As November moved into December, the UK became wrapped in a blanket of road-clogging snow, starting in Scotland and the north of England, before moving south and eventually affecting travel in London and the South East.
The estimated cost to the economy varies depending on which source you choose to believe, but predictions of between £250 million and £1.2 billion a day have been made public by different analysts.
The good news is that many firms have learned their lessons from the cold weather conditions which crippled the UK’s transport links earlier in 2010 and, as such, have taken the proper precautions to ensure business continuity, even when employees cannot make their way into work.
Remote working has become increasingly popular as a failsafe for such eventualities, with many choosing to stay at home and get work done, rather than risk getting stuck in the snow and ice on their commute.
Working from home using remote access also means that many thousands of people are able to cope with the widespread closure of schools, which has left children in need of all-day care. Of course some parents have simply been forced to take these days as holiday, which is hardly ideal, but a necessity when educational institutions cannot open.
Businesses which do lose out as a result of the climate need not take too much woe from the staggering predictions for daily costs, because experts believe that employees are likely to make up for lost time by staying later and working harder, once the weather has cleared up and they are able to return to their desks.
This is precisely what has happened in previous years, so even if productivity lags and continuity is compromised now, the future is the time for catching up and making amends.
If winters are set to get colder and snow is a more frequent visitor to the UK, it is likely that business continuity planning and disaster recovery will gain new importance within businesses around the country.
