Effects of the big freeze

The winter months are truly upon us - it's not too late to think about what you could do to ensure your business copes well during what is likely to continue to be a particularly testing time of year for us all.

It is vitally important that organisations take the time to consider how they may fare over the winter and if their current HR systems are up to the challenge.  Will they help you cope with the possible high absence levels due to illness, employees being unable to get to work, and ensuring that managers are compliant with company policies and procedures? At times like this having the right management systems and processes in place can make a massive difference to allow you to minimise the negative effects of winter.

• Are employees and managers able to easily access your most up to date winter weather policy?  The policy should cover whether or not staff will be paid if they cannot get into the office, whether they could work from home, and who they should notify if they think they will be unable to attend work.
• Is your current system fully web-based, enabling users to work from home with secure access to data, documents and functionality should strike action or severe weather affect public transport? The London Tube networks, First Buses in Aberdeen, and even airlines have experienced strike action in the past year and these have a huge cost to businesses.
• Does it enable you to identify employees who have transferable skills who could be re-deployed to fill a gap due to unexpected staff shortages? Whether it's due to illness, poor travelling conditions or strike action, you can't afford to leave your business exposed when staff are unable to come into work.
• Does it help you provide guidance to front-line managers about how to effectively manage staff absences? With the risk of employee absence being high over winter, do your managers have the support they need to record and follow up on these incidents with employees?
• Does it enable you to easily track holidays to ensure that all staff have taken or booked their annual leave, allowing you to effectively plan cover for the festive period? Check the annual leave records to see if any staff appear to be saving up their annual leave, and remind them that they need to take holidays at a time that suits both them and the business.
• Does it communicate the Terms of Contract for all employees to help you avoid breaching contract by not paying a Christmas bonus? Many businesses are cutting back in this area, however, it is essential to check whether the payment of a bonus is contractual, which it may be, even if there is no mention of a bonus in a contract of employment.

View the free online demo of Youmanage for more details, or call us on 0844 335 8486 now to discuss your requirements further.

Best regards,

The activHR Consulting team

activHR Consulting's Online HR Toolkit provides line managers and HR users with all of the tools, information, processes and up-to-date guidance that they need to manage effectively from anywhere- in one easy-to-use solution.