Bad weather has been cited as one of the top threats to businesses in the UK for a number of years, and so far in 2014 it has been hitting the country hard. Insurance claims for business in the UK have gone well over the £400million mark already, and we are still only in February. But can bad weather be good for business? The answer surprisingly is yes.

Take the time to pick up loose ends

Quieter days when many people cannot get to work offer the perfect opportunity to focus on the parts of business that otherwise receive less attention for instance, finishing off projects, reconnecting with old contacts and focusing on marketing and PR strategies. It is important to make your business stand out now more than ever so that when potential customers do venture out; it’s you that they come to over your competitors.

Other advantages

For those businesses that operate online, bad weather has obvious positive implications; online retail sales were at a record high over the Christmas period and have jumped 19.2% in January according to KPMG. Of course not every business can reach customers in the comfort of their warm dry armchair, but there are still plenty of advantages to be had.

Productivity boost

Many employees have been stuck at home, unable to commute into work, but according to Forbes this can be beneficial to a business. In a recent survey on productivity, working from home ranked number four in the top ten productivity boosters and HR provider Ceridian rated it number one in its productivity report.

Harvard Business School conducted some research into bad weather and its affect on productivity in the work place and it found that on rainy days productivity is often better because there are less distractions. When the sun is shining employees’ minds tend to wander, bad weather makes us all focus on the job in hand.

So whilst we may all be wearing our wellies for a while yet, we can do it with a smile, knowing that we have been making hay whilst the sun hasn’t been shining.