The winter smackdown the Northeast is getting today raises a perennial question for companies facing major weather events: Should employees be allowed to work from home or leave early, or should they tough it out and report to work as usual?
For workers, it depends on individual job functions and how critical it is that they be in the office. Here are some rules of thumb in deciding whether to brave the weather:
To keep reading click here: Stormy weather: Should you work from home? (MoneyWatch)
I’m lucky; my new job offers multiple opportunities to work from home, even in good weather. I did it for a day and a half just this past week. Of course, I was sick, and they do not want you in there if that’s the case. A very nice change from when I was the front desk, and had to come in anyway even if I felt like crap.
I’ve stated this on other (political blogs); but, I think it is worth repeating here:
I hate, absolutely hate, the fact that a governor can issue an executive order making something into law without passing it by the state’s legislature.
However, it is good when a “state of emergency” is issued banning “non-essential” cars from the roads. This gives a lot of employees with really idiot bosses to power to fight back and say, “sorry, I cannot come into work unless you are willing to pay the 500 dollar fine that I will get for being on the road. How badly do you need me there? 500 dollar’s worth badly?”
As one who has lived in Rochester, New York and Miami, Florida, I myself prefer to go to work to do my work and I am used to driving in less-than-ideal conditions. Accordingly, my first reaction is one of surprise when people cancel an affair for weather unless it’s *really* bad (on the level of polar low or tropical cyclone bad).
Recently, however, I skidded on an exit and slid off-road somewhere on the southern border of the Paris region. No permanent damage either to myself or to the car (happily it was a Saturday morning and few people were on the road), but it was quite a shake-up and I found myself unsure whether I wanted to continue the three-hour trek to Sologne. Since then I watch my speed very carefully in anything less than ideal conditions and I’m more conscientious of people who are unwilling to brave bad conditions.
I’m someone who also used to live in Rochester, NY. Then I moved to suburban Philadelphia. We got a ton more snow in Rochester, but driving in it didn’t bother me because Rochester (for all it’s faults) knows how to remove snow from the roads and people know how to drive.
Suburban Philly? 2 inches of snow would cause panic. Grocery store shelves would empty and salt trucks would miss the main roads. Driving in two inches in Philly was far more stressful than driving in two feet in Rochester.