In many parts of the world, it's really, really cold right now. Snow's falling, too, which has made it even less likely that people will travel to their workplaces. And the Forum of Private Business has estimated that employee absenteeism could cost something like £230 million in the UK.
Just so you know that the FPB isn't making this stuff up, an official release explained, "The calculation was made using information including the daily GDP figure, anticipated vehicle breakdown levels from the AA, average salaries and official data reflecting an expected fall in retail sales."
As for what small business owners can do in response, consider establishing a way for employees to work from home. Even if they can't accomplish as much, something's often better than nothing.
Or you can simply distribute tips about winter travel. Encourage people to let their vehicles warm up before leaving the garage (giving their defrosters a head start), for example, and tell them to keep a snow shovel in the trunk or back seat in case the car gets temporarily stuck.
Also, it's a good idea to put extra weigh over the drive wheels so that the tires can get better traction. (Think kitty litter - which can also be poured in front of a stranded vehicle - in the passenger seat and footwell of most cars.) Plus there's all the standard stuff about speed and stopping distances.
Or small business owners can, of course, just acknowledge the weather and close. Although the figure of £230 million ($369 million) is scary, not every industry is the same, and if employees aren't able to go to work, consumers may not be out shopping.
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Comments
Morning Doug, £230million?
Morning Doug, £230million? glad thats noy coming off my bottom line :)
I hadn't considered cat litter before and normally just have a bag of sand from B&Q (normally costs about £2.99) and a shovel in the car.
I have always been an advocate of people working from home where possible.. Just think how much road rage doesn't get generated and how many exhaust fumes don't get into the enviroment.
£230 Million
Bad Weather = Sales
To every bad thing there's always another side, view or even a reaction. Yes, it's horrible that people cannot get to work. It's not only the employees that don't make it into work but also the managers even the business owners not to mention the customers stay home too.
With so many people stuck at home there are many things that take place. Some just have to wait it out as they're not web related but there are many people who depend on the web for work. Those people go about there business as usual. Then there are those who shop of course including the owners.
That's when we see spikes in traffic, sales of business owners looking to upgrade their websites, start new ventures, revenue streams. Cause when talented people are unable to get to work. They find ways to be productive during this downtime.
Our sales are threw the roof and it's easy to measure where they come from and it's normally ice condition areas or just huge amounts of snow. Kinda like how hail storms are the roofers best friends. They get tons of new orders.
So my advise would be to not just bundle up and stay warm but to brainstorm and take advantage of this and find ways to improve or even counteract the storms with productive projects for employees to do from home. There are online meeting softwares, conference calls and even taking the time to see how your competitors are reacting to the storms.
Good luck to everyone and be safe.
Snerdey
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The cost of setting up
The cost of setting up homeworking may put off small businesses but the cold snap has shown it’s inexpensive in the long run.
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