I work for one of the larger firms in Sheffield and I was shocked to learn some consultant staff had been asked by Managers whether they have to pay their staff for the day, even though they couldn't attend due to the snow!

I think people should be paid, as it isn't their fault for the weather! Anyone else with different views?

I work for one of the larger firms in Sheffield and I was shocked to learn some consultant staff had been asked by Managers whether they have to pay their staff for the day, even though they couldn't attend due to the snow!

I think people should be paid, as it isn't their fault for the weather! Anyone else with different views?


no work...no pay....

take it as paid holiday

The fair choice would be to offer the staff a choice of unpaid leave, annual leave or an opportunity to make the time back.

I work for one of the larger firms in Sheffield and I was shocked to learn some consultant staff had been asked by Managers whether they have to pay their staff for the day, even though they couldn't attend due to the snow!

I think people should be paid, as it isn't their fault for the weather! Anyone else with different views?

If people cant make the effort to work then as eastbank says ... No work .. No pay or they will take advantage all the time like today buses have been running and i know a few people that havent gone to work its called idle itus the snow is no excuse :hihi: .

I got to work no problem the last few days :huh:, ahhhhhh thats cause i work for myself lol

I used to work for a large organisation and you could name 3 people who would call in sick on days like these. Honesty didn't pay back then. Amazingly the same 3 were always sick during school holidays...... I think that as it's only a couple of days a year - if that - then employers should be able to come to some agreement.

They could work from home.

The weather isn't the employers fault either - why should they have to pay someone's wages when they've not put in the work?!

The fair choice would be to offer the staff a choice of unpaid leave, annual leave or an opportunity to make the time back.

Sounds good to me, my son works for the council and as had to use a days holiday and I am on the clock, if your are 1 minute late you are docked time, have a day off and get paid you’re having a :hihi:

I think if you cant even be bothered to try to get in you should have to take either unpaid leave or annual leave (for example people who ring in at 8 o clock when their shift starts at 8 obviously haven't tried). If you try to get in but are late because of it, for example you have had to walk or the bus is late, then the employers should be able to use their discretion and be thankful staff have got in without having to make them make the time up.

People who have genuinely tried to get in but can't its difficult, in most cases i would say that if people try they will be able to get in eventually, and as long as they ring in frequently to let the boss know then thats fine. Most conscientious employees would be willing to walk in or trams part of the way etc, i know i would never ring in to work to say i couldn't get in until i had tried all possibilities and at least attempted to walk in.

There will always be people who see one flake of snow and claim they can't get into work, and i'll bet the bosses could tell you exactly which members of staff will ring in and which ones will make the extra effort to get in.

Generally pay staff who get in even if they are late, people that can't get in should have to take annual/ unpaid leave. People who have genuinely tried to get in and have been ringing to keep the boss informed, i would hope the employer would use their discretion and maybe come to some compromise, i.e half a days holiday or ask to work over another time.

At the end of the day its not fair on bosses to have to pay for staff that aren't there, but there are genuinely some days that some staff cant get in.....i guess its tough being the boss.

....i guess its tough being the boss.

Why ? if you’re aren’t there you don’t get paid , simple, anything else is bound to lead to problems.

I set off for work yesterday, but as the traffic built up and went slower and slower (along with radio Sheffield advising that there were problems near my destination) I decided to cut my losses and return home.

I'm lucky that in my present post nobody's life depends on me getting to work, and nothing was especially urgent. Had it mattered, as it sometimes does as workload and deadlines change, then I would have carried on, and walked if necessary - as I have done in previous positions. (I remember once walking back from Thorncliffe to Crosspool (late 70s) to get to my parents (too far to get home) - it took over 5 hours, with much of that struggling to walk up an icy Walkley Lane). Luckily, now I don't have to. Yesterday my journey was "not necessary" and so I gave up without much of a fight and I went back home - but I took it as annual leave. Why should my employer have to stand the cost of me failing to get to work because I choose to live a distance from work?

No they shouldnt be paid.

They should either take it as leave. Or pay back the time on a day off etc.

Some people see the first bit of snow and decide they cant get in. I dont buy it. My road has at least 7 inches on it, and I live at aston, work in town. I went to work. Annoyed me collegues that live near, didnt bother. I got in with no problem.

In most cases the boss knows who will not get in or are always off sick. Boss' generally are not that stupid.

I work for one of the larger firms in Sheffield and I was shocked to learn some consultant staff had been asked by Managers whether they have to pay their staff for the day, even though they couldn't attend due to the snow!

I think people should be paid, as it isn't their fault for the weather! Anyone else with different views?

It's up to the boss, you know your employees - hear what they have to say (or if they don't bother ringing the decision's even easier) then make your decision. Generally speaking though, probably take it out their holidays. I don't like all the drama caused by the snow, it's either people that can't drive or people with a poor work ethic most of the time.

Personally If i do not feel safe on the roads i'm not going to drive to work.

I think it should be offered as 'unpaid leave' or if possible work from home. I am working from home but due to lots of people doing this the servers are maxed out and makes it hard to get anything done.

Just because people 'can' make it into work doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, if it's walkable then fine but there are enough accidents about without me getting into my car and potential causing more.

I'd rather get paid nothing for 3 days then end up in a pine box :cool:

Doesn't it depend on their contract? In some companies you are allowed a certain number of days leave beside holidays and in that case they should be paid accordingly, or the manager could suggest they make up the hours. Depends also how much you are paid. If you are on a low pay and definitely can't make it in this is going to cause hardship.

I work for Manchester Uni and my boss contacted us all saying not to bother to go in yesterday. In fact the whole university was totally closed yesterday lunchtime and all of today. All of the staff, I assume, will be paid as usual.

So if had a contract with someone to come and do a job for me and they failed to come then naturally I would feel agrieved. Especially if I didn't make an expected income that depended on that person doing the job. I fink I should go to court and try to get compensation for breach of contract, and get money from the person that didn't turn up. :huh::huh::huh:

Surely if you're contract staff there are detials in your terms od employment about different types of leave.

I work for a large orgaisiation and some people got to the office, others worked from home and some didn't manage to do either.

It always makes me laugh when someone phones in and says they can't make it as the snow is sooooo deep where they live, then someone who lives on the same road arrives without a problem :rolleyes:

I don't think there's been any reason to miss work... it may take longer than usual to get in - but most people should manage it... no excuse today, and yesterday was def. possible - my DH made it from South Sheffield to North Rotherham yesterday morning... it just took him a really long time - he will work the hours over, if he didn't go in, it would be holiday.

Some interesting views I'd have never thought of!

I love how everyone assumes that people not being able to get in because of snow have made no effort to do so.

I think the best way is just working it back as essentially unpaid overtime if your job allows it. Otherwise annual leave as already suggested. Unpaid leave as a last resort I guess.

Unless you're stuck out in the peaks (even some of that is ok) pretty much most bus and trains are running so even if you would normally drive you can probably get one of these and walk the rest of the way. After all it's just a bit of snow.

It always makes me laugh when someone phones in and says they can't make it as the snow is sooooo deep where they live, then someone who lives on the same road arrives without a problem :rolleyes:

the flip side being maybe the person who did make it in was unsafely skidding all over the roads trying to get in when the sensible option would have been to stay put?

surely if you tell people that if they don't make it in even if they try all morning they are not going to get paid (and have kept in touch to inform you they are trying) then people wont even attempt it. Some people where i work spent 2 or 3 hours trying to get in to be told to give up and turn around when it was clear they couldn't get further, by that time the buses had stopped and it took 4 or 5 hours to walk home. This person spent the whole working day trying to get to and from work and now if we go by the reasoning on here they wont get paid for there attempts. Whats to stop them next time not even attempting it?

I can understand not paying those that haven't tried but surely if you've made a genuine effort you shouldn't be punished?

I work for Manchester Uni and my boss contacted us all saying not to bother to go in yesterday. In fact the whole university was totally closed yesterday lunchtime and all of today. All of the staff, I assume, will be paid as usual.

There is a difference between people not being able to get to work, and people being told not to go to work because it is closed.

If there is no work to do (i.e. the company has decided to close for the day) then I believe you should be paid, as it was not your fault.

The thing is, if the people who couldn't be bothered to go to work get paid, then what does that say to those who did make an effort?

The thing is, if the people who couldn't be bothered to go to work get paid, then what does that say to those who did make an effort?

Exactly, i made the effort walked miles in snow, frozen and wet and people who looked out of the window and thought "no not going in" will stillget paid for sitting watching telly in the dry and warmth all day, why did i put myself through it?

the flip side being maybe the person who did make it in was unsafely skidding all over the roads trying to get in when the sensible option would have been to stay put?

But the flip side could be that the person who phoned in is the sort of person who is looking for any excuse to have a day off work.

At the company i work for its the same usual suspects that didnt turn in yesterday. The same people that didnt turn in when we had the snow in Feb 09.

Some people are willing to put in that little bit of effort to get into work and some just look out of the window and think no i going back to bed.

Exactly, i made the effort walked miles in snow, frozen and wet and people who looked out of the window and thought "no not going in" will stillget paid for sitting watching telly in the dry and warmth all day, why did i put myself through it?

this is how people got to work in bad weather before they relied on cars and public transport, if your grandparents didnt get to work due to snow which was far worse than we get nowadays, they wouldnt get paid their pittance which at the side of wages these days was a pittance often meaning no food on the table, jaffacake is to be commended for this
mel

my hubby went to work in Mansfield yesterday at 6am at 10am they closed site down took him nearly 4 hours to do a 10 mile journey to motorway he is self employed so no pay for us till they open site back up

Interesting one.

I walked to work (and back) from Woodseats to Ecclesall Rd last two days. My work colleague couldn't make it from Fulwood. Can somebody explain the major difference between the two? Apart from of course "the snow was too deep for my Volvo 4x4 and I couldn't get it off the drive".

I work for the nhs but have also been an employer. I travel to Leicester, nottingham and Derbyshire for work and although I have made it in, where possible by train, where not by car (albeit late), after careful consideration I have re-arranged appointments and will work from home while the snow persists.

My reasoning is thus: I lost control of the car on a side road today and could of injured someone. I also slipped on my journey to the train. If I injure myself I will be away from work for longer and if I insist on my patients keeping their (non-urgent) appointments they may get injured too.

My experience last February was that it took me two hours to get to Kings Mill Hospital, I had to go as had been unable to contact patients to cancel appointments, but not a single patient turned up!!

As an employer I would be more than happy to pay my staff to not come in rather than risk their safety and have to pay them sick pay. Life is give and take and if bosses can show some compassion then they usually get rewarded by loyal and diligent staff.

I work for the nhs but have also been an employer. I travel to Leicester, nottingham and Derbyshire for work and although I have made it in, where possible by train, where not by car (albeit late), after careful consideration I have re-arranged appointments and will work from home while the snow persists.

My reasoning is thus: I lost control of the car on a side road today and could of injured someone. I also slipped on my journey to the train. If I injure myself I will be away from work for longer and if I insist on my patients keeping their (non-urgent) appointments they may get injured too.

My experience last February was that it took me two hours to get to Kings Mill Hospital, I had to go as had been unable to contact patients to cancel appointments, but not a single patient turned up!!

As an employer I would be more than happy to pay my staff to not come in rather than risk their safety and have to pay them sick pay. Life is give and take and if bosses can show some compassion then they usually get rewarded by loyal and diligent staff.

Yes but you will get some members of staff that will take the **** and not even make the effort knowing that they are going to get paid for taking the day off even if they could have made it in.

Going back to the company i work for, we have 3 members of staff that live in the same area off the city, which is within 2 miles of our workplace. 2 make it in, 1 doesnt. The person who doesnt make it in is one of the usual suspects who we knew full well would make any old excuse to not come in.

I can understand not paying those that haven't tried but surely if you've made a genuine effort you shouldn't be punished?

How do we measure what constitutes a “genuine effort”

Sounds good to me, my son works for the council and as had to use a days holiday and I am on the clock, if your are 1 minute late you are docked time, have a day off and get paid you’re having a :hihi:

I'm guessing he doesn't work for planning, where being one minute late is the equivalent to being 3 hours early in any other job!

I wish i could swear on here, have to deal with them regularly, and they are always either sick or "in a meeting" (not a real meeting, known by the fact that they tell us that, we ring back 5 mins later and "he isn't working today")

I'm guessing he doesn't work for planning, where being one minute late is the equivalent to being 3 hours early in any other job!



Sounds like I will have to get a job there then. :)

tuesday was a reasonable day for people not turning up /late when all the snow kicked off heavily and suspended public transport. wednesday main a/b roads were nicely gritted so weather was no excuse there . but on the whole yes employer shouldnt have to pay up if you didnt tell them why .

otherwise take it as day in leiu or holiday or sick! then id say theyd need to pay up.

If you don't pay staff who have attempted to get in and spent hours doing so and failed, the next time they won't bother trying (and who can blame them?)... on that basis, I think it's a judgment call for each boss.

All our lads will be paid. Some came in, some did not. Those that didn't, worked from home.

I do accept however that in manual jobs where it's not possible to work from home and a depleted workforce seriously affects direct productivity, those who didn't get in and didn't work shouldn't be paid.

. This person spent the whole working day trying to get to and from work and now if we go by the reasoning on here they wont get paid for there attempts. Whats to stop them next time not even attempting it?

I can understand not paying those that haven't tried but surely if you've made a genuine effort you shouldn't be punished?

No one is suggesting punishing anyone. The basic of the whole argument is that you get paid for your labours. No labour no pay. If the employer can find a way of you making up the work then he should offer it, if he thinks your loyalty deserves reward then he should reward but he shouln'dt be compelled to take out of his jam jar money to pay for services not recieved. If he does he will soon find his jam jar empty. This would lead to redundancy for all.

Interesting one.

I walked to work (and back) from Woodseats to Ecclesall Rd last two days. My work colleague couldn't make it from Fulwood. Can somebody explain the major difference between the two? Apart from of course "the snow was too deep for my Volvo 4x4 and I couldn't get it off the drive".Depends which bit of Fulwood you are talking about. Much of it is under several inches of snow with many roads not ploughed or gritted. Only the bus routes seem to be cleared and getting to them from the side roads is pretty trecherous on foot. Our road only saw a gritter at 1am this morning, the first since Christmas Day - it then got stuck reversing back up because the snow was so deep. With busses regularly packing in at the botom of the hill then it can be a fair trek to some locations in Fulwood, so I guess it all depends on how easily you can get to passable roads in Woodseats and back etc.

If you are an able-bodied adult and live within walking distance from work ... there are NO EXCUSES. The roads near me are treacherous, but by exercising care, I easily navigated them.

Those who live within walking distance but usually travel by car and consider themselves 'snowed-in', really need to have a word with themselves. I don't drive ... I manage to hold down a job no problem. I'm getting sick of the people who so pathetically rely on their cars they can't even imagine WALKING to work!

If you believe in a god, he gave you legs ... bloody use them!

I can understand why people feel resentful when they have made the effort and feel that others haven't. This applies to work in general rather than just making it to work in the snow. Some people get twice the work done of others whilst at work and yet get paid the same.

I personally wouldn't get wound up by this as those who make themselves invaluable are the ones that get promoted, those that don't make the effort are generally not ambitious and are happy to plod along. Mind you I think the biggest barrier to promotion is a bad attitude to management, or a poor me attitude.

If you are an able-bodied adult and live within walking distance from work ... there are NO EXCUSES. The roads near me are treacherous, but by exercising care, I easily navigated them.

Those who live within walking distance but usually travel by car and consider themselves 'snowed-in', really need to have a word with themselves. I don't drive ... I manage to hold down a job no problem. I'm getting sick of the people who so pathetically rely on their cars they can't even imagine WALKING to work!

If you believe in a god, he gave you legs ... bloody use them!

Agreed. Every single member of our staff managed to get in tuesday - some had to walk 3-4 miles to the nearest running bus route, or tram stop, and they still did it. Anyone can get to work if they want to that badly. Trams were running, buses weren't off for long, and no-one is THAT far away from some sort of public transport link.

i work outside and have turned up for work every day tuesday i had to walk home as i couldnt get my van off the site wednesday i managed to get a lift to work but was sent home as they said we couldnt work because of the conditions today i have been told not to go in again where do i stand in relation to pay

i work outside and have turned up for work every day tuesday i had to walk home as i couldnt get my van off the site wednesday i managed to get a lift to work but was sent home as they said we couldnt work because of the conditions today i have been told not to go in again where do i stand in relation to pay

If you are reporting for work and being told there isn’t any you are in a totally different position to those that just don’t turn up, I guess it all comes down what’s on your contract

if you where in buisness would you paid someone to do nothing thats the question you got ask yourselfs ?

if you where in buisness would you paid someone to do nothing thats the question you got ask yourselfs ?

You mean unlike paying someone , who turns up for work and posts on the internet all day?
Turning up for work purely confirms a presence not that any work is being done.

(not directed at anyone in paricular)

My reasoning is thus: I lost control of the car on a side road today and could of injured someone.

Exactly!! most people seem to be missing this very important fact!

You mean unlike paying someone , who turns up for work and posts on the internet all day?
Turning up for work purely confirms a presence not that any work is being done.

(not directed at anyone in paricular)

I've been at work all day, but it's very quiet, so I have time to kill. But if the business needs me, I'm here.

If I had stayed at home, I wouldn't be able to represent the business when required.

What is your point?

I've been at work all day, but it's very quiet, so I have time to kill. But if the business needs me, I'm here.

If I had stayed at home, I wouldn't be able to represent the business when required.

What is your point?

The point is sitting there twiddling your thumbs or using company internet access to play the net is no better morally than sitting at home.
Not specifically you Mr Trautmann - but plenty on here work for big organisations who won't have time to kill.

i wish i had the time .....

I work for the NHS on a very busy ward full of very sick people. A snow storm is an invitation for alot of people to try it on or call in:rant: You've got an important job to do. If someone genuinely can't make it to work (ie if they live so far away that walking isn't an option then they should owe time back). NO EXCUSES. Work where it doesn't matter if you show up or not? Well, I think that should be upto their boss as long as it's fair to those who do make the effort.

I work for the NHS on a very busy ward full of very sick people. A snow storm is an invitation for alot of people to try it on or call in:rant: You've got an important job to do. If someone genuinely can't make it to work (ie if they live so far away that walking isn't an option then they should owe time back). NO EXCUSES. Work where it doesn't matter if you show up or not? Well, I think that should be upto their boss as long as it's fair to those who do make the effort.

I'm in a similar situation, and was pleasently surprised to find that every member of staff on our ward made it into work, even when the snow was heaviest. Some walked a good hour or so to a tram stop.

I don't understand why if we can manage it, teachers can't. As you said, fair do's if your job isn't important, but school closures caused so many problems for parents, and there was really no excuse for so many teachers not getting in.