The widespread
disruption caused by the extreme snowy conditions has resulted in millions of
employees unable to make it to work.
The scale of absenteeism is estimated to cost the country £230m a day
according to the Forum of Private Business (FPB).
With further snow showers
forecast across Britain, the TUC are urging that
employers allow staff to work from home rather than risk driving in the
increasingly treacherous conditions if it isn’t safe to do so. Many employers will have a ‘bad
weather’ policy in place, and those companies with a
flexible working policy and the technology for employees to work from home will
continue to maintain normal service levels and avoid losing revenue. David Egan, Remedy HCMS managing
director commented: “being a SaaS recruitment software, Chameleon-i has helped
consultants to stay productive and allowed companies to be more flexible in
their approach to the disruption. Our
activity statistics are showing our typical users are online despite the
adverse weather conditions.”
Home working employees offer an opportunity
to minimise the cost to business, Rebecca Clake, CIPD organisation and
resourcing adviser, said: “The crude millions-of-pounds estimates of the cost to
the economy of bad weather often don’t take into account the millions of
motivated workers who will be working remotely”.