This is our Extreme Weather Guidance. The guidance has been devised to allow flexibility for managers to consider a variety of options that will enable their team to meet their service requirements in extreme weather situations. It’s not possible to have one rule for everyone in the organisation because we all do such differing jobs, so this guidance allows flexibility and common sense decision making tailored to the specific circumstances.
Extreme Weather
Extreme weather can present real difficulties to us as an employer and as a public service provider. We need to balance our obligations to our customers, our duty to provide value to taxpayers, and, as a caring employer, our responsibilities and duty of care to our employees. This guidance will signpost some ways in which we can strike that balance.
During extreme weather, transport can be significantly disrupted, making it difficult for our employees to get to their normal place of work. We also appreciate that schools, nurseries and other care providers will often shut at short notice due to their own staffing issues, meaning that employees may need to take time off unexpectedly.
Now that extreme weather appears to be becoming more frequent, it is increasingly important that we find other ways to work, often with the use of enhanced technology or working in partnership with our local government colleagues. Extreme weather is not a charter to have a “snowball day” at taxpayers’ expense as there are many different ways we can continue to work nowadays.
If you cannot get to your normal place of work, you should discuss whether there are workable alternative options with your manager. Some of you could effectively work from home without a negative impact on your productivity, some of you might require special equipment to work, some of you might be able to get jobs done, which whilst not part of your core responsibilities, would still be of benefit. Some of you might have jobs that require you to be ‘out and about’, and it might be even more important that you work, e.g. to help with clearing snow or drains. How badly you are individually affected will depend on a variety of factors – some of which are personal to you and some of which may depend on your job so it would not be possible (or desirable) to have a one sized fits all rule that is applied across the board, regardless of where you work. Any such rule would not only be unhelpful to service delivery but it would be more likely to result in us having to establish a blanket rule that employees must make up the hours or deduct annual leave.
Differing working arrangements are to be expected within a small organisation that does a wide range of jobs, and will not be considered discriminatory. As an organisation we support the diversity of our employees, meaning that we expect our managers to weigh up the differing circumstances and to exercise their management discretion responsibly and justifiably.
Be Safe
Our policy is first and foremost to make sure that you are safe. If you do not feel safe travelling to the office where you normally work then you should not do so. If you have an accident on office premises you should follow the normal accident reporting procedure set out on our Health and Safety pages.
Be prepared – talk to your manager!
Discuss with your manager what your plans are and how you will work, and what jobs you will work on, if you are unable to get in. Be prepared – you can plan for extreme weather at any time. Managers with responsibilities for business continuity will need to have regard to how anticipated staffing levels will impact essential services, therefore early discussions on ‘what if’ scenarios are strongly advised.
If we are anticipating a bout of extreme weather you should make contingency plans before you leave the office the preceding (working) day. Could you stay overnight with family or friends nearer the office?
At the very least you may need to allow additional travelling time, or (if this is impossible due to caring obligations), talk to your manager if you are likely to be in later.
Access from home/elsewhere
Staff are expected to take their laptops home at night when extreme weather is expected, so they have the ability to work from home if agreed with their managers.
Everybody who works for us can access to emails and work calendars from any device which has the Outlook app or through https:\\office.com. Any documents or spreadsheets which you have previously saved to One Drive will also be available using the online versions of Word or Excel (which do not have to be installed on the device). Documents not saved to One Drive will not be accessible.
In all alternative working arrangements please make sure you apply the usual high standards of confidentiality and data protection. Do not use your laptop or the Office 365 link in situations where confidentiality will be compromised (e.g. public computer or in a situation where your work can be easily overlooked especially if it is of a sensitive or restricted nature).
You must discuss with your manager (in advance) so that he or she is satisfied that there are no breaches or risks in relation to the confidentiality of data.
Diverting Work Phones
Everybody who has a work mobile and/or an 8 x 8 app can log in to make or receive calls remotely or wherever they are. Please make sure you log in your phone at the start of the working day as normal.
If you only have a desk phones and need to work remotely, you will need to divert your phones. The ICT team have provided a short guidance note to assist (including screenshots). For further assistance please email helpdesk@molevalley.gov.uk or telephone 01306 885 001 and request to be transferred to the ICT team.
Hot desking
Hot desking at our other offices (e.g. Park House in Leatherhead) or other local government offices nearer to you may also be possible. In addition to the 11 district and borough offices and Surrey County Council’s head office in Kingston, it also has offices in Reigate, Redhill and Woking. Please see below attachement for location information.
If you live in safe walking distance from another office such as one of these, and you would be more productive in an office environment (especially if the extreme weather is likely to last several days), discuss this with your manager in sufficient time to allow him or her to investigate whether it would be possible. Your manager may be able to contact your proposed hot desk location or request you to contact them to ensure they have room for you and IT equipment available, if applicable. If you do work from an alternative location, please ensure that you have made yourself aware of their Health & Safety procedures.
Tasks outside of your normal role
If you cannot do your normal job at home, are there any other tasks which you could usefully do? These may be a bit outside the box, but could still benefit the team, or even your own development. It is up to you to make a good case as to how it is of benefit and it is up to your manager to agree to this as he or she is performance managing you and has a business plan to deliver. Be inventive – come up with some jobs that you know need doing and talk to your Manager about them. Of course, a single day may be easier to agree to than an extended period.
None of this is appropriate for me and/or my role
So, there are a number of different ways to work, but what if you none of the above works for you or your job, or you need to take time off for caring responsibilities?
We recognise that it is difficult to plan for a reduced salary in these circumstances so we do not want our employees to have to take unpaid time off unless absolutely necessary.
The most likely solution would be for you to take annual leave (if you have it). Normally our policies require notice of annual leave to allow your manager to plan properly, but the rules would be relaxed during extreme weather so a request could be made on the day.
Alternatively you could make the hours up at another time. Flexi-time can be used for some, and the rules of the scheme relaxed to enable this. But for those who do not have it, discuss with your manager (again, in advance) whether you can find a way to record the hours that you ‘owe’ the organisation and work them back at another time.
Early office closure
Occasionally if extreme weather hits during the working day, a decision may be taken to shut offices. (This will partly depend on the venue – e.g. it is less likely to be applicable to Park House or the depot due to the ongoing emergency nature of the work, and Dorking Halls will have distinct business considerations due to evening shows etc.) In the event that offices are shut and thus employees are prevented from completing their work, they will be treated as if they had completed their normal working hours for that day. This is for emergency situations only, and is likely to be uncommon.
Our Values
During every bout of extreme weather there are consistently many examples of people going the extra mile for our customers or pulling together with our local government colleagues, often outside the so-called ‘day job’. Team working and customer service are behaviours that we really value, and they can be very much on show during times such as these. These qualities make our organisation a special place to be even during challenging times, and we appreciate each and every one of our employees that can be a part of the joint effort required to help with emergency planning, or to keep essential services running.
Its application will be monitored on an ongoing basis to ensure it continues to meet the needs of our organisation, our customers and our employees.