What's Your Snow Day Policy?

We had more snow today in Philadelphia than we had all of last year. (That’s a snapshot of my deck this morning.) Those eight inches of snow resulted in school closings all over the region. That shutdown snowballs because kids have to stay home — and so do parents. And that affects business.

What’s your snow day policy? If you’re like most companies, you have an alert line that employees call. No matter how much snow or bad weather there is, the message is the same: “Our offices are open. However, please use your discretion (otherwise known as your vacation days) as to whether you should come in today.” I get using a vacation day, but what I don’t get is the ambiguity. Should people take risks to come to work? What if they can’t afford to take off or don’t have any vacation days? I’m not looking for corporate welfare — far from it. I’m just wondering what companies do to make it clear what the policy is long before a big snow falls and then people are trying to make decisions at 5:30 in the morning. “Safety First” is always a good choice.