If I close my eyes, I can still picture the childish excitement I felt when my mum got off the phone and announced a snow day - no school! Sledding! Snowball fights!
As an adult, watching the catastrophic impact of our changing climate on communities the world over, it’s difficult to recapture that enthusiasm. Extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common, meaning that leaders need to think carefully about what additional measures may be needed to keep their team members healthy and safe. There’s also the knock on effects to consider - school closures, transport disruption and more.
As well as temperature fluctuations, companies with physical workspaces are more likely to be impacted by outbreaks of flu, colds or COVID, which can disproportionately and severely impact team members with pre-existing health conditions.
Whilst we can’t always perfectly predict when these events occur, it’s important to build readiness and resilience. In this article, we’ll be talking about what managers can do to provide support in response to events outside of our immediate control.
In the UK and many other countries, employers have a legal duty of care for the health and safety of their team members. This means paying attention to things that materially impact everyone’s ability to do their job properly.
In extreme heat, there’s the risk of dehydration and heat stress to consider. With extreme cold, there’s a risk of hypothermia and frostbite as well as trips and falls.
There’s also ample evidence that working outside of our body's temperature ‘comfort zone’ slows down our brain function, with the WHO finding that for every one degree temperature rise over 20 degrees celsius, productivity falls by 2%.
All this means that it’s important to take a pragmatic approach and adapt how people work during this type of event.
At a very basic level, during extreme weather events and other types of ‘acts of nature’ it’s important to offer adaptations to the standard working day. This might include:
If you’re working in an organisation that offers flexibility by default - for example if your team works fully remotely or operates ‘core hours’ already, it’s never a bad thing to acknowledge the change in circumstances and use it as an opportunity to remind people that the flexibility is there.
Often we have a little bit of notice for extreme weather events, or early signs that a flu outbreak might have a detrimental impact on our team. Instead of being reactive, communicate at the earliest possible opportunity to ensure your team is clear on the plan.
Your comms should reference any relevant policies and practices and give clarity on the flexibility you can offer. Can parents use emergency leave when their kids are unable to attend school? What’s your approach to sick leave? Including the answers to common questions before they need to be asked will help give your team peace of mind in the event of an emergency.
You might also want to remind people of things they can do to keep themselves safe - e.g. masking at the office, staying hydrated and wearing sun protection. It’s also a good idea to let people know common symptoms of heat stress (dizziness, nausea and confusion) or cold stress (numbness,. Fatigue, loss of coordination) as appropriate, so they can not only look out for themselves, but also for their colleagues.
From unusual weather events to transport closures, it’s important to recognise that not all of you team members will be equally impacted.
In your communication, it’s important to consider differences in people’s roles. Anyone working outside or on the road will naturally feel the impact of extreme weather more keenly.
However, it’s just as important to assume that your team will have a range of personal circumstances that mean they may need different types of support. The word ‘assume’ is key here. Your team members may not have disclosed their circumstances and are perfectly within their rights not to do so. But just because someone with caring responsibilities or additional health needs hasn’t requested flexibility before, doesn’t mean they don’t need it - and being proactive in stating that additional support is available shows that as an organisation, you want to show up for them.
If you do know that someone has a pre-existing health condition, then it’s worth reading up about whether symptoms might worsen in extreme temperatures and checking in privately to discuss adaptations.
Some other things to be mindful of include access to travel alternatives. Options like jumping in a taxi or paying to change trains last minute may not be viable for lower wage workers, so if they cannot do their job from home, consider what support the organisation could provide to help ease financial strain.
Finally, if extreme weather conditions show up during religious holidays, or if you know any of your team members engage in regular fasting as part of practising their faith then you may also want to check in on what additional support they may need.
Though the law is relatively vague about the specific duties employers have during heatwaves and cold snaps, there are a couple of legal obligations to bear in mind in the UK:
If you’re not in the UK, you should consult local regulations to make sure you’re able to properly assess risk.
More broadly, it’s important to keep a thermometer in the office to track the temperature and make sure you have other necessary heating and cooling equipment, as well as provisions like masks, sanitiser and fans.
Whilst we’ve shared plenty of tips in this article to help you get ahead of the game through extreme weather and other types of disruption, you can’t predict everything your team may need.
As a manager, you should check in regularly to ensure that your team are staying safe and reassure them that they should take the additional flexibility on offer whenever they need it.
If your team members have ideas on how the organisation might be able to support them differently, then you should also filter this upwards to ensure you can adapt. Doing so will not just help you build trust, but ultimately increase your organisation's resilience.
Extreme weather, illness outbreaks and disruption are no longer rare exceptions -they’re part of modern working life. Flexibility isn’t a perk, it's a duty of care: plan ahead, communicate clearly, assess risk, and adapt working patterns. Above all, listen. Resilient organisations are built on proactive support and human-centred leadership.
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