Anyone living in the Britain for the past few years will have noticed the increase in extreme weather conditions during the winter months. A combination of unusually heavy snowfall followed immediately by freezing conditions, have wreaked havoc across large parts of the country. Transport systems have been brought to a standstill, preventing thousands from getting to work and ultimately costing the economy millions of pounds. This, combined with the effect of the recent recession, proved a strain that many companies could not recover from.

How serious is this problem?

Recently published research from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) revealed that the daily expense to company, of just a ten per cent employee absence rate amounts to a total loss of around £600m each year. Almost one in three UK-based companies considered themselves to be victims of adverse weather conditions between 2007 and 2010. A separate study by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) also found harsh weather conditions to be the biggest factor in the decline of company productivity during this period.

So what can companies do?

Many businesses are now investing significant time and money in a very modern form of insurance, insurance against the elements. This is not with a broker, as many might imagine, instead today’s business leaders are increasingly investing in business continuity and data management.

What does this involve?

Business owners can take measures to prepare for extreme weather conditions. As well as always expecting the unexpected, business continuity planning can involve:

  • Putting systems in place whereby employees have the flexibility to work from home. Obviously this is not possible in all industries, but an increasing number of employers and employees alike are experiencing the benefits of such schemes all-year-round, not just in winter.
  • Consider the cover. As a business owner, perhaps ensure you have a standby rota in place, whereby employees that may otherwise not have been working, are ready and willing to come in at short notice to cover those who are unable to travel.

Meanwhile, data and document management procedures can protect a company against crippling data loss. The above-mentioned FSB study also found that around ten per cent of companies they surveyed had suffered some degree of data loss as a direct result of bad weather. Now a sub-industry of companies offering data management services, such as document scanning and data capture, has mushroomed. These offer businesses peace of mind that all their data is backed up, all of the time, and easily accessible in any scenario.