Being forced to work hours back - snow

euronorris

Anihilator wrote: »

Trains and buses are running though.... Or what about a taxi? or lift ? or walk?

There may be delays but very very few complete cancellations of both.

Maybe the OP wants to tell us where she is travelling from and too so we can see this cut off area

It depends where the OP (and anyone else for that matter) lives though. To assume that everyone is a skiver is foolish, not to mention rude.

And public transport is so easily affected by the weather. My brother often has to work from home when it snows as he can only get a train to work, and it's a small village, so a little snow and the line is blocked.

He does try, but this usually involves him sitting on the train for two hours to go 100 metres and then be told to get off and that 'all services to London are now cancelled for the day'.

Besides, your point is irrelevant to the thread. The OP had a question about having to make up the hours, and I believe that has already been answered.

bigblackdog

some people managed to get in to work , some didnt , its a !!!!!! but to be fair you should work the hrs , loads of people are inconvenienced by the bad weather you are just another one

desperado2

I would take the view that it is perfectly fair and reasonable to expect staff to make up lost time due to weather conditions - or alternatively to take paid/unpaid leave for the time.

While some folk are quite reasonably "cut off" in poor weather, why should anyone else have a less favourable deal??

In the case where an employer decides to close the office/business due to adverse weather I would expect those who had made it to work to be paid and those who did not make at least reasonable effort to go without..

I am not aware of any jobs where folk are paid travel time to and from their normal place of work, but if you are paid for 8 hours, it would seem reasonable to spend 2 or 3 hours making efforts to turn up.. given that you expect the 8 hours pay..

euronorris

desperado2 wrote: »

I am not aware of any jobs where folk are paid travel time to and from their normal place of work, but if you are paid for 8 hours, it would seem reasonable to spend 2 or 3 hours making efforts to turn up.. given that you expect the 8 hours pay..

I didn't mean to suggest that they should be paid for travel time. What I'm saying is that, spending 2-3 hours trying to get to the office is just not a sensible option at times.

If the buses don't start running until, let's say 7am or 8am, then you will almost certainly be late. And you would then (possibly) need to leave early, in order to ensure that you can get home again (the situation may have worsened during this time, it may not have - it depends on the day).

To me, that is a lot of time wasted on travelling that could be spent either a) working from home or b) doing overtime once weather had improved.

I just don't see the value of sitting in traffic, or on train etc for 2 hours doing nothing. That doesn't benefit anyone.

And yes, the time should either be 'made up' or taken as holiday. I don't disagree on that one. Like you said, some people are able to make it and shouldn't be treated any differently to those who couldn't make it in.

mazza111

Anihilator wrote: »

Trains and buses are running though.... Or what about a taxi? or lift ? or walk?

There may be delays but very very few complete cancellations of both.

Maybe the OP wants to tell us where she is travelling from and too so we can see this cut off area

In some places. Remember the added time onto the journey too. The first day of snow up here it took my daughter 4 hours to get to work. They weren't amused when she called them as they thought that she wasn't going to come in. When she explained she was still on her first bus, and had another to catch, they were jumping for joy that she was coming in at all. Normally her bus ride takes between 60 -90 minutes depending on what shift she's on. Luckily they didn't ask her to make the time back as they knew she had made the effort 4 weeks later up here, things are starting to get easier, but buses are still running slowly.

Some of the farms haven't had mail for 3 weeks either, and I live in neither the highlands or the islands.

wildfrog

My personal take on it is that it is not "fair" that people have to be forced to take holiday or work extra hours due to being unable to get to work. (last year I tried to get to work, 2hrs to go 4 miles then had to abandon car and walk home as road closed in both directions, still had to make up my hours despite only about 20people out of 120 making it in )

However, from the companies point of view it is not "fair" they are paying a work force and getting no work done and therefore loosing money. It's just one of those things, it's not fair on anyone and we just have to live with it.

My problem with it is the number of people risking dangerous journeys in the attempt to get to work. Last year I had several work collegues and friends who had car accidents or get stranded due to the snow. Is it really worth it? If it is unsafe (particularly driving) then I think this year I will ring in and ask to take it as holiday rather than risk the journey. If they then give the days paid to others who didn't make it in then I'm sure I can ask them to honour the same agreement. Please understand I am talking about dangerous journeys to work rather than a mere inconvience.

briona

Anihilator wrote: »

Bunch of skivers

Other than the islands there is no place were transport is impossible. You and your colleagues just can't be bothered doing a bit of extra effort/planning/travel.

You've obviously never lived or worked in the South Wales Valleys! Try getting to the Rhondda Valley in the snow.

For five years, I lived in Cardiff (20 miles from my workplace so walking was not an option) and as I didn't drive, I commuted to work by public transport – train to Pontypridd (10 miles from my workplace), and bus from there to the Rhondda.

There is no train line in the Rhondda, hence the need for the bus, and the buses simply turn around and go back to the depot when they consider it too dangerous to carry on... and that's if they deign to turn up at all!

So, what would you have suggested?

Briona

piratefairy

The trouble is that the majority of employees seem to feel they are entitled to pay due to the fact that they didn't get here due to snow (from management POV here)..It is that expectation which would cause me to use the day from their holiday entitlement (bear in mind that the majority of our employees live within the town (15mins in traffic max), rather than pay them for a day when they were not working. I have put this in the contracts, as management discretion in adverse weather conditions.

briona

piratefairy wrote: »

The trouble is that the majority of employees seem to feel they are entitled to pay due to the fact that they didn't get here due to snow (from management POV here)..It is that expectation which would cause me to use the day from their holiday entitlement (bear in mind that the majority of our employees live within the town (15mins in traffic max), rather than pay them for a day when they were not working. I have put this in the contracts, as management discretion in adverse weather conditions.

The company I worked for had an unwritten rule which was that if nobody could get in to work, you all got a "snow day", but if some people got in, and others didn't then the ones who didn't would have to use a day's annual leave.

nzmegs

I have to admit I used to get very annoyed when my collegues got time off due to weather but I made it in. Simply because I don't drive and lived within 30 mins walk. It is not hard to walk in snow if you are prepared. Most people should be able to walk to a gritted and bus friendly road from their homes - unless they live in the middle of nowhere.

In NZ (where i lived at least) everyone carried special snow chains in their cars, which prevented the sorts of snarl ups you see on the roads here. I think peoiple just need to realise that the weather is changing and it is time to learn how to live with the condtions rather than have a coronary at the first hint of snow and ice.

To the OP - you have a day off today. You get to do what ever you want (within your home) watch tv, read a book, sleep in, do housework. Why should your workplace pay you for that?