 days of “unusually” heavy snow and extreme cold and everything comes to a halt. The roads become impassable, the buses and trains don’t run. People have a miserable journey to work and an even more traumatic journey home. Not surprisingly some employees decide not to bother and take the day off, others don’t have much choice as schools close and there is no one to look after the children.
How should managers respond?
Faced with an avalanche of requests to go home early because it’s snowing and the weather forecast is for more to come managers usually email HR for advice. However the corporate machine moves slowly as it deliberates over an organisation wide consistent response. A response which where I worked had to take account of the fact that the weather over the Pennines was often more extreme than that on the coast. Not helped by the fact that HQ was located near the coast.
It was the same last year when we had the heat wave by the time HR had a corporate response to should we relax the dress code and how long can staff queue for an ice cream in works time, the heat wave was over.
So it is not surprising that the initial response from HR is “well you’re on the spot you are in the best position to decide”
When the snow came some managers responded by saying well I got in I expect my staff to but then found they didn’t have any work for them to do. The drivers for the day centres couldn’t take their vehicles out because the side roads were impassable. So they were set to work to clear the snow from the car park because as the manager said “we are not going to pay them to do nothing”.
I don’t know about you but I want to work for a boss who recognises that there has to be a bit of give and take, someone who trusts their staff not to take advantage of the situation. In return that manager will be able to count on my good will and let’s face it the public sector relies on good will to run smoothly. Besides which what are you going to do threaten staff with the loss of a day’s pay, discipline them? Well take it from an experienced manager that course of action will involve a lot of hassle ,bad feeling and your eventual loss of face when you have to back down.
Blair McPherson is author of People management in a harsh financial climate and Equipping managers for an Uncertain Future both published by www.russelllhouse.co.uk