AN interesting warning for businesses collectively, which has been delivered by the Forum of Private Business (FPB).

The current bad weather afflicting the UK could cost £230 million – and that’s just for a single day! The FPB came to this figure by a calculation that included the daily GDP figure, anticipated vehicle breakdown levels from the AA, average salaries and official data reflecting an expected fall in retail sales.

“Employees make businesses grow and losing key staff because of the weather, even for just a day, is very damaging, particularly in the current economic climate,” Tom Parry told me. Tom is the FPB’s research manager responsbile for delivering such information, adding: “It’s important that employers put in place contingency plans for these occasions and that these plans comply with employment law.”

I suggested to Tom that in fact we should take a positive view from these conditions. That perhaps it should encourage businesses to think about more flexible working arrangements – where practical – that might include home working. While Tom didn’t disagree he did add that “business owners should be aware that it is their responsibility to ensure that employees’ houses meet health and safety standards.”

In other words, the immediate working environment – such as how the employee is using the company equipment, posture at the desk, electrical connections, lighting and so on – but not a full scale risk assessment of the house, just in case you thought this was health and safety gone bonkers!

I think it’s definitely an opportunity for businesses to think about their working practises – and their expenditure. Encouraging home working, or flexible home working arrangements, saves on office costs and prevents disruption on days when the snow and ice make getting to work a treacherous affair.

One good example of how technology can help was provided by Tim Naylor from BCA, the auction house. We were just catching up after the Christmas break and I was asking him if the weather had prevented trade. Apparently not. Buyers were beating the cold by logging on to BCA’s Live Online facility and bidding for vehicles over the internet. And BCA had this morning also sent out SMS text messages to their database reminding buyers that online bidding was available rather than turning up at the auction house.

Home working: it definitely has advantages at times like these. And could bring advantages to your business, too

But new tech can circumvent the weather