With rail strikes looming and petrol prices at record highs – just how much does this kind of disruption affect modern business operations?

With more people continuing to work from home post-pandemic, and the business landscape looking like it’s probably changed for good, are there as many people likely to be as affected with these disruptions as there once were?

If even more people have flexi-working arrangements and work from home continues to be even more commonplace, will these disruptions be problematic for most?

Obviously fuel prices are crippling a lot of people, and so many are struggling to afford to fill their cars in order to get to work. So perhaps even more will work from home?
There are reports of some people requesting mileage allowances from their employers to cover the fuel costs, which of course has some tax relief benefits for the company. Will more companies adopt this mentality? It’s not mandatory, but would help a lot of people.

There’s currently a petition calling for just that – on Change.org, a petition to get the government to reduce fuel duty by 50%..

Conversely, one disruption that could cripple the country far more would be mass broadband outages and strikes from companies like Virgin Media and BT! That would be horrendous. Which would affect offices and WFH workers!

What can we do as small businesses to defend against these and future disruptions?

Companies may be forced into becoming even more flexible with staff in-office, in favour of WFH arrangements and remote working, and requirements to be in the office only for certain days of the week.

Conducting more meetings through Zoom etc to reduce the need for potentially unnecessary travel.

Ultimately, it’s going to have to be down to all business owners to work out the best options for them to help get their business and staff through a very challenging time.