Policies for Getting to the Office in Inclement Weather

Back-to-school season means new schedules, new supplies, and a little extra planning before routines settle in. It's also the ideal time to do the same kind of prep for your business — specifically, updating your inclement weather policy before the first storm of the season catches you off guard.

Every year, snow, ice, floods, and severe storms disrupt staffing with little warning. Businesses with a clear, written policy keep operations running and employees safe. Businesses without one tend to make decisions on the fly — inconsistently, and often in ways that create payroll disputes and compliance risk later. Here's how to get your policy ready this fall.

Understand the Inclement Weather in Your Location

Consider the inclement weather in the locations where your employees report to work. This is because different areas have different types of inclement weather.

For example, Florida and Texas are more prone to experiencing extreme heat and hurricanes than New York and Washington state. Six inches of snow in New York doesn’t warrant a blink, but six inches of snow in Florida would create a statewide catastrophe. Understanding what types of weather occur at your locations is the first step to creating a comprehensive inclement weather policy and ensuring that your employees stay safe.

Create Your Inclement Weather Policy

Your inclement weather policy should include scenarios in which your business could close for severe or unusual weather, attendance and remote-work policies, and how employees will be paid when severe weather impacts operations.

Include Weather Emergency Guidelines

Your emergency weather guidelines should list the most common examples of extreme weather in the area that make it unsafe to work or unsafe to get to work and how employees should handle those situations. Extreme weather can include:

• Damaging Winds
• Extreme Cold
• Extreme Heat
• Floods
• Hurricanes
• Mudslides
• Severe Thunderstorms
• Snow And Ice
• Storm Surge
• Tornadoes
• Tropical Storms
• Wildfires

Take the time to determine which severe weather threats are most likely to occur in your area and address each of those threats. Also provide general guidelines for extreme weather that can’t be anticipated in advance. This includes the scenarios in which your company might close. For example, your policy might state that if the government buildings and offices or schools are closed, your business is also closed, and employees should stay home.

If you’re in an industry that must operate in extreme weather, it’s essential to address how employees will get to work and how shift changes will occur if employees are late or unable to make it into the office because of road conditions.

Address Employee Safety

Make sure your emergency weather policy addresses employee safety. A good place to start is OSHA and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). For example, Title 49 of the Federal Code of Regulations states that drivers can refuse to drive if they believe that the road conditions are too dangerous for safe travel.

Employers should also address certain safety precautions if employees must work in hazardous conditions. For example, in extreme heat, employers should provide adequate rest periods with plenty of water and shade. In extreme cold, make sure employees have the right clothing to keep them warm and dry, and provide heat sources if possible.

When it comes to your employees getting to the office, you can offer some guidelines on when it’s too dangerous to drive, but ultimately, it’s up to the employees to determine if they can handle the road conditions and if the roads are passable.

Discuss Office Attendance and Remote Working Options

If you’re like most businesses, there’s a good chance that some of your employees can perform their jobs remotely. This can include your HR personnel, IT support staff, and administrative personnel. For members in departments that could feasibly work from home, make sure they have all their required login credentials and know the systems that they need to log into prior to the emergency weather.

You should also discuss what happens if your employees experience a power outage, or their homes are damaged during the severe weather. Should they attempt to get to another location that has power, water and Internet, or should they take PTO or vacation for the days they won’t be able to work? Addressing these things in your severe weather policy gives employees a standard to follow and clear expectations.

Decide How You’re Going to Handle Scheduling and Payroll

Explain how your company plans to handle scheduling and payroll. You’ll also need to make sure your policy adheres to any labor laws. For example, salaried employees receive their full pay for the week, regardless of whether your business is open or closed, if the employees performed any work that week.

You may choose not to pay hourly employees if they were unable to work for the day or unable to work their entire shift because they had to leave early due to inclement weather. However, some employers choose to pay their employees for a certain number of hours if they were scheduled and unable to work a full shift or make it to the business location. Other employers request that employees use PTO or vacation days for the missed hours.

Lastly, determine how you will get payroll done and how employees should report their hours in order to get paid on time and in full. If your company already uses payroll software, your employees are most likely already familiar with inputting their hours, and your payroll employees should have access to that software, regardless of their location, assuming the power and internet connections are working.

If your payroll software isn’t available in the cloud, you may want to consider switching to cloud-based payroll software. In the meantime, you’ll need to have a plan on how your payroll employees will get to the office or how your HR employees will get the payroll completed on time in the event of severe weather.

Make This Fall the Season You Get Ahead of Winter

An inclement weather policy isn't just about safety — it protects your business from pay disputes, compliance gaps, and communication breakdowns that come from making these calls under pressure. The businesses that handle bad weather smoothly are almost always the ones that decided how they'd handle it back in September.

Pull up your current policy (or admit you don't have one) and check whether it actually addresses pay treatment, remote work expectations, and payroll continuity — not just whether the office is open. If it doesn't, that's the gap to close first.

Consider using an HR and Payroll Provider, like Exact Payroll

While it’s important to pay your employees in a timely manner all the time, it’s even more important that your employees receive their pay on time during and after a severe weather event. This is because your employees may need the money to pay for emergency supplies, leave the area for a safer location, and pay for meals and other sudden expenses. To ensure that your payroll goes out on time every time, you may want to consider using a payroll provider, like Exact Payroll.

At Exact Payroll, we have human resources and payroll software solutions that can help ensure your employees are paid accurately and on time, even when the weather is bad and you have to close your offices and locations. We can help you with benefits enrollment and tracking, PTO tracking, employee handbook development, workflow automation, payroll processing, and taxes. We even have a self-service portal for employees.

To learn more about our HR and payroll services, contact us.