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.

But I’m not talking about being furloughed.
I’m talking about staff on 100% of their wage. Guaranteed job security whilst others are probably out of pocket driving to work using petrol etc being asked to work extra hours!
Do you not see how annoyed this could make you, seriously?
It’s nobody’s fault but when your boss put pressure on you to do extra for no reward what so ever it’s a bit of a piss take. Non of the non working staff will lose their job over this. I work for a very large employer and I understand why I have to work but expecting people not to grumble now and again is silly.
I’m exhausted.

I’ve been furloughed. I begged my boss not to furlough me, offered to work full time for part time pay.

I’m bored, I’m resentful and I no longer feel part of my team or the company I’ve worked for, for 20 years. And I’m on 80% which combined with dh having a 30% paycut has really stung.

I’m worried about my future, really worried. The team I work in could be considered the luxury add on so I know we won’t all be going back (marketing side).

I fully suspect the “fluffy” jobs won’t be there in abundance post cv. Just look at the tv adverts - people have realised they can get away with filming in a phone and editing!

I’m on a significantly lower pay than £2500, some colleagues are not so my company are topping up those above £2500 to 80% of their normal wage. Those remaining have taken a small paycut. I suspect if we need to save more money then some if those higher earners will have to lose a bit more and perhaps those still working will have to take a 20% cut. I think they are being fair as they don’t want colleagues to fall into massive financial difficulty.

I also know that those still working don’t have as much to do now we have calmed down a bit so more people have been furloughed.

I spend my nights awake wondering how we are going to cover the bills and the boredom and stress is not great for my MH. I feel worthless and would like the distraction. I haven’t done all the “things” I said I would if I had time.

So the grass may appear to be greener but I can assure you, from my perspective the working side is lush whilst mine is dry and arid.

I can totally understand why some people are put out that colleagues are sitting in the sun drinking sangria while they are working harder than ever, while juggling children who need support learning from home. If I were in that position I would be most put out.

DH isn't furloughed, but is working from home doing several peoples jobs. He's on the phone 12 hours and day non stop 5 days a week. He now thinks he's got some sort of bug. He hasn't; he's just exhausted. As another non- furloughed colleague pointed out, those who are furloughed no longer have to pay to commute so technically have a pay rise. DH told him to shut up and be happy he will be one of the ones less likely to be made redundant at some point.

Actually saying how you feel about it out loud to individuals, other than your boss, isn't on though, however cross you are. It's not their fault.

My company haven’t furloughed anyone and are paying everyone 100% salary, they have to be on standby for homeworking equipment though.
I don’t feel any resentment towards the ones not working. It’s a situation that cannot be helped. The ones not working are having their leave entitlement reduced slightly and the ones working are having it increased so we will have extra days to take once this is all over. We’ve also been given increased flexibility so it means I can work my hours whenever I can and any hours I work over my normal working hours I’m pretty much getting paid triple time for. I’m grateful my company haven’t made anyone redundant and can afford to do this for their staff.
I’m grateful that my company are paying my friend who’s a single parent to 2 children with ASD who can’t work.
Some of my colleagues are feeling resentful that they have to work while others aren’t. I don’t share that resentment. My company are brilliant.

I can obviously see yes how you or others would feel that I’m not berating people but I personally just don’t feel that way . I’m not being a martyr About it I Just don’t think it’s all it’s cracked up to be . Most the people I know on furlough are worried about redundancy for starters

I’m friends with most my colleagues so when they drop to the 80 percent , ( I think the first two paydays were / are being topped up at my place ) I don’t feel happy that I am now getting more of a “fair” deal I feel thank fuck thats not me losing 20 percent pay

Yes I have a bigger workload but other than that I’m just doing what I always did , travel costs etc are the same .

I think as well I’m coming from a slightly different perspective in that there is a high chance the place I work will not survive this and if we do I’d imagine there will be many many job losses . so right now am just happy for some normality and earning my full wage .

There's a lot of unfairness. That's inevitable.
The furlough scheme, the help for self employed, the selective increases in benefits.
They weren't intended to create an internally consistent system, fair to all. There wasn't time for that.
They were thrown together at the last minute by people thinking: "What will it take to make everyone stay at home?"
If you were expecting fairness, you are missing the point.
Personally I'm increadably grateful to have a job I can do safely at home, food in the house and not be sick.
The people this is really unfair on, are the working class guys literally risking their lives to bring me things to my door. While I go "tappity... tap.. tap" on my laptop, dressed in jammies.
Over 40,000 people have died. Fucks sake.

Do you not see how annoyed this could make you, seriously?

I get that but who's fault is it? Be annoyed at the right people. There is absolutely nothing those people can do about it. It's your management's decision.

I understand jealousy. But resentment and anger? No I don't understand that when it's directed at those who have zero input in the decision making.

So much of this would be better if people were a little bit tactful on SM. Of course there's going to be resentment if colleague A is working their arse off, maybe doing colleague B's job and colleague B is constantly posting pics of themselves drinking g&t by the paddling pool.
Now colleague B has every right to post whatever they want but it's like boasting on FB that your child has got all A* in their GCSEs while knowing full well that your friend's child has just failed all theirs. It wouldn't be tactful or kind and hopefully most people wouldn't do it, but would just be full of happiness quietly at home and not rub it in their face.

I think people need to stop bleeting on about fairness and realise how fortunate they are right now tbh.

Like children stomping feet because it's not FAIR that they got that when I didn't. It's not about fairness right now. It's about support, it's about ensuring survival and just getting through a shit storm with as much left intact as possible by whatever means necessary.

Everyone is far too concerned with what everyone else is doing or has at the moment.

And that means that yes some of us will have to bear more of certain things than others right now. Unfortunate, but just the way it is and no one's fault.

I'm wfh as and when I can chasing invoices unpaid by big corporates who's staff are all at home on full pay. The government are not doing sh*t all for me and my essential self employed self is juggling debt management, home schooling and keeping my head above water. Oh and when all this is done and dusted my tax will go through the roof to pay for it all.. yay!

I couldn't care less that some people are furloughed while I'm still working.

Companies need it and the furloughed staff need it, I don't want to see anyone out of work.

BUT..... What does piss me off is when certain furloughed friends sit moaning and twining about how bored they are and how shit this is.

FFS you are literally being paid to sit at home! Get a grip.

BUT..... What does piss me off is when certain furloughed friends sit moaning and twining about how bored they are and how shit this is.

FFS you are literally being paid to sit at home! Get a grip.

Oops, posted to soon!

I agree totally with what I just copied and pasted!

As another non- furloughed colleague pointed out, those who are furloughed no longer have to pay to commute so technically have a pay rise.

Assumptions like this are a large part of the problem. The amount I pay in petrol is swallowed by the amount I've lost in income and I'm in a low paying position.

People are inventing scenarios in their own mind and judging others on that.

I know this goes two ways, but is obviously unfair no matter who it's directed at.

They hate it when we say we are bored at home. They hate it when we sit in our gardens doing nothing. They have it when bake or do DIY doing something. They just hate us. They will only be happy when we are sat staring at 4 walls crying about certain redundancy 24/7.

Yeah I’m a bit jealous that I’m still working on same pay as furloughed colleagues.

On other hand I have work to occupy my mind and know my job is more secure than theirs.

That’s the pay off. I’ll be one of the last to be furloughed if it comes to it but will be treated same as my colleagues.

Actually was very stressful to begin with working from home and I would have loved to have been furloughed at the beginning as I wasn’t coping very well. Now it’s fine in a routine and today now the weather is awful I’m glad I have something other than Netflix to do.

The thing that non furloughed staff don't get if the furloughed scheme wasn't introduced there would be huge redundancy by now or all staff would have been given a huge pay cut . So count yourself lucky and stop with the moaning.
It's not forever I suspect when lockdown eased some will go back to work. Some will be furloughed to end of June , and if they are not needed past then it may be it no job .

My husband very much has this view. It infuriates me!
We’re both working (him in a different job at the moment) but I think we are lucky.

I was thinking maybe we should have a furlough support thread, where we could vent our worries, share ideas and generally lift each other up.

Non furloughed people welcome, but judging others isn't.

BUT..... What does piss me off is when certain furloughed friends sit moaning and twining about how bored they are and how shit this is.

FFS you are literally being paid to sit at home! Get a grip.

I can see that, I can see how you'd get annoyed with someone saying that over and over while you were working harder and under more difficult conditions than usual, and I do think that people need to be more understanding, from both sides.
I've entered into this and other discussions like it because I want people to understand it's not all sitting in the sun sipping gin being on furlough, not for everyone. That given the option (which the vast majority weren't) many would rather be at work on full pay than at home with little else to do than worry about the outcome of losing that 20%. The understanding needs to work both ways, go and look at the fruit picking thread if you want examples of how 'the furloughed' are thought of by some people. People are going to defend themselves and set the record straight because what's being said is not only wrong, but plain nasty. It's like unless we're sat in the corner of a room with a sack over our heads and living on dry bread and water we're taking the piss.
My full company is furloughed, so we don't have the issue of colleagues carrying work, but, I can see that when (if) our place reopens people like me who have the most experience in each department and are part of a 'core' team will be the ones back in, setting the place back up and cleaning it, recieving the first guests. There will be so much to do, but at least at first there'll be no income, it'll be a scary time because we won't know if it'll sink or swim until it does. But I won't feel resentment towards colleagues not brought back in, I'd actually expect that they'd resent me more because I'm back at work, earning, doing something productive to try and get the business back on track and open fully again. In all honesty I'm dreading and looking forward to it in equal measure.
The understanding has got to be on both sides, you can't just expect furloughed workers to sit back and be slated over things that aren't correct - like people yelling that there's 'no reason' for them not to be picking fruit or whatever while actually a lot of companies have no working for anyone else written into their contract. For my part I've only responded to those types of posts because if people don't say how it actually is, then it's just going to run away with itself.
It reminds me of some of the threads on social housing actually, where people shout 'free house' totally ignoring those who pay rent because it suits their scrounger rhetoric.
I have no problems with having a bit of empathy for my friends and family still working and not moaning about boredom etc, but I'm not going to sit back and be called a lazy scrounger either, and say nothing.

I'm off on 80% of pay whilst other colleagues are working from home on full pay.

I know which situation I would rather be in and it's not what I'm doing now, which is sweet FA and worrying about whether I'll have a job to go back to.

"my job is more secure than *theirs"
*
No, it's really not. Any legally safe resulting consultation on redundancies post lockdown will not favour non-furloughed staff. The only correlation will be if employers have used a skills matrix to decide who is furloughed.

Many employers have used a pragmatic approach to furloughing with furloughed staff being those with children/health conditions which would likely fall foul of the EA 2010 if used as criteria in a redundancy situation.

Please stop taking employment law advice from social media; it's fake news.

What I can gather from this, and other threads about furlough, is that a lot of companies are using the scheme unfairly.

I am on furlough, but so are all my colleagues. That's because the business I work for has had to close for safety reasons - social distancing wasn't possible although we are looking at ways of reopening soon if we can implement safety measures. Also we sell our products to retail stores, many of which have had to close themselves, driving business down.

If your bosses are making you do extra work and passing on colleagues' work to you then they are misusing the furlough scheme. It's there for people who otherwise would have NO work to do, not to cut costs and just pass the work onto others.

Place the blame where it belongs. Greedy employers at the top.