The Weather and Employee Mobility

A number of areas throughout the country have been hit with significant snowfall and other weather related situations of late.  As children, many of us can recall going off to bed and hoping for the celebrated “snow day” only to wake up to the news that school was indeed still going to occur.  On certain special days however, the wish was granted!  Fast forward to now…we still see snow days.  In fact, when these occur you can often catch media coverage of how even without school occurring everyone knew to show up at a certain time for the special snow ball dual (the proliferation of social media has something to do with this).  Communication has improved greatly to help us all deal with weather related issues:  we get text alerts if our kids’ school is closed or delayed; you can get up to the minute updates about flight status’ pushed to you anywhere; and we can better predict drive times and plan accordingly.  The cancellations of late remind us all that for many roles, even if you can’t get to the office, your work can still get accomplished.  The ability to work virtually can help many companies with business continuity.  For some roles, this can lead to no drop in productivity even though many cannot get to the office (if indeed you originally needed to).  The ability to work virtually paid off huge for many companies in the past week.  I heard many stories about folks who were able to still service clients, advance projects and get work tasks completed with no issues while unable to get to the office because they had solid continuity processes and tools in place.   

All business can be affected in some way by inclement weather.  The ability to work virtually for business continuity reasons played out greatly for many companies and employees who were able to work virtually.  Has this affected your business and how did things go?

Greg Harper

President

Runzheimer International

Comments

[Valerie Myer]

Greg,
Your comments are very timely and true. Does anyone remember when companies used to offer "sick days" to be used when you were feeling under the weather or stuck in your driveway due to snow and ice? Today, we would simply leave the car in the driveway, track into the house, fire up the computer, and forward the work phone to the mobile device as if nothing ever happened. This is just an example of how the world is constantly evolving. Where will be tomorrow?

[Virtual Offices]

With all the technology available to us today, many businesses are making everyday a "snow day". This meaning that they have their own virtual offices and all employees work from home or some other location, and complete their work when it is convenient for them to do so. They do, however, still have access to facilities such as board rooms for meetings if they need to meet clients in person, and a physical address. Instead of wishing for snow days, these employees will be wishing for sunny days so that they can make the most of the summer, and complete their work when it suits them.

[Eric]

Hi Greg,

Inclement weather can certainly cause interruptions to your normal schedule. I was supposed to travel last week, but my flight was cancelled due to the snow in the Northeast. However, I was still able to be productive by altering my schedule, work from home,and serve other client needs. While I was disappointed I had to cancel and reschedule three in person meetings, I had a productive day, even with 16 inches of snow on the ground.