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The Northeast is bracing for an apparently “historic” snow storm, and most likely a state of emergency will be in effect all throughout. However, there are many bad weather days when employees still have to trek through the snow, rain and other horrific weather to get to work. I remember talking to an ex-colleague of mine, who told me it took him 3 hours to get to his client in horrible winter weather, only to get there and be dismissed an hour later. All this because it was expected for employees to show up…

Do you brave the elements to go to work when the weather is bad and potentially threatening? Or rather, do you make a judgment call in case you are not given the option to work from home or use the day as a holiday? What do you recommend in those instances?

My $0.05: I’ve found myself in very flexible and comfortable professional environments where I could make the call to work from home in case of bad weather. I’ve also experienced environments where the expectation was, unless you were officially told to stay home, you were expected to show. In my opinion, it has to be a judgment call, no one should be putting themselves at risk to get to work. If that means you may have to use a vacation day, well, so be it. If the option is not available, consider discussing it with your manager in a fair, productive way, whereby you’d offer a compromise, such as working longer hours before or after, or working from home.

Thoughts?

The Corporate Sis.