To think there is a divide forming between furloughed and non furloughed workers

[FuckingFu]

I've heard so many people talking about how they are jealous of their furloughed colleagues. I've a friend who is furious because her company is making up the 20% and so her colleagues are 'sat at home doing nothing' and getting full pay whilst she's still working.

Whilst I do understand the jealousy and even frustration, I really am starting to hate the way it's being spoken about.

There seems to be a lot of talk about 'they'. They are sitting at home doing nothing, we'll be paying higher tax to cover their wages as if furloughed employees are some form sort of seperate, less superior group and a burden on the rest of us.

Personally, whilst I understand those feelings, I have had to say to myself well what would I prefer? I don't want my colleagues, friends and family being made redundant if that can be avoided. And if my company can afford to top up wages to 100% then good, I don't want people suffering financial hardship when it's unnecessary just so I don't have to feel jealous about it.

I want to say to my friend does she not realise that it could have been (and still could be) her being furloughed and not the person at the next desk over. This is something completely out of people's control, no one wants this (perhaps a minority are okay with being furloughed) but certainly no one chose it.

It's as if people think furloughed staff are all lazy bums who want to sit about and have everyone else fork out higher tax to cover them.

I don't want to pay higher tax either but if the alternative is thousands of unnecessary redundancies then what choice do we have.

Just seems to be a very them and us situation going on.

I agree part of the problem are the downright stupid social media posts

why stupid? People are stuck at home, and are making the most of it instead of focusing on all the miserable aspects of the lockdown. Good for them. Being bitter won't spoil their time off.

I put photos of our outings. If you don't like them, scroll down.

I'm not surprised by the amount of 'bragging' on there now.

well, if you see "bragging" in someone who is stuck with doing house work and DIY to pass the time, it says a lot more about you than them

Typical example of "divide and rule" type issues. No one planned this and the last thing we should be doing is carping at each other. Hate the game, not the players.

You could potentially blame greedy employers who haven't been operating under the best moral guidelines and you could blame the government but what for?

Getting annoyed at each other means that the true issues are obscured and, to be honest, I see people getting resentful of each other in times like this as being somewhat less intelligent than people who understand that those in power benefit greatly from our attention being focused on "who has what?" and "she has more than I do".

It's weak minded thinking like this that resulted in successful propaganda like "Benefits Street" in the run up to the GE in 2010.

Meh, I guess if there are constant references to not being in work and loving all this time off etc... I can see why people would constitute it as 'bragging'.

I don't really care either way, hence why I deleted the thing a long time ago

Sorry, I went on a bit of a rant then. I'm just sick of it. It's like some people never progressed from the "it's so unfair" stage of sibling rivalry. I'm working from home and busier than I was before. My brother is furloughed and bored out of his mind. He'd rather be at work. I'd rather have some time off. We laugh at the crap we see on social media and realise that we're all just doing the best we can to cope.

My workload completely dried up before I went on furlough. Only one employee is still working from my department and they are working part time hours. We were put on furlough because there was no work, not so the boss can save money on wages for a bit by giving half the staff twice the workload, that is miss use of the scheme and your boss is the one at fault, not your colleagues. But hey no one is gonna bitch about and post nasty memes about their bosses, not when you can punch down.

I am livid that, at a time when everyone is "in this together" that those having a great time have no fucking empathy for those who are not.

I think this just shows your own lack of empathy.

Everyone's anxious, scared. The vast majority of those on furlough will be worried about job security, how they pay their bills.

They're just trying to take whatever good they can from a shit situation. Same as everyone else.

When I see friends and family posting about having a good day, my first reaction is not "you bastard".
People are weird.

EVERYONE needs to take a step back from their own situation and realise that we're all facing significant challenges right now.

Over focusing on the small benefits someone has (while ignoring their much more significant difficulties) is not helpful at all.

I agree its like the petty squabbling of siblings.

Oh and if you fundamentally don't like people, don't follow them on social media and you need never be annoyed by them again.

It's just such a pointless exercise spending your days jealous and bitter about what everyone else has, and you very rarely know the full picture of another person's life even if you think you do, and certainly not through social media.

I get it, I suffered fertility issues for a long time. It drove me mad with jealousy and resentment seeing people posting about how wonderful being a parent was or moaning about difficult and hard work it was etc...

It does nothing good for anyone though making comparisons all the time. I left SM a long time ago because I realised I wasn't interested in what anyone else was doing.

It's an odd situation, it's a scary situation and no it isn't fair but what is? You have furloughed people saying they wish they were working and working people saying they wish they were furloughed, it's a prime example of the grass is always greener.

All this squabbling over perceived fairness is just counter productive and, in some cases, pretty childish.

It's funny but I was thinking it would be the opposite - furloughed workers have seemingly been told (and this isn't true for all cases) that they are not the ones making the office tick. Those who are not furloughed should therefore be dancing a jig at the fact their job is safe and they are clearly appreciated for that as WELL as being on full pay!

As someone who hasn't had a job for a while, I was hoping the furloughed would appreciate more how being at home with the kids and no social life is actually quite hard work mentally. That seems to still be something they are battling against, rather than making note of.

I'm self employed, as is DH and I'd bloody love to be working! I haven't been going long enough to qualify for aid and DH earns over £50k usually so he doesn't either. We're both now unemployed and getting nothing from the government.

Furloughed or working - I'd take either over our situation!

I am furloughed and would prefer to be working. Was fine for the first few weeks, but we are not high earners and food prices have risen so we feel the extra 20% less. Also worried about my job after this.

I am livid that, at a time when everyone is "in this together" that those having a great time have no fucking empathy for those who are not.

I think this just shows your own lack of empathy.

Totally agree. They are not 'having a great time' in all likelihood. They have taken a pay cut, and are likely to be very worried about job security. Just because they haven't posted those worries on social media doesn't mean it isn't real. The only thing they have more of right now is spare time - I imagine most would swap it in a heartbeat to be certain of having a job in 6 month's time.

I am not the kind to post on social media worries about managing on less money or having a job to go back to. Most people just post things like photos of their kids in the garden. If you are judging people's lives based on what they post on social media then you really need to learn this is not real life and gives you no idea of their real lives.

The question was asked of the exec at the business I work for...

"Are you going to give those who haven't been furloughed extra holidays to make it fair?"

I'm troubled that we employ people who are that stupid.

I would much rather be at work as being at home this much isn't helping my mental health (I was agoraphobic for 4 years and this could potentially set me right back).

It's reinforcing the fact that my employers think the sun shines out of my colleagues arse.

english I would welcome some extra holiday. because while 70% of the staff has been furloughed it has not emant that their jobs just vaporised and the rest of us have to make it up.

i am working many many hours over my normal hours. Plus last weekend I worked over 8 hours trying to catch up. I'd be grateful for some time off in lieu. Or extra holidays as you might put it.

So if that makes me stupid then so be it. But I am fucking knackered and my workplace need to throw us a fucking bone.

english I too think this is perfectly reasonable! If a team of 10 has to do the work of 25, has their annual leave cancelled and having to work unpaid overtime to keep on top of everything, why the fuck shouldn't they be rewarded with some additional time off to recuperate once the other 15 come back?!

I think the issue is your employer. If you are covering lots of extra work those employees should not have been furloughed as there is work for them to do. And you should be talking to your union.

I am working and am glad as it has been my mental salvation during the last 5 weeks. It has also made me reassess my retirement plans. I think I will carry on working for now. I have no resentment for any furloughed staff. I hope it all works out for everybody because one thing is for sure, normality is not going to he here for some time after this economically.

And I'm also infuriated by the constant ads / articles etc. about how we all have so much spare time right now! It's just not bloody true.

Totally empathise with that, I feel the same way when I'm working 50/60 hour weeks over Christmas and the ads are telling me how it's a magical time to spend with loved ones........ Um nope, the magical bit will be when the overtime hits the bank account.
But then I chose that job and knew what it'd entail, didn't choose furlough.

Can I just ask what those who are still working actually want from us who are furloughed?

comparison is the thief of joy. We're all better off than those in ICU

or have passed away.

My friend has been furloughed on full pay, but her employer have put her and all other furloughed employees under pressure to "volunteer" aka continue working as normal.

This is a disgusting abuse of the scheme..

The only correlation will be if employers have used a skills matrix to decide who is furloughed

I don't know anyone whose company didn't do this.

How else would you decide who you need to keep, to keep the business intact?