To snow day, or not to snow day? That is the question.

If you’re an East-coaster, you’re probably bracing yourself for the massive dumping of snow that has already sent Baltimore City spiraling into a panicked frozen existence. The Baltimore Sun published its first article covering the storm early on Friday morning about nervous citizens scrounging for supplies in the calm before the storm. It wasn’t long after that a co-worker of mine planted a rumor in the office that supposedly grocers in the Annapolis area had run out of milk.

Sadly, even this unlikely-to-be-true rumor sent a chill down my spine. What? No milk? I channeled my inner Aunt Voula from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, “Whatchyou mean NO MEELK!?” I cannot live without my milk. Truly. Without milk, I’m like a motionless, dying Sim with depleted needs bars.

Milk…or no milk…the snow is coming. The Baltimore Ravens even decided to push back their 1:00 p.m. Sunday football game to a late 4:15. Why? It was rumored that over 700 staff, vendors, players and coaches were spending the night in the club level of M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday night to brave the snow and ensure their attendance for the Sunday game.

To sweeten the story, the National Weather Service issued a county-wide Blizzard Warning effective until Sunday morning. According to the Baltimore Weather Examiner, a Blizzard Warning is posted when conditions will be snowfall of 1 inch per hour or greater, along with 35 mph winds for at least 3 straight hours. With the city in a nervous bind, the Ravens game up in the air, county-wide milk shortages and a bonafide Blizzard on our hands, one has to wonder: how long will it be this way?

Fortunately for the modern-day technology of weather doppler radar, the City's four major television stations have already reported the end is in sight. With an expected stop time of 6:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, Baltimore will wait quietly for the season’s first winter storm to fizzle out and for life as we know it to return to normal. Realistically though, when is that going to be? Does it really only take 24 hours for a city to recover from 25 inches of snowfall? Will everything be back to normal on Monday morning?

My prediction: unlikely. According to local meteorologists, the cold weather is expected to persist well into next week with temperatures staying around 32 degrees, about 10 degrees below average for this time of year, and the winds will make it feel even chillier. Furthermore, weather.com has predicted a day full of rain showers on Christmas. Add that to the already cold weather and snow-covered streets, and we might have an ice issue on our hands.

With or without the rain, many Baltimoreans are wondering if they’ll have a snow day on Monday before Christmas. While it would be smart for businesses to surrender to a snow day, it might also be in everyone’s best interest in terms of safety. By encouraging employees to brave the dangerous highways, sloppy back roads and slippery sidewalks in order to make it to work, a business increases its liability beyond the snow day in question. If an employee or employer were to slip and fall, incurring an injury, or get in a car accident on the way to the office, the business is open to sustaining a loss of that employee for possibly a number of days, if not weeks for recovery. While they could have avoided such a loss by absorbing the physical and literal costs of a snow day, now they and their clients are at the whim of an injured employee’s recovery period.

While public schools routinely close on sloppy winter days (and dub the time "snow day"), absent a declaration of a state of emergency, private employers are free to determine their own policies for handling snow storms (and other hazardous weather conditions). A hazardous weather policy is an obvious smart business practice that should be considered by both public and private employers.

Some employers who need to maintain operations 24/7 (a hospital, hotel, etc) have the option to designate certain employees as "essential” meaning they must work no matter the conditions. Other employers might offer a telecommute half-day option. Ultimately, setting reasonable expectations, for example asking employees to call in if late, could be all that is necessary.

According to the Connecticut Employment Law Blog, Daniel Schwartz suggests considering some of the following questions when drafting a snow day policy:
What are the situations when an office will close?
How will employee receive notice that an office is closed? Is there a central number that they can call for information? Will an e-mail be sent out to home or blackberry e-mails?

If you are with a company who already has a snow day policy, don’t take advantage of your employer when a snow day is decided. You’re not twelve years old anymore and wasting the day building the perfect snow man isn’t going to cut it. Implement the same work ethic you use on a daily basis while at work, at home. Get done what work you can with the limited resources available to you. Check your email regularly and check in with your coworkers to combine efforts when possible.

It’s always nice to sit back, relax with a cup of hot chocolate and not have to commute, but remember that a snow day is not the same as a vacation day.

Enjoy the blizzard and have a productive Monday, in or out of the office!

Bridget Marie

For your information: (The last recorded blizzard in the Baltimore-Washington area was the President’s Day blizzard of 2003, and before that, a blizzard in 1996 that brought over 30 inches of snow.).

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of Profiles, Inc.