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Original poster

Furlough bashing

67 replies

PTW1234 · 28/06/2020 22:53

Why is this even a thing?

I am working from home but my DH is furloughed, he gets the set amount from the government and doesn’t begrudge it, buts it’s much less than what he would normally get.

My work have furloughed about 5% of staff but haven’t claimed the wages from the government. Not all workplaces are doing so as the cheeper wage is enough incentive not to.

He may not have his very hard earned career after this is all over. All similar jobs are also being furloughed and made redundant, all over the country.

He is going back part time in 2 weeks at works request and can not wait. However it’s only to forecast the rest of what will be a dismal year in his industry and what he forecasts will seal the fate do his job..

His mental health has suffered as a consequence and he doesn’t know what to do if he loses his job, and neither do we as a family.

What the hell is wrong with people who say that furloughed people are taking the piss? It’s not their choice!!!

OP posts:
claragolightly · 30/06/2020 10:44

I'm so sorry for everyone who is furloughed and facing an uncertain future.

The furlough bashers drive me mad.

Two in my family are furloughed (aviation industry) and it is heartbreaking for them. Both want to get back to the jobs they love. It's heartbreaking for me to see them stressed about the situation. They've both been volunteering throughout.

One has been cabin crew for 30 years, single mum, and faces the prospect of not getting to have a "last flight". The other is a pilot, who scrimped and saved and worked so damned hard to get to where she is, and it could all be taken away from her.

So anyone thinking of furlough bashing the likes of my family members, think again. They're going through hell, through no choice of their own.

PleasePassTheCoffeeThanks · 30/06/2020 11:21

I really hate the narrative going around that people who are furloughed are lazy/irresponsible/not taking things seriously enough/having it easy because it's simply not true

Lazy, irresponsible, not taking things seriously: I agree.
Having it easy? Well, you said it yourself, working and caring for your child at the same time was a struggle, and you were ready to ask for unpaid leave. Furlough was paid leave! How can you say you didn't have it easy when non-furloughed had to do the same as you + working at the same time??

Bottom line is furloughed people didn't ask for it so not sure why they are criticized, but it is a bit rich to deny that a 3-4-5-6 months paid break is nicer than having to work!
I don't understand the "I'm worried about my job so I am not enjoying the break" or "it is not a break, I have to homeschool" or "it is not enjoyable as we are in lockdown" because these apply to everybody, not just furloughed.

PleasePassTheCoffeeThanks · 30/06/2020 11:22

"Lazy, irresponsible, not taking things seriously: I agree."
obviously I meant, I agree that this is wrong

Noextremes2017 · 30/06/2020 13:22

Not furlough bashing at all. Sorry for anyone who loses their job as a result of this crisis whether furloughed or not.
But to pretend there won’t be redundancies as a result of the lockdown / slump in demand is head in the sand stuff.
Loads of people saying it will be months before they even consider going to restaurant / cinema etc or consider flying again. Unless half the population changes it’s attitude to Covid risk then certain industries are going to be hammered. It will take more than idiot Johnson talking rubbish about getting out and ‘spending for Britain’. Just a smokescreen to try and hide the fact that his mis-management of the crisis (treating it as a joke for weeks before he took things seriously) has made things worse than ever for the UK.

Babyroobs · 30/06/2020 14:23

@SpiderStan

I was furloughed on 1st April on 80% pay.

I was made redundant on 31st May due to business closure (Covid-related).

DP was furloughed on 1st April on 80% pay.

DP started working again on 11th May on 80% pay (not furloughed, just a company-wide pay cut)

I would happily take all the furlough-bashing anyone has to offer, to actually be furloughed instead of unemployed, pregnant and scared about the future.

When me and DP conceived back in January/February, we did not plan for this. We had plenty of income between us to raise a baby. Now we are on 40% of our combined income compared to what we were at the beginning of the year. And it's horrible.

Furlough-shamers are probably those who have had to continue to work during all of this, but will most likely continue to have a job on the other side. Count your blessings, it could be a heck of a lot worse!

I feel for all those furloughed with job insecurity. It's going to be a very bumpy time, in fact it doesn't bear thinking about the scale of all this and the implications.
intelmum · 30/06/2020 14:26

I was furloughed and although it gave me the opportunity to help homeschool my young dc I couldn't sleep every night for fear of losing my job. When my company phoned me up to say am I ok to come back I started the next day.
It really wasn't a holiday for me. I appreciate the 80% I did get paid but it instilled a fear in me I wouldn't wish on anyone.

TheFlis12345 · 30/06/2020 15:50

I have heard so many horrible comments about people of furlough, that all the people jamming into beaches were ‘furlough w’ etc and am sick of it. DH and I have both been furloughed since April and are losing thousands in wages every month (mine is not topped up at all and his only partly). Now at least one of us is likely to be made redundant and all our life plans for the next couple of years scuppered. We would really rather have both worked throughout.

cyclingmad · 30/06/2020 15:52

@turnthebiglightoff so you can therefore understand how those who had to work throughout and still manage childcare whilst their team members who were furloughed and still have jobs to go back to would feel.

In my company it will be people going back to jobs after 5 months of furlough whilst many of us worked through, it does grate on people cos I wont effectively be getting 5 months fully paid 'leave' as that is what itll be.

I dont wish anyone to lose their job but I will find it hard not to be raging if through transformation i lose my job and someone else who was furloughed for 5 months stays.

BinkyBoinky · 30/06/2020 16:14

Just to remind you all saying it’s Tax payers money, people on furlough have been paying into the pot FOR YEARS

This. The furloughed are still paying tax (NI etc) out of our furloughed salaries. I don't think enough people realise that. We're not living off other people's taxes, we're ALL paying tax.

SomewhereEast · 30/06/2020 16:21

I would never furlough bash & genuinely haven't heard anyone I know IRL do so either. I don't envy furloughed people sitting there wondering if they will have a job to go back to.

poupeediop · 30/06/2020 17:00

Everyone I know his furloughed definitely have a job to go back to. I'm so sick of hearing all furloughed people will be made redundant; it smacks of bitterness and sour grapes.

I don't understand this point.

poupeediop · 30/06/2020 17:02

Why is it bitter to suggest some people who have been furloughed will be made redundant, surely that's common sense?

cyclingmad · 30/06/2020 17:22

@poupeediop basically there are people who have been furloughed who will be going back to work with no threat to whether there will be redundancies. For example some construction and engineering work was stopped and those people furloughed, the work still needs to be done so when safe to do so they go back to work and are not under threat or feel pressure that they will lose their jobs.

mogloveseggs · 30/06/2020 17:26

All the "bashing" at my work has come from the furloughed towards the workers!
I managed a month at work after lockdown before was furloughed but staff who'd been there longer were furloughed immediately.
Now I'm back in on Saturday for the reopening and many aren't.
It's a business decision-I'm cheap and not full time.
But I daren't go on the work whatsapp.
All the vitriol (and it really has been) has really changed how I see some people.

BlueThursday · 30/06/2020 17:34

There’s no winners here.

I’ve been working through this and STILL face the prospect of redundancy. Any employee, furloughed or not, has this prospect surely

turnthebiglightoff · 30/06/2020 17:39

@poupeediop the people who haven't been furloughed seem, in general, to be bitter towards those who have. It sounds a lot like jealousy. I've worked for my employer for 22 years, l had no work to do for 3 months as my clients were not operating the function I help with. They are now so I'm going back. The non furloughed seem to hold the mentality of "well it doesn't matter, they'll all be made redundant anyway". That's a) nasty and b) a lie.

poupeediop · 30/06/2020 17:42

@cyclingmad but that doesn't change the fact that lots on furlough are furloughed because the industries they work in won't recover

poupeediop · 30/06/2020 17:50

@turnthebiglightoff I'm not bitter towards furloughed people, it is what it is. Everyone is in different situation & there will be lots better off & lots worse off.

However I do think furloughed people in particular industries run the risk of loosing their jobs. Is that a lie? The only person I know furloughed is in aviation & their company has announced redundancies. I don't know anyone else furloughed, everyone else has been very busy in my circle of family & friends

PoprocksAndCoke · 30/06/2020 17:58

My company closed doors to the public hours before the furlough scheme was announced so for a few brief hours I was looking at time off on no pay. I'm thankful for the furlough scheme, its helped keep a roof over my children's heads at a time when I wasn't sure how I would have managed it.

I.still could lose my job, I'm in an industry that may not recover for some time, we could open again on Saturday but we arent, we are looking at end of July, even still, I could still lose my job if People are too scared to go out and socialise again. Already some staff have been let go off. Its a scary time.
I'm so grateful im furloughed, but I assure you, theres nothing to be jealous of here. I'm isolated, I'm my kids mum and dad wife, but at work I was me, we socialised a lot together and are a team, all friends and I miss the face to face interaction with them and the customers. I'd rather be at work but have no choice, I've just got to wait round see if I'm called back when we reopen.

PoprocksAndCoke · 30/06/2020 17:59

DHsnwife not dad 😂😂

LeJollieJauneOiseau · 30/06/2020 18:04

I was furloughed for almost three months and it was a miserable time of high anxiety. Only half from my company are back the rest are still furloughed and we've had many a discussion wether the others will ever return or be made redundant. It's an awful time when you're friends with colleagues who haven't been bought back, things will probably never be the same again.

YippeeKayakOtherBuckets · 30/06/2020 18:10

I was furloughed. I went back for a week, then saw that they’d advertised what was essentially my job but with more hours. I applied for it 8.30am Monday morning and at 5.30 pm received an email letting me go.

99% sure it’s so they can pay some 18yo minimum wage rather than my bounteous recompense of £8.71ph but I have no recourse as i’d only been there 21 months.

It would have been nice if they’d kept me furloughed but probs dodgy ground if they’ve replaced me.

I do still wonder if I’d not applied I could have kept my 10hrs a week (in practise I worked more like 30). But hey ho. Onward and upwards.

TerrapinStation · 30/06/2020 18:10

@BinkyBoinky

Just to remind you all saying it’s Tax payers money, people on furlough have been paying into the pot FOR YEARS

This. The furloughed are still paying tax (NI etc) out of our furloughed salaries. I don't think enough people realise that. We're not living off other people's taxes, we're ALL paying tax.

My neice has been furloughed after only being in her first job for around 6 months, she's not the only young employee at her company. I don't know the breakdown by ages but anyone can be furloughed you don't have to have paid any tax at all never mind FOR YEARS

She is having tax deducted but the money she gets is paid back to her employer by the government so effectively from everyone it's not magic money, we'll all pay in the end

poupeediop · 30/06/2020 18:28

@TerrapinStation Don't worry your niece will be paying for this for yrs, all the younger generations will be.

QuestionMarkNow · 30/06/2020 20:03

@TerrapinStation, actually it's yur nice that will be paying for years to come thanks to the HUGE loan the government has had to take to pay for it. And to try and help rebuild the economy.

The money for furlough has never come out of NI etc.. as all those taxes are used for immediate spending, not put aside for further payments (eg like yiu woud hope it is done for pensions)