When snow flies, private sector workers, businesses in area take day off
The state has become accustomed to gubernatorial edicts directing "non-essential," or as Gov. Deval L. Patrick put it yesterday, "non-emergency," state workers to stay home during heavy winter storms.
But droves of private sector employees have also taken to avoiding the workplace when the snow flies.
With about a foot of snow on the ground Wednesday afternoon, downtown Worcester was all but deserted.
The Pearl-Elm municipal garage and the private CitySquare garage (used by Telegram & Gazette employees and others who work at 100 Front St.) were more than half empty.
Even the Owl Shop, the iconic downtown tobacco purveyor, was closed.
Meanwhile, a recorded message at the Boston office of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the state's largest employer group, said: "Our offices are closed due to inclement weather."
"I think the feeling these days with so many people commuting is that it would be dangerous and take too long" to come into work, said Gary N. Chaison, a professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester.
Many city employees were at work, however,
In a nearly empty city Common, a parks department worker, Robert Hull, 50, was shoveling snow off the steps behind City Hall.
Inside City Hall, municipal employees were busy at their desk, though with the schools, teachers and administrators were off.
"Here in the city, it's business as usual," said Nicole Valentine, a spokeswoman for City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr.
Ms. Valentine said municipal employees would not be told to stay home unless the governor had declared a state of disaster.
Municipal officials and others in northern climes where snow, ice and cold are the norm said it would take a lot more than a foot of snow to slow down both government and business.
"We'd have to get four or five feet of snow and a lot of wind before we'd even consider closing down City Hall," said Pat Zavoral, city administrator in Fargo, N.D., where it was minus 2 degrees Wednesday with a stiff wind.
Mr. Zavoral noted that city workers can take a snow day off if they are concerned about safety, but they must make it up with vacation time or working extra hours another time.
In Quebec, where snow tires are mandatory from Dec. 15 to March 15, private companies rarely close unless road visibility is severely limited, said Michel Garneau, technical coordinator for the Quebec Snowmobile Federation in Montreal.
"Obviously the weather is a reality for us. It's not like we're down in Houston," Mr. Garneau said.
As for snow, "we call it white gold," he said.
Camlie Beaulieu, a spokeswoman for the Quebec Maritime tourist association, said the last time she could remember a lot of private businesses shutting down was during a 2007 blizzard.
"It doesn't happen very often," she said. "Most people go to work."
Observers have various explanations for why workers — both in the private and public sectors — seem to be staying home more during snowstorms, including: the ability to work from home via the Internet and the pervasiveness of media weather reports.
One meteorologist, Tim Kelley of Needham-based TV station NECN, added that a lessened work ethic might also be at play, along with an attitude that road conditions have to be perfect to attempt a drive to the workplace.
"Maybe life is too easy for us," said Mr. Kelley, an ardent skier.
Contact Shaun Sutner at ssutner@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @ssutner.
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