Closing for the day, is not something we would advise to do all the time just to save money. But here today (in deepest darkest Rossendale) things have been a bit different.
The beast from the east hit us hard…
All the schools closed, the bus service was suspended and even the main roads were extremely difficult to navigate. And this created a knock on effect. People couldn’t get to work.
Some had to look after their kids as the schools had closed, others who used public transport had no other options, and only the brave tried to negotiate the roads in blizzard conditions.
So what you might say…
Well, this led to many organisations having no or little team members and unable to operate at full steam.
Take us as an example…
We have a business unit in the Courtyard on Grane Road in Haslingden, along side businesses such as JY Group, Fierce PC and Mr FitzPatrick’s. And we have team members spread across East Lancashire & Greater Manchester, living in Bolton, Darwen, Blackburn, Bacup, Ramsbottom & Haslingden.
Although some of the team managed to brave the elements, others had to turn round and some just didn’t want to risk it (which we understand).
Initially though, we were really concerned. We knew we couldn’t serve our customers with our usual high level of service. We had no delivery drivers, 1 of our technical team had been caught up in the aftermath of a serious pile up on the A56 and 2 of the team were trying to battle their way to Preston Guild Hall to set up for tomorrows Lancashire Business Expo. Which left just a skeleton team to deal with anything that came their way.
But we need not to have worried, as most of our customers were in the same boat as us and in fact our skeleton team, after calling everyone who was due a delivery, only fielded half a dozen calls up to about 3pm (after which we sent them home).
So (in hind-sight) closing for the day might have been the smartest option. We did next to no business anyway. And as well as the team staying safe at home, we would have saved money on such things as heating, lighting and fuel.
We agree, its a strange way to save money. But as the ‘Money Saving Experts‘ for the office & workplace, when the beast from the east strikes us again, we’ll be the ones closing for the day and think you should too.
