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susan silva
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« on: January 18, 2010, 09:56:24 pm » |
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With the recent snow storms in the UK, and the US not having much better weather (even here in California, it is rainy and dark today.) I thought this week's topic would be:
Do you change your plans or commute in a different manner when the weather is bad? Maybe you drive instead of public transportation, take a different route, work from home? Let us know.
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peaches2160
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« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2010, 01:18:14 am » |
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Our company leaves it up to our discretion when bad weather hits. We get "black ice" here and when it snows, the roads are pretty bad. Fortunately, my boss is techno savvy and I have a laptop, so this last bout we chose to work from home one day. It was a very productive day for both of us. Although I could not answer the phones, e-Mail and my cell phone got me through the day. Some of the administrative personnel choose not to be issued laptops and have desk top computers. I love having the capability to work from anywhere.
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gee4
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« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2010, 09:13:33 am » |
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Public transport? Not every bus or train goes directly to a person's work.
I drive to work (only 10 mins) and in the recent bad weather had to be very cautious. There is no point risking your life to get to work if there is snow or ice on the ground. That said I am assuming I would have to use a day's holiday if unable to make it to work.
I don't have the option of working from home and personally wouldn't want to - use my own heat and electricity? The secretaries here do not have laptops and in a company of this size, it wouldn't be feasible for individuals to work from home.
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officepa
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« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2010, 01:25:33 pm » |
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General policy was that if some people could get in but you really had difficulty in getting to the office, you could either work at home (but not many staff have laptops to be able to do this) so in that case. they had to either make time up when they returned or take a day's leave. Office stayed open so above rules applied but if office shut, then you could just take the day off without being penalised. As I am a temp, if I don't go in I don't get paid so that was an incentive for me to make it in  Roads were really quite bad and I live about 17 miles from office so it took me twice as long but every day I arrived safely. Did see quite a few cars slide off roads and into ditches that run alongside roads I drive on so that made me go even slower. Mind you, once I reached the car park, I had more difficulty in walking on the ice to the front door!! |
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Cathy S
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« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2010, 02:44:28 pm » |
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Public transport for me just the same whatever the weather ...
Our road is a priority route for gritting and there has not been a day in over 3 years where I couldn't have got to Dundee.
The one day last winter when the gritters were caught napping the journey to work took 2 hours because a blizzard caused chaos half way ... but I was already on the bus then. Everyone at the office mithered me to go home early in case the roads were bad but in fact I stayed to usual finish time and then had the quickest, quietest ride home ever. It did make me consider the possibility of being stuck in Dundee though and I started keeping an emergency overnight bag at the office in case I needed to crash with a colleague ... there area number of people with spare rooms who would put me up, so not really a worry.
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msmarieh
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« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2010, 08:47:03 pm » |
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In my prior job I had a laptop so I could work from home if needed and I loved it!
Current position doesn't allow that. We are allowed to use vacation time or Leave Without Pay (LWOP) without penalty if we don't want to drive in it. For the storm last week that dumped 9" of snow on the area, I decided to take the day off. My drive is 40 minutes WITHOUT snow and my car is rear wheel drive.
When I worked elsewhere, I would also change my commute, usually choosing to take side roads instead of main roads, even though there might be more snow on them. The main roads were so backed up the commute would take 3 times as long if I used them. In my current job, I take a main road to work but it's not a heavily populated one from a commuting standpoint so it actually normally only takes me a few minutes longer in bad weather.
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drossi
Newbie
Posts: 12
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« Reply #6 on: January 21, 2010, 11:26:49 pm » |
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If the weather is really bad, I do have the option to work from home. If there is something that needs to be done "in" the office I don't walk to the train but drive. The other thing I do, of course, is I bundle up more and wear too many layers of cloths most days. As they say with layers, at least you can peel them off!
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Katie G
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« Reply #7 on: January 22, 2010, 07:23:36 pm » |
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Snow doesn't bother me so much -- unless you're talking about the 23 inches we got before Christmas. Ice, however, is a dealbreaker for me. Nope. Won't do it. (Don't tell me about how your vehicle can "go" in anything -- doesn't matter if you can't STOP!) I refuse to risk moving my car down my driveway when it's a solid sheet of ice. I am near an interstate which is usually well cleared, but that doesn't help if I can't cover the three miles to the ramp!
Fortunately, I always keep some days off in reserve for this. In my curent office, thankfully, nobody expects anyone to put their life or property on the line to get to work. hHowever, other departments can be quite draconian about it, and I've heard more than one horror story about someone having an accident because they were "afraid" to miss work. (These are people who are NOT "essential" personnel.)
If it starts during the workday, I've found it's better to finish the day and give the streets department time to get out there and start clearing it before starting home anyway.
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