It might be the time for festive cheer and office Christmas parties, but the cold weather and all the woes that accompany it can be very disruptive to a small business. From illness to work interruptions, it’s not uncommon to see your business slow right down. But you don’t have to let winter have its way. With a few preparations, you can keep plugging on through while making sure your rates of productivity and engagement aren’t too badly hurt.

Prepare for flu season

One of the ways you’re definitely going to feel the winter hit is in your workforce. It’s the season for the flu, for strep, and for bugs of all kinds to spread around. Which means you need to relax what might normally be a pretty tight grip on potential sick days. If someone says they’re sick, by all means, tell them to stay home. Even if they volunteer to come in anyway, you don’t need them spreading it through the whole office. That’s how you turn a small workforce snag into a full-scale halt on productivity.

Make sure your office is well equipped with hygiene provisions, too, like anti-bacterial wipes and hand sanitizer for every desk. Do your bit to stop the germs from spreading.

Keeping the workplace safe

There’s plenty of physical danger to employees in the winter, as well. Indoors, it’s about keeping the place well insulated and ventilated so people can stay warm with less risk of getting sick from the lack of fresh air. Outside the building itself is where the most danger lies, however. You need to consider services like Sneller Snow Systems to clear your road, your driveway, your parking space, and your sidewalks to prevent the risk of car accidents and slips, trips, and falls. Budget for a supply of rock salt through the winter to keep sidewalks clear if that’s not being done by a landlord.

Be aware of challenges your employees will face

Even if you’re taking care of your workplace environment, that doesn’t mean you can beat the challenges of winter weather. Sometimes, it will be just too dangerous for employees to make the trip to work. You don’t have to lose a working day because of that, however. Instead, consider offering more flexible work options during the winter. If they can help with administrative, marketing, or other computer based duties, then think about setting up a way they can work remotely from home. Of course, there’s little you can do if the winter weather also affects their Internet connectivity, but don’t take that out on the employees. Be understanding of the challenges everyone is going to face.

There’s nothing you can do to stop winter from happening and having an impact on your business. What you can do is make sure you know the risks and prepare methods to deal with them. Sometimes this means spending a little extra on keeping the workplace safe or letting someone take time off to recover from the flu. In the end, it’s worth it to keep the business going strong.