If your an employer/have your own business, will you look back and remember which staff helped you out during this difficult time?

[workaholic9]

Just that really, genuinely curious.
I work in a small team as a key worker and apart from 1 other staff member, I am now the only person still working. My colleague works in a different part of the country so it’s now only me covering this area (the north west).

The rest of my team decided to self isolate when lockdown began, even though there was still work to be done and enough hours to go around. This has now resulted in me pretty much working 6 days a week and I am absolutely shattered beyond belief. Not that I would be able to do anything during my day off anyway, but it’s just nice being able to stay in bed and lounge around, have some time to myself and actually get time to go and do a bloody food shop!!!

I am still being paid my normal salary and I am extremely grateful to still have a job, I know there are many people who are much worse off. My boss has thanked me and shown his appreciation (sort of) but I can’t help but feel slightly frustrated about the information thats been passed onto me today. One of my colleagues (who is at home) has been told she’s being furloughed as is everyone else on the team who decided to self isolate. Now, I would completely understand if there wasn’t enough work to be done, but that is just not the case as mentioned above. There is plenty of work to go around and this would mean that I wouldn’t have to work myself into an early grave if the work was spread out fairly across the board.

I would also understand if my colleagues were high risk but that just isn’t the case either. I spoke to one of my colleagues today as she phoned me to discuss something about work, and she mentioned that she’d happily come back to work as “she’s so bored at home” but that there just isn’t enough work to go around. At this point I had to stop myself from screaming down the phone “WELL THERE IS, IT’S JUST BECAUSE MUGGINGS OVER HERE IS DOING IT ALL!!!”.

I love my job and get on well with my team (most of the time) but I just feel like I’ve drawn the short straw massively. I am 100% confident that there jobs are still safe even though they have been furloughed, as moving forward there is no way I would be able to cope with the work load. I am just about managing now. My boss had made a comment the other day about how he feels “some people are treating this as a national holiday, not a national crisis”. I have no idea if it was directed at my colleagues but it very well could be a possibility. If I decided to follow suit and self isolate, he would not have anyone else to run his business.

AIBU? As an employer, will you remember who kept your business going so to speak?

absolutely I will, I have a few staff who are trying to help or who pop in to "tidy up" while on furlough - I do send them home again! People who engage on the company whatapp group and try to cheer others up. Then there are others who we haven't heard or seen since we were forced to close...

He might get a shock when it comes to getting the cash. This isn't what furloughing staff means at all!
HMRC have set up a fraud hotline for this. If he puts in a claim and lies he can be fined & prosecuted for tax fraud. I suspect he knows full well what he's doing, meanwhile you're running round like a blue arsed fly, he's not paying taxes or wages and pulling in a profit and they're all sat at home watching homes under the hammer.
Speak up!!!!

I'm so confused. Isn't furlough a last resort? For those companies who will struggle? I didn't realise it was just a choice for those who don't want to go to work?!

Frankly I wouldn't hold out much hope of future reward or recognition from a boss who has either not noticed the situation he has put you in or doesn't care.

You need to have an honest conversation where you tell him how this is affecting you.

I would hope so. Any business owner worth their salt will appreciate their staffs hard work. I didn't think it was possible to opt out of hours if they were still available.

I think martyrs are not respected in the workplace and you would come out of this better if you remind him that he can rotate who is furloughed and that you are looking forward to your time at home due to all of the extra hours you have been doing. Don't ask. Let him know you are waiting for your furlough date so that you can prepare handovers to the other team members.

In my experience the only prize for being a martyr at work is a bigger workload. I say this from experience. You are not responsible for single handedly saving the day - expecting some sort of balance and justice will lead to bitterness. Work on self esteem and boundary setting.

I think your anger is misdirected. Ultimately your colleagues either had reasons why they would be entitled to ssp that you don’t know about (symptoms?) or they weren’t entitled to unilaterally decide to stay off work. But if they weren’t entitled to stay off your boss could absolutely have told them that they need to abide by their contracts or they’d be fired. He chose not to do that but instead furloughed them. The reason he did this is obvious: you are covering the whole team’s work at a cost to him of your salary alone, since the government is paying the costs of your furloughed colleagues.

He is being u, not your furloughed colleagues.

You need to put your foot down and tell him that you cannot do the amount of work you are being expected to do.

And no, I’m afraid I doubt you’ll get any meaningful recognition or recompense in future from a boss like yours. Sorry.

Yes, absolutely. Hard work is hugely appreciated, we’ve already given out bonuses.

For different reasons, I’ll also remember the two piss takers who demanded to be furloughed despite work being busier than ever (manufacturing medical equipment) and then refused to come in when we refused to furlough them...

Glad to hear that @MrsPinkCock. Gives me some sort of hope at least! I think this situation has really shown some people's true colours unfortunately...

As an operations director, I will absolutely bloody remember who treated the situation seriously, and who took the piss. Trouble is, there were no surprises on the list...

What pisses me off is the lack of sympathy I get as the person in charge of sorting it out. We're a small and close team, and I have worked bloody hard to put the company in a good position over the years to handle this.

To have someone treat the whole situation as a joke and angle for furlough, when we can actually do a lot of useful work to get ahead and survive this is a bloody insult.

I agree with a previous poster regarding some surprises when time comes for the government to pay those who were furloughed. Some companies have done it for no reason, some employees have requested it (for good reasons and bad; some who are unable to work as no childcare or someone in their household is high risk so they are trying to shield them and then those who take the piss). I think it won't be as easy as people think and there will be a lot of companies and people who are not going to get what they expected. For instance those who isolated before the plan was announced, I believe furlough was from a set date onwards so cannot be backdated is one problem

I'm furloughed. I didn't get a choice. I would much rather be working.

Threads like this worry me, in case the bosses do think badly of me. Rationally, I know that's not the case but it's hard not to think, "Why me?".

There's also the stress of the 20% reduction in income.

Also worry in case the business doesn't bounce back enough and now they've proved they can manage without me...

I will 100 percent look after the two people that have hung on in there with our business and kept working and looking after clients and also prepping for when we come out then other side of this.
The 3 that whinged and whined about their job getting harder (completely safe, able to work at home from the get go) basically asked to be furloughed “what’s the point of us working” on team Zoom meetings etc. Frankly I won’t take 2 back because they have shown themselves to be lazy as fuck. I the jury is out on.

Anne Twacky - I’ve also got 2 I had to furlough who didn’t angle for it. Both have been great about it and I will have them back in a shot. My issue is with the ones who engineered a situation where they got furloughed. You don’t sound like them at all and managers/bosses know the difference

Thecatsthecats - mine sounds a near identical situation.

Thanks Gobo.

I kinda know the furlough wasn't personal, but that's reassuring to hear.

OP if you're still reading I'd strongly suggest you take @DianaT1969 advice.
I heard Martin thr money man say staff on furlough can be asked to return to employment after 21 days.

My friend is recognising those who stayed with bonuses. Those who had to self isolate due to covid, vulnerable members, anxiety etc., will all be bought back when possible. She views them as having no choice. The few who could wfh, have no caring responsibilities and just claimed they should get full sick pay they plan to remember as they now have to restructure. They, coincidentally the staff who've always been lazy, will be the ones to go.

Your boss sounds a poor manager though to leave you with it all and such stress. Not sure I'd hold out much hope. You absolutely have to be assertive and tell him how much you've done and have been doing and that it's unsustainable. It's grossly unfair plus bad from business POV. What if you came down with symptoms tomorrow and had to isolate and were too poorly to handover? There should be at least two.

Question OP, are you the one at work who mops up messes and gets the short stick generally? As that will definitely indicate how they view you now: as the one they always have and can pile on, or someone stepping up above and beyond.

In a small company, perhaps. Not a huge organisation with thousands of people.

And being remembered for working hard during these times isn’t much use if the company goes under like Debenhams or Cath Kidston.

Yep. Care home manager. Most of my team have been amazing and stepped up to an incredibly degree. Two have gone out of their way to be as unhelpful as possible. They will be on my mental list come the (fictional) future reckoning

My boss will remember. We are a key worker business (I am not a key worker) but some of us needed to be furloughed as certain areas were closing and there wasnt enough work to go around. They asked for volunteers to stay on and we all had one to one chats with the boss. She said "i understand you'll have childcare issues and may need furlough but obviously youll have to do what you think is morally right just as I will when covid is over and we see whether we can operate at the same capacity again". I took furlough as at that point my husband was unavailable for childcare. I explained I'd need 4 weeks off but would happily go back anytime after that as husband would be back. My boss didnt speak to me for the rest of the day, she was having a stressful day but god she was mad. Thing is I won't forget how she went on either.

You won’t get anything more than a pat on the head. If you were to get more they’d have told you by now.

I’d calmly and respectfully remind the bosses that although you are a loyal employee and glad to be of service during these difficult times, you are having to work more than your contracted hours to do all the work of the whole office and are becoming exhausted.
You will have to return to your usual hours as you don’t want to end up ill, you want to remain productive.
That there is sufficient work there to keep more than one person busy so they may wish to reallocate some work to others rather than furlough them as you will be unable to work weekend from now on as you need a rest.
I’d sook up a bit and say I’m really sorry I can’t keep doing it all, but I’m sure you will be able to speak with colleagues and decide who needs to remain off and who can come in.

And keep to that. No more extras. Do your 9-5 or whatever and no weekends.