There I was last week mumping on about not having any snow and suddenly the UK finds itself completely covered in the stuff! Pretty as it might look, the downside of our snowy landscape is that it has brought UK plc to a virtual standstill... And the cost to the UK economy is said to be some £1.2billion for each day it continues!

People whinge that the UK needs to get its act together and ensure that roads, airports and rail links are kept functioning at times like this but the news from continental Europe - much of which is used to coping with such weather conditions - is that many of its roads and railway lines are also closed, either because of snow, ice and extremely low temperatures, or thanks to heavy flooding.

Perhaps we're not quite as badly prepared here as we try and make out.

Those of us who work from home face little disruption as long as the utilities suppliers don't let us down - although many industry colleagues I've tried to contact for news etc, clearly haven't made it to their desks.

Other self-employed people from our industry who will be suffering are the tradespeople who either won't be able to get to wherever they're supposed to be working this week, or who cannot continue with their work as they're awaiting the delivery of parts, appliances or entire kitchens, bedrooms or bathrooms.

And of course while everything will eventually be delivered once the transport situation has improved, production of many of these items will have been disrupted due to staff shortages, which means that either there will be delays in supply in the future or the manufacturers will be forced to pay overtime to encourage the workforce to help them meet deadlines!

As weather conditions show no sign of improving and indeed some parts of the UK had another 15 inches of the white stuff dropped on them overnight, employers and employees alike need to be aware of their responsibilities. Some useful information on these, provided by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, is just one of the interesting items in this week's news.