Remember when you were in school and snow days were the best thing ever? No busses! School closed! Unexpected holiday! Now that you run a small business, snow days aren’t as much fun. When the roads are icy and the snow is falling, it doesn’t mean you get to take the day off work. Here’s how to cope.
Safety First
If the police issue a warning to stay off the roads, don’t drive. Don’t be a “hero” and force yourself to do something dangerous just to get to work. Meeting dates can be changed and work can be caught up, even if it means working on the weekend.
Have a work-from-home plan
If you and your team do not depend on foot traffic for your sales, have a pre-existing plan in place for snow days. This can involve giving your team access to files from home (cloud servers are great for this) or allowing important documents to be properly taken off site. Just a reminder: keep your client’s personal information safe at all times. Giving your staff the option to work from home so they don’t need to make the dangerous trek when roads are bad makes them value their job – and you – more. It also gives them an option when their kids have a snow day and they don’t have alternate child care during working hours.
Leave early and be prepared
If you absolutely must be on the roads, leave early. Pack a breakfast you can eat at the office so you can hit the road before the morning rush hour. Make sure you have a shovel and traction device in your car. Good options are a retractable emergency shovel (the handle slides down so it fits in any vehicle) and kitty litter which is great for tires spinning hopelessly on ice. Also keep a first aid kit and a warm blanket in your car. If you go off the road and have minor bumps and bruises, you may have to wait awhile for a tow truck. If your tailpipe is covered, you can’t run the car. This is where a blanket and first aid kit come in handy. Even if it’s not a serious accident, you’ll be much more comfortable while you wait. Don’t forget to carry a charged cell phone.
Leave work early too
Since you arrived at work early, leave early too, if possible. Alternately, you can wait until the evening traffic rush is done and leave a little later.
Drive Responsibly
This is no time for speeding, driving under the influence (there is actually no time that is good for driving under the influence) or getting sucked into road rage. Be calm, concentrate and arrive alive.
After high school snow days just aren’t like they used to be, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun. Have a container of specialty coffee or hot chocolate that only gets put in the break room when the temperature hits a certain low point. Give an extra ½ hour travel time to the staff. Take friendly office bets on the next day’s forecast. Most of all, plan ahead for you and your staff so the next time you face heavy snow fall and icy roads, everyone stays safe and remains productive.
Part of being productive is delegating important jobs. Delegate your accounting to the AF Accounting team. We use cloud based software (XERO) to ensure there is zero downtime for your accounting system.
The weather waits for no man and neither does the tax man, the utility companies and your suppliers. You keep your staff safe and warm. Let us show you how to also keep your company in the black.
