Many Opt To Work From Home As Twin Cities Gets Record Snow

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Many of you took our advice and stayed home Wednesday.

It was yet another work-from-home kind of day, and many did just that.

It's the kind of day when the morning commute comes with an extra sense of dread.

Graphic designer Jajeev Nithiananda says, "Typically it's like a 20 to 30 minute drive, but with weather like this, it's more like an hour or two."

Jajeev chose to skip the drive to Edina, and stayed settled in St. Paul at the Workhorse Coffee Bar.

"I took a look at the forecast yesterday and me and my coworkers agreed, this is probably not the best thing to do to come into work and we're just gonna take it easy and avoid traffic and play it safe," he said.

That means what would typically be a slow day for a business, turns out is just the opposite at Workhorse. Like Jajeev, other's swapped out office coffee for Workhouse coffee.

Chad Barnett works at Workhorse and says the bad commute was good for business. "We definitely expected it to be slow and then we sold the majority of our pastries, various things that we didn't expect, but it worked out for us in the end," he said.

Turns out many major companies not only allow telecommuting, but they encourage it. General Mills, which has around 4,000 Twin Cities-based employees, tells us they are proud to offer a flexible working schedule and encourage salaried workers to dial into meetings and send emails form home.

"At General Mills, we're proud to offer a flexible working schedule for our salaried employees, and we encourage employees take advantage of that on snowy days like today. Many of us are choosing to stay off the roads and dial into meetings and emails from the safety of our homes," a spokesperson said.

Target Corporation is also all about keeping their employees safe.

"We encourage our team members to work with their leaders during this time to ensure they can make decisions about their work arrangements that will keep themselves and their families safe," a spokesperson told us.

State workers in Minnesota, depending on their contract have the option to work from home or take vacation time or modify their schedules.

"We take employee safety very seriously, as well as the duty to provide services to Minnesotans. When weather strikes, agencies are empowered to adjust how business is conducted, or postpone noncritical meetings and events. If employees cannot get to work safely, they have options, such as working from home, taking vacation time or modifying their work schedule, according to contract rules and in consultation with their manager," Minnesota Management and Budget commissioner Myron Frans said.

Medtronic tells us they ask employees to prioritize safety, and if possible, work remotely.

"We ask employees to prioritize safety. There are employees that make arrangements with their managers to work remote, if that is possible," a Medtronic spokesperson said.

So does Rajeev's company, Concrete Software.

"My employers want me to be safe, so working from home is definitely an option, and I think it's probably a good choice on a day like this," he said.

And working from a coffee shop may even be better.