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It's a disgrace that some employers do this. In the past I have had people I work with been told they will have to take the day as holiday as well. I was out gritting in glasgow during the red warning and without four wheel drive you would be stuck in your car over night it was the worst weather I have seen since 2010
Not the best way to motivate your staff. Treat people the way you would want you or your family members to be.
What is everyone ones take on this should we pay staff when no work can be carried out due to weather and it not being safe to do so?
i have staff which have been paid for the 3 days and we are back tomorrow but if the situation was to last 1-2 weeks it would cost £1000’s
I have lived in Scotland all my life and there was only one year 2010 that I could not get out for more than a week.
If you have good staff and pay them when you can't get out they may be willing to work a weekend or two to make up the work load which makes up the losses. Treat them like shit and you may find they don't give a shit back.
you could look at it the other way, if such as hostpital workers, council road teams, utility compane workers and airport workers did not turn in we would still be at a stand still
Two issues;
Contractually - how and when you pay them is subject to your contract of employment. So, if you are not going to pay them, one better had make sure this is reflected in a vaild, signed contract otherwise they'd have a good tribunal case against you.
Morally - absolutley you pay them and/or you work with them to accure hours to be worked off later. Your employees are your best asset and deserve to be well treated. You are nothing without them.
Your business model should allow for such time along with holidays, training, sick pay (maybe) and wet/snow days. Ie your internal charging rate should cover an amount. Only you know in your line of work/location, what would be a reasonable amount.
If you know your costs, you'll know how long you can cater for this scenario......
Well said
Just had a message about my earlier statement, all I can say is this - If you've done your business planning and calculations, you'll have an idea about what you need to charge to run a profitable business. This will ensure you can pay your bills, pay yourself & staff and make a profit (however small).
With regards paying staff;
If your FT staff work 40hrs a week, that's 40hrs * 52 weeks pa = 2080hrs per year
Then you take off;
Total non-productive time = 340hrs per year
So; 2080hrs - 340hrs = 1740 chargable hrs per year
Then you have to charge enough in working just 1740hrs to pay your staff for 2080 hrs
Very simplistic, but hope you get the gist....
If you can't or havent bothered to work it out, industry average stats suggest you need to charge 2x to 3x what you pay your staff.
The nearer that figures is to 2x, the more lean you are running and less likely to have any reserve funds to weather much downtime or low staff productivity
The building trade employment contracts are usually subject to inclement weather clauses, whereby workers are unpaid (you can’t lay bricks in the rain), and I have never heard it being raised as an issue before.
However now that recent events have impacted on almost every trade and occupation, it’s great for politicians to be seen to be supporting the working man and woman.
What about the small businesses who might struggle due to lost income and lost output, yet still expected to pay wages, or the self employed people who don’t earn when they don’t work?
Speaking with the driver for our turf supplier, none of their 25-30 employees were paid as they couldn’t cut/sell/deliver etc for 6 days, but the Scottish government think it practical to pay wages of £25,000 without any supporting revenue???
Personally my employees will be paid (thankfully I have only 2 hard working guys) however i do think it should be down to businesses to determine.