How will the blizzards pounding the northeast affect work? Are they bad enough to prompt a boss to tell workers to stay home?
A new survey by OfficeTeam, a division of Robert Half, a staffing consulting firm, suggests that many managers believe bad weather is a legitimate excuse to shift attendance expectations.
Forty-nine percent of the 306 senior managers polled said their company would allow employees to work from home as a result of inclement weather. Specifically, 20 percent said their firm was "very open" to the idea and 29 percent said they were "somewhat open" to telecommuting.
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But there are still plenty of managers for whom attendance is non-negotiable, no matter what the forecast. Seventeen percent said they were "not very open" to letting workers stay home, and 34 percent said they were not at all open to the idea.
Some employers may let employees telecommute out of a sense of mercy, or in the belief that it engenders good will, but about half of those who allow workers to stay home during bad weather say that doing so improves productivity.
What is left out of the survey is any distinction based on industry and jobs. Obviously, telecommuting works better for some occupations than others.
Meanwhile, another survey by OfficeTeam found that most managers don't believe another winter event, the Super Bowl, poses a serious impediment to productivity.
Only 11 percent of the 307 managers surveyed believe that employees frequently call in sick the day after the year's biggest sporting event, and only 25 percent believe that takes place "somewhat often." A solid majority believe it rarely takes place.
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