Travel Disruption Again… Is it Time for HR to Implement Transportation Support Policies?
I don’t know about you, but the thought of another tube strike so soon after the last just feels a bit too much to deal with during the last week of August. I am by no means trying to voice any political views on this; striking is a democratic right after all. I do, however, feel that the implications to the City and wider afield need to be considered.
Following the strike a few weeks ago, I found myself thinking what are and what should we, in HR, be doing about this? Many organizations have policies and processes for almost every eventuality, but how many have considered transportation support policies? I am not suggesting that HR needs to produce a comprehensive policy detailing every eventuality that may or may not happen, however, I ask you to consider the following statistic:
Upon occurrence, the upcoming strikes are likely to cost London anywhere from ￡10m to ￡48m to ￡300m per day, depending on the source you look at.
The costs themselves are quite staggering, but the other less quantifiable costs are to that of your teams productivity levels and time. I am fairly sure that in many organizations, time has already been spent detailing who can and can’t make it into the office, what meetings will need to be moved, if deadlines need to be pushed back and how expectations can be managed. How much time has been lost doing this? Is there a way that this can be managed more efficiently?
As HR business professionals we need to be able to adapt to changing situations when they occur, advising and supporting both the organization and the employees effectively. Whilst I currently do not think it is necessary (in most situations) to have a policy for the when there is travel disruption, I do think that this potential situation needs to be explored further.
If we are to expect more disruption in London in the future, do we need to take a more holistic view and look towards technology as a means to support us in our quest to avoid losing productivity and employee engagement? One suggestion is to look at flexible working and (where possible and appropriate) encouraging line managers to allow their team members to work from home.
Research has suggested that employees who work from home are more productive than those who don’t.
This is by no means the answer to this challenging situation, however, if we are to expect more disruption in the future we may need to look at longer term solutions. Technology may be one option to consider, however, this could have significant financial implications to many organizations.
What’s your view? What is your organization planning to do or has it already done something? Do you think HR needs to take a more proactive role in managing travel disruptions?