Snow - whats the cost?

So I was talking before the New Year about our local lack of snow - ok it hit last night & we have had around 3 or 4 inches.

Local schools are shut, looks like ive got to cover looking after my boys tomorrow morning unless they open or unless I can get a friend to look after them for me. Joy an enforced half day off! (don’t get me wrong I love my kids but they have just had 3 weeks off for Christmas)

Ok I have to admit I couldn’t drive back up my road this morning but I do live at the top of a hill on an ungritted minor road in Redditch, but all the main roads where clear at 6.30am when I was driving the girlfriend to work, so I abandoned the car, walked up the hill, got changed, grabbed the laptop & walked back to the car & drove to work, so why where the schools shut? Im guessing Local Authorities are worried about children falling over in the snow & hurting themselves, only to be sued by angry parents, but didn’t we all go to school when it snowed, ok im talking to those who were schooled in the 70’s & 80’s! We survived – err at least I think so.

How many millions of man hours have been lost to either people skiving off on the pretense that they cant get out of their drive or those forced to take time off to look after children,. OK there will a few genuine snowed in people but all the main roads are passable albeit as it was this morning with a little care. Looking at our office car-park there are a load of cars missing today.

My point? – Whats the hidden cost to UK PLCs for parents forced to take time off to look after their children while we scrabble around in a few millimeters of snow, or even worse those hours lost due to skivers? Im all for Health & Safety but sometimes I do think we are turning if not turned in to a nanny state.

How many of your co-workers, or employees didn’t turn up for work, or even worse – are you one of the ones who took time off unnecessarily – shame on you ! . What impact does someone not turning up for work have on you or your company?

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Clive

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garde

My wife and I have been discussing this today as I was listening to radio 5 live (my wife is a teacher)

Take our local village school 2 thirds of the staff leave 10 miles or more away and would have to leave at around 7.30 am in the morning to get in to school, could they guarantee that they could get home again - the answer is no

The electricity to our local school has been lost today what should they do with 150 kids mid morning when the power goes try and contact everyone to come and get their kids?

Are schools really a learning environment / crèche - why should schools have to have kids when their staff can't get in etc

To me teachers are the same as nurses , fire-fighters , not paid enough and I certainly would not do their job and I think most would try and get in and not swing the led for a day off.

Sorry if it sounds like a rant but I think people are annoyed that it puts their plans out that they have to look after their own kids for a couple of days.

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Its interesting how your view point changes when it comes to kids.

I used to be quite unsympathetic to the plight of one of the guys/gals taking time off because little Johhny was sick, or the school was shut, or 1001 kid related reasons why you were late in.

Then you become a father and the veil of mystery is lifted, after working from home for 2 days as the little one and her mum were ill

But as a business owner, I'm also aware of the cost of disruption, especially to a small business, so I think Clive has a point. I wonder how many of our local urban schools are shut for fear of being sued after little Johnnys slipped in the snow, rather than the electricity going down.

The roads were icy and needed a bit of care, but perfectly drivable. But watching the local news was like witnessing armegeddon, not the aftermath of 2 inches of snow.

We used to have a lot worse, a lot more regularly, and coped an awful lot better. I can understand closures in more remote rural areas, but am a bit cynical by the blanket school closures today. More Elf & Safety than common sense and Dunkirk spirit

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My father was a teacher and if my memory serves he was always in school in most conditions, and he lived around 20 miles from his school. My brother is also a teacher, have to admit I don’t know if his school was open.

I also live around 12 miles from the office, yesterday the country road I use was closed forcing me to go about 10 miles out of my way using the M42/M40 to get in, but I still made it and yes it meant getting up a bit earlier but then thats what I would expect any conscientious worker to do.

I wouldn’t expect anyone to put their lives at risk for the sake of getting to work but yesterday at 6.30am all major roads were clear and remained so all day so why were the schools closed? Ok if the power is off that’s a slightly different story.

I am a Governor at one of my sons school, I am constantly told that pupils that fail to attend fall behind with their work, so the schools have been shut now for 3 days, how are they going to catch up with this work especially as its half term in 6 weeks.

I don’t see my school as a crèche, teachers are fairly paid in my opinion for the job they do and rewarded with plenty of paid annual leave, yes I know some of that time is taken up with prep work for the next term but they still get plenty of time off. Before anyone asks no I couldn’t be a teacher, I don’t have the temperament, but I do come from 4 generations of teachers so I do understand both sides of the argument.

Firefighters & nurses are totally different, and I agree they don’t get paid enough, especially for the hours that nurses work, what other public servants work 15 hours straight only to be attacked by senile patients, (this happened to my girlfriend on Boxing Day, she is a nurse) got home at 10.30pm only to be up at 5.30 am to be in work for 7am the next day.

Nice to hear Steve finally admit things change when you become a parent though, so all the time I have had to go to Christmas plays, leaving assembly’s & school functions are forgiven are they?

My final point was actually the cost of the disruption. The local news last night quoted 40% of the work force stayed at home yesterday costing £40 million in the midlands alone!

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Clive

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