Anyone up for a snowball fight?

Living in the UK, we aren’t subject to extreme weather conditions – thankfully! But that means that when the little white specs of frozen rain start floating down from the sky – the country is at standstill!
SNOW!

How do we deal with suddenly having to child-mind a group of adults peering through the windows hoping that they get a half day to go and play in the snow? How do we maintain focus when it won’t stop snowing and people are much more interested in what is going on outside? How do we cope with people phoning in asking to work from home because they can’t open their front door due to the 0.9mm deep snow blizzard outside?

Firstly, snow is exciting, and I believe you should let people get excited – it’s a free morale booster and generally will put everyone in a better mood. Harness the power of snow and maybe let your staff go outside and have their five minutes of fun – they’ll soon be back in with frozen fingers and icicles on their noses with it all out of their system! It’s all about a balance of trust and if you can’t trust your employees – you might want to think about the culture in your workplace. When it comes to your staff calling in saying they can’t make it to work – this is a tricky one and really a topic in which your HR advisors should step in. It’s all dependent on your team, your business, their job role and its flexibility… and how much snow is really outside.

Remember! The work environment must be reasonable and cannot be lower than 16°C in normal working conditions and 13°C if the work involves demanding physical exertion.
If you need any advice on snow-day policies, call or get in touch with us via our website!