Strikes and business

30th
JUN

Posted by Michael under customer service

As Britain copes with the effects of the public sector strike called by four unions, the Chief Executive of the London Chamber of Commerce has gone on record, saying the strikes will harm business.

Around 750,000 public sector workers are on strike, and the range of interruption to business—from long delays at airports, to the need for parents to organise childcare or remain home with children whose schools are closed—is likely to have both immediate and more long term effects, possibly knocking on as far as the Olympics in 2012.

The London Chamber of Commerce predicts ‘… a nightmare for businesses as staff absence and losses in productivity will be inevitable.’

The Wall St Journal highlights the risk of harm to the UK’s inward investment, in a week when the Chinese Premier has been making happy noises about China investing more in the country, and points out that the dispute is likely also to divide the public.

For businesses, a ‘national’ strike can be a challenging scenario, but the smartest organisations are using the opportunity to re-invest or re-invent forms of work so that they can actually innovate around potential future scenarios.

Several of the largest UK firms have offered parents a ‘work from home’ day where they can focus on their annual appraisal or complete training modules and one of the biggest accounting and consultancy companies is urging both staff and clients to ‘Skype it in’, providing teleconferencing and other facilities so that business can continue as usual. It’s more difficult for freight firms and other large physical plant companies to find ways to get around such issues, but there may be opportunities for every kind of business to seek out savings or new technologies that will help them address a period of unrest.

Closed sign courtesy of charenton_

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