With the announcement of two one day Tube strikes affecting the London Underground, businesses need to start preparing now. The first day’s walk out from 7pm on 23rd June will have it’s major impact on businesses on Thursday 24th June. So, how can businesses prepare themselves?
One approach used many times in the last is to put key employees into London Hotels overnight. Major cost, significant disruption, but perhaps one way of keeping the business open.
Encouraging people to drive into work and make maximum use of car sharing is another approach, but could involve employees spending hours in traffic jams, only to find they have nowhere to park on arrival.
Encouraging people to take buses is a good option, as long as they run in the home area and are reliable.
Does your company have a flexible working policy? Can employees work from home, saving time and stress on fighting their way to work. While I recognise it is not practical for retail store assistants to work from home, there are jobs which can effectively be carried out remotely with use of a laptop, a mobile phone or a diverted phone. Perhaps if everyone who could work from home does so, the roads, buses and parking spaces will be clearer for those who need to travel into or around London.
How is your business going to cope? Have you got a plan? What is your
policy on flexible working?
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