Walking past the Old Curiosity Shop on Monday at 8am one would be forgiven for thinking that you were actually strolling through Dickensian London. Cliched I know. The snow in the capital was truly spectacular, something I have never seen in my experience, but it was the quiet that was having the strangest of effects. London had a day off.
Now as exciting as a snow day on this magnitude is, it throws up some pretty contentious employment problems. I checked the forcasts the night before and got up an hour and a half earlier to ensure I wasnt unduly delayed by the inevitable transport problems that would occur. This was common sense. I made it into work on time by just compromising a little and planning ahead.
On the other side of the coin you have people who live in places where you absolutely rely on a specific transport link which lets you down. This would have been very common on Monday - south east trains, all open air tube lines, all bus routes. These people are unable to get to work. If they were heart surgeons or firemen or the train drivers themselves they just couldn't make it.
Then you have this middle ground. People who dont make any prior arrangements, who look out of the window in the morning and think "no way". Maybe they phone up a colleague, the colleague says "I'm not sure, the lines are probably badly delayed/ blocked up/ not running, i'll phone someone else and get back to you". This chain of indecision runs until one person, who may or may not be able to attempt to get in, simply says they are not. Safety in numbers, everyone goes back to bed - snow day!
Finally there is another group who look out the window and see the weather and think - "the tube lines will be messed up - i can have another hour in bed and easily blame my lateness on the transport".
So the problem comes when the employers are considering what to do: Those who made it in worked hard to compensate for the lack of attendance while those who couldnt make it in stay at home. Those who couldn't be bothered to try also get a day off. Legally the day is an absence. It wouldnt be seem fair however to dock pay on such a big level. The compromise appears to be in the realm of making the day off count as annual leave - objectively this is fair on those who battled the elements to make it in. For the people who couldnt possibly get in this is harsh.
There is no way to distinguish between those who made genuine attempts to get in and those who just stayed in bed. The uproar from many of my colleagues, and other stories I have heard, concerning taking a day of annual leave for the day off is somewhat offensive - if they were to be just let off then surely those who made it into work should have been sent home immediately. But in there defense another problem is posed: what if some cunning employees preempt the problem and take the day off as sick leave?
Now as exciting as a snow day on this magnitude is, it throws up some pretty contentious employment problems. I checked the forcasts the night before and got up an hour and a half earlier to ensure I wasnt unduly delayed by the inevitable transport problems that would occur. This was common sense. I made it into work on time by just compromising a little and planning ahead.
On the other side of the coin you have people who live in places where you absolutely rely on a specific transport link which lets you down. This would have been very common on Monday - south east trains, all open air tube lines, all bus routes. These people are unable to get to work. If they were heart surgeons or firemen or the train drivers themselves they just couldn't make it.
Then you have this middle ground. People who dont make any prior arrangements, who look out of the window in the morning and think "no way". Maybe they phone up a colleague, the colleague says "I'm not sure, the lines are probably badly delayed/ blocked up/ not running, i'll phone someone else and get back to you". This chain of indecision runs until one person, who may or may not be able to attempt to get in, simply says they are not. Safety in numbers, everyone goes back to bed - snow day!
Finally there is another group who look out the window and see the weather and think - "the tube lines will be messed up - i can have another hour in bed and easily blame my lateness on the transport".
So the problem comes when the employers are considering what to do: Those who made it in worked hard to compensate for the lack of attendance while those who couldnt make it in stay at home. Those who couldn't be bothered to try also get a day off. Legally the day is an absence. It wouldnt be seem fair however to dock pay on such a big level. The compromise appears to be in the realm of making the day off count as annual leave - objectively this is fair on those who battled the elements to make it in. For the people who couldnt possibly get in this is harsh.
There is no way to distinguish between those who made genuine attempts to get in and those who just stayed in bed. The uproar from many of my colleagues, and other stories I have heard, concerning taking a day of annual leave for the day off is somewhat offensive - if they were to be just let off then surely those who made it into work should have been sent home immediately. But in there defense another problem is posed: what if some cunning employees preempt the problem and take the day off as sick leave?
It was good fun though. I was fortunate enough to be told not to go into work for health and safety reasons (brilliant) just in case more snow meant not being able to get OUT of central London at the end of the day. I think this was really code for "The boss wants to stay at home and play with their kids, and you'd make us look bad if you went in, so don't even think about it" but it def. worked for me!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I'd have loved to have seen that area in a blanket of snow... Some lovely buildings around there. :)
I went in to work and got told to go home at lunch in case the snow got worse. So we went to Trafalgar Square for a snowball fight: as you do. I'll try and add a photo when I can :]
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