The mild autumn weather belies the fact that winter is fast approaching, but cast your mind back to December 2010 when temperatures plummeted across the United Kingdom, and created havoc on the roads. With that in mind, here are a few reminders on how to manage employee attendance during extreme weather conditions.
- Make clear your expectation by informing your workers that, in the event of extreme weather conditions, the business will be open as usual and employees should come to work unless it really isn’t reasonable for them to do so. Do remember as an employer you do have a duty of care towards your employees; whereas you might expect a fit, healthy employee to walk to work in the snow, this may be too risky for an older member of staff!
- You don’t have to pay an employee who does not make themselves available for work however it would be advisable to first explore the options of; working from home, attending an alternative site, allocating the time off as holiday or other leave or possibly assigning the day as a non-working day or requesting that employees make up missed time. Always check your contracts or policies preventing non-payment and be especially careful where the absence is due to issues over childcare.
- Employees have a legal right to take time off to care for dependants e.g. if their child’s school is shut. However if there is advance warning or a situation carries on for a number of days it is unlikely that this right would cover extended leave. Always check your company’s policy.
- If an individual seems to be using the extreme weather conditions as a reason for being late or not turning up you should consider disciplinary action for misconduct. You will need to investigate their circumstances and implement a fair disciplinary process in accordance with your company’s policy.
- Show your appreciation to employees who have made the effort to get into work and be seen to be dealing with employees who neither make it into work, nor work from home – for example by requiring that they take the time as holiday.
- Finally prevention is always better than cure. Make sure that you have a clear policy stating your company’s expectations regarding attendance, pay and alternative arrangements during extreme weather conditions. And make sure that employees are aware of this policy.
If you’d like some sound advice on how best to manage employee attendance during extreme weather conditions please contact Nigel at Employers Cookbook on 08456 52 99 00 or email nigel@employerscookbook.co.uk