Pictured above: Ellen Morley

A Shropshire woman who has just returned from an overseas business trip says UK businesses must toughen up and learn to take bad weather in their stride.

Ellen Morley, Principal of business improvement consultancy The Business Company, said weather conditions in Prague were about the same as in Shrewsbury on Monday and Tuesday this week, but neither employers nor employees there were allowing the freezing temperatures to affect them.

"In this country so many things grind to a halt at the first sign of bad weather," said Ms Morley, "but in places like the Czech Republic people just carry on doing what they always do - probably because they know they have no choice if they want to stay in business."

"I was in Prague interviewing candidates to fulfil an office expansion programme for a UK based international client. Despite the freezing temperatures the candidates all arrived on time, smartly turned out and keen to assure me of their commitment to hard work. Their attitude is very different to that of many people in the UK. They take these conditions in their stride and most importantly are concerned that priorities and commitments are still met. I know that sometimes the conditions are so extreme that we have little choice but on the other hand we did know it was coming and we can look for alternative ways of working wherever possible such as Skype conferencing. We could learn a lot from our European colleagues"