Has the hysteria from Siberia frozen your company’s productivity?

The schools are closed, public transport’s ground to a halt and – with productivity already at an all time low – half your staff are probably stuck at home. Our quick take on this week’s arctic weather and the damage it’s causing British Business.

Sick of losing your best people at the first sign of a snowflake?

With the so-called Beast from the East showing little sign of heading back to Siberia anytime soon, and most of the country blanketed in several inches of Snow, it’s no surprise that the usual selection of ‘’UK colder than the Arctic’’ style headlines have been doing the rounds.

How much will the snow actually cost the UK economy?

A quick look through the British press this week is enough to send shivers down the spine of business owners. Sky News claim the sub-zero temperatures are costing the UK economy as much as £500 million a day. The Telegraph put the costs closer to £1 billion and The Guardian £1.2 billion.

The reality of this really hit home earlier in the week, when I called one of our clients only to discover she’d spent the night in her car, by the side of the A1. She’d effectively lost two days, missed an important meeting and couldn’t reach her office. Neither could more than half of her staff, meaning the company she runs lost orders and missed deadlines – at a time when attracting new offshore business has never been more difficult.

A hard winter was the last thing British business needed

The millions of lost working days business this winter have reignited a wider debate regarding UK productivity levels. Already under severe stress in the run up to Brexit – and following recent reports that the country has fallen behind many of its international peers – a lot of the companies we work with tell us it’s getting harder to remain competitive.

The simple fact is, snow or no snow, UK workers now trail behind all of our G7 partners, with experts predicting that gap will continue to widen. And unless you sell sledges or thermal underwear, the last 3 months really haven’t helped.

An easy way to stay productive when it’s snowing

Sounds pretty obvious, but one solution is to work somewhere it doesn’t snow, outsourcing important parts of your business to places where the weather will never impact productivity.

Like here on the ‘year-round summer’ island of Gran Canaria, where our developers are still in their shorts and flip flops. The windows are open, the sun is shining and we’re enjoying the cool sea breeze, happily coding away – working for great UK organisations including the NHS and iconic British brands like Cole & Son.

More and more British companies are looking to nearshore outsourcing, as a way to beat failing productivity levels and increased staff churn at home. They’re turning to companies like Secret Source – who share the same timezone and a common language.

”Always great work and a massive pleasure to visit. Spending a week at the offices of Secret Source and working on new projects with them has become a regular date on our development calendar.”
– Nigel Clarke. CEO. Morgan IAT

Our clients love working with us

Not only do we provide the technology teams for many UK brands. Many of our own clients are going a step further, choosing to join our offshore team in the sunshine for a winter ‘workation’. After all, what’s not to like about getting away from a British winter and spending 2 or 3 weeks by the beach, collaborating on your next project. Or even rewarding one of your own managers with the job?

Get in touch

So if the idea of teaming up with a happy, productive workforce – one that won’t duck under the duvet at the first sign of a snowflake – makes sense to you, give us a call or drop us an email here.

We’d welcome the chance to show you why so many British companies are choosing Secret Source as their nearshore outsourcing partner. If you’re interested drop Matt an email to [email protected] and he’ll order you a cortado.

The post Don’t let the hysteria from Siberia paralyse your business. It’s time to think agile appeared first on Secret Source.