Snow Days off!!!

sammyd22

Due to the difficulty with snow etc last week 60-70% of employees were absent from work on Wednesday & Thursday. I was part of the majority who managed to make it in and by doing so i was rewarded with 1 day Hols for each day i made it (2 Days) as the people who were off had full pay.

Has this been the case anywhere else?

There is no policy in place at work, however a management meeting was called and this was the outcome.

Some people live locally which makes it much easier to get to work, yet some people live miles out in the countryside....

My question is:

Is this fair? people that were off have been moaning as they beleive the circumstances were too extreme to make it in, yet people who have walked 10 mins up the road get a day off.

Rachel

You were lucky to be paid/ holiday where I have worked before the policy wasif you didn't get in then you didn't get paid. It is the employee's choice where they live and not the employers fault you can't get in.

Rachel

also i have heard that some council offices have a policy that if you live within a certain distanst of the office you are expected in whatever the weather.

I personally am one who won't attempt the extreme weather again after being stuck in my car one night a few years ago.

AK002

If you weren't in you didn't get paid, either take it as annual leave or accept it as unpaid.

Employer does have a business to run..

katsutlieff

No days off for us last week, my boss went out in the tractor to pick up everyone who works in the shop. Didn't matter that customers couldn't get in, he wasn't closing.

donnas1977

my first day back to office today after spending 10 hours on monday trying to get home, still no trains and the buses are very dodgy.

we are lucky enough to be given the days paid as we were contactable at home and doing what we could from home.

Rinske

AK002 wrote: »

If you weren't in you didn't get paid, either take it as annual leave or accept it as unpaid.

Employer does have a business to run..

Same for me.

Some of the management worked from home, but anyone who didn't make it in, had to take a day as holiday or unpaid.

I agree that the employer has a business to run and whatever the weather, you can't really expect them to pay for everything.

We did have a bit on the warehouse and factory, where so few people were in, they weren't sure whether they should keep it open or not, but they did keep it running in the end, just on lower volumes than normal.

bemusedstudent

everyone else got a day off paid, but as i had already pre-booked wednesday off to revise for PCR thursday (which didnt go ahead anyway) I've lost out.
If I hadnt been off, I would've gone in as i can walk in 10 mins, so again would've lost out. Should I be expected just because I choose to live near where I work and not have to use a car?

blobbyh

Rachel wrote: »

It is the employee's choice where they live and not the employers fault you can't get in.

Fully agree with this. Maybe someone could tell train drivers it's compulsory to live within reasonable distance of getting to work by foot? The whole rail infrastructure and hundreds of thousands of workers rely on there being enough drivers and it's fricking absurd that there's a shortage of the overpaid (£30k - £70k per annum) buggers once we see a few flakes of snow.

But unless we work in the emergency services and are lucky enough to have employers who'd pay us short term anyway, people shouldn't risk theirs and the lives of others by driving cars in clearly unfit conditions.

CJC

blobbyh wrote: »

Fully agree with this. Maybe someone could tell train drivers it's compulsory to live within reasonable distance of getting to work by foot? The whole rail infrastructure and hundreds of thousands of workers rely on there being enough drivers and it's fricking absurd that there's a shortage of the overpaid (£30k - £70k per annum) buggers once we see a few flakes of snow.

So, why don't you live within walking distance from your work, then you wouldn't have to take the train?

Yazi

Steven

Are you saying that you went into work and got paid, others didnt get to work and got paid, so had a paid day off in effect.

You are now "rewarded" with a day off for each day you got to work, so no different to those who didnt make it in. Not really a reward as they got the same...

taskey

i would at least want a choccy santa for my effort

*Jo

taskey wrote: »

i would at least want a choccy santa for my effort

I like this idea, a thortons one for me please *insert smiley face here*

GILL

Our policy is that we will pay reasonable time off but may expect staff to work unpaid overtime to clear any resulting back log as long as staff keep us informed and do all they can to get to work safely - safety being the key point as employers can be held responsible if staff get hurt because they feel 'forced' into getting to work in severe weather.

(However you will always get some people who see three flakes of snow and decide its a snow day. One staff member who lives 15 miles away informed us on his 4th day off that he was 'thinking about coming in tomorrow'. Unfortunately for him he was not aware that 2 other employees who only needed to take 1 full day and arrived slightly late on the second only live 2 and 3 streets away from him so he won't be getting paid!)

So perhaps Sammyd's employers are trying to encouraged staff to continue to make it in by given them additional leave without either penalising those who genually can't nor rewarding those that don't even try?

blobbyh

CJC wrote: »

So, why don't you live within walking distance from your work, then you wouldn't have to take the train?

If you'd read my post, you could deduce this has something to do with me being a recruitment accountant rather than someone who's primarily responsible for the public transportation of tens of thousands of other working people. If I can't get to work for one or two days at short notice, it mainly affects my department only...

janwal

GILL wrote: »

Our policy is that we will pay reasonable time off but may expect staff to work unpaid overtime to clear any resulting back log as long as staff keep us informed and do all they can to get to work safely - safety being the key point as employers can be held responsible if staff get hurt because they feel 'forced' into getting to work in severe weather.

(However you will always get some people who see three flakes of snow and decide its a snow day. One staff member who lives 15 miles away informed us on his 4th day off that he was 'thinking about coming in tomorrow'. Unfortunately for him he was not aware that 2 other employees who only needed to take 1 full day and arrived slightly late on the second only live 2 and 3 streets away from him so he won't be getting paid!)

So perhaps Sammyd's employers are trying to encouraged staff to continue to make it in by given them additional leave without either penalising those who genually can't nor rewarding those that don't even try?

Not always the case though some of the streets near me where clear, where as mine was and is still in place covered in ice as we don't warrent any grit according to the council, so people on the next street could get in and out to town where as we took I life in our hands and I refused to try and walk into town in the dark to get to work, so I took 2 days holiday

blobbyh

I take your point Janwal but cannot agree with it in the context of Gill's post. This is six to twelve inches of snow and sheet ice we're talking about here, not roads randomly scattered with land mines or cluster bombs.

What you're saying is is you think it's unfair that because someone didn't want to do a tricky five minute walk on an ice covered surface, the employer shouldn't penalise them because they couldn't, didn't or didn't want to make it into work, even though there were others nearby who were willing to take the same risk and did.

Isolated villages miles from anywhere perhaps, but 'cut off' streets within the same village or town where other nearby people did make it in will never wash.

janwal

blobbyh wrote: »

I take your point Janwal but cannot agree with it in the context of Gill's post. This is six to twelve inches of snow and sheet ice we're talking about here, not roads randomly scattered with land mines or cluster bombs.

What you're saying is is you think it's unfair that because someone didn't want to do a tricky five minute walk on an ice covered surface, the employer shouldn't penalise them because they couldn't, didn't or didn't want to make it into work, even though there were others nearby who were willing to take the same risk and did.

Isolated villages miles from anywhere perhaps, but 'cut off' streets within the same village or town where other nearby people did make it in will never wash.

I do see what you are saying Robert and yes some people will take advantage of the situation. I was trying to point out that it is not always a cut and dry case that because 1 person can get in someone else should be able to, the first day we woke to snow I made it 12 miles to college another person didn't and yet i walked right passed their house to get there, when asked he said he thought college would be closed.

As I say I choose not to go in but booked 2 days off, as I work in a hospital and see the otherside of what can happen if people take risks in icy weather.

Anyway hoping this week is better as it has thowed here but forcast to come back again with heavy snow on Thursday, at least last day at college tomorrow so won't miss any of that. Listening to everyone else we've been lucky as boing the new CBA's so the tutor decided to leave the next one until new year.

Regards

Jan