are furloughed people the new benefit scroungers?

[ghostmous3]

According to some posts that are doing the rounds on shitebook they are

Before lockdown people moaned about the 'feckless workshy' now the vitriol is aimed at the 'furloughed sitting on thier bums on beaches spreading germs, how dare they when weve got to work. We're paying for you're furlough'

I'm feeling bloody sensitive tonight. I didn't ask to be furloughed, I'm more than likely getting made redundant at the end of july and I dont go to beaches!

Of course people would choose to take six months almost full salary in exchange for doing no work. Who wouldn't? It is still definitely something you have to agree to. Meanwhile, nhs workers and civil servants were getting redeployed left right and centre to do actual work. Shame noone put a bit of effort into getting some of the furloughed trained up to do some of that. Of course, for an initial three weeks it might not have seemed worth it, but this is dragging on til September now. All madness. Complete madness.

Don’t understand this attitude that furloughed people are meant to sit quietly in a dark room doing nothing until they’re back at work, unless it’s 40+ hours a week volunteering
Yes people are probably are enjoying it, wouldn’t anyone be?

There's a world of difference between sitting in a dark room yada yada, and going on social media bragging. Those people are your typical goady fuckers who think they're clever and a bit Im alright Jack.

Bet you in the back of those people's minds as they raise their glass of Prosecco is that they may not have a job to return to and might as well 'live it up' while they can.

No way would I feel envious of anyone furloughed while I'm doing my regular hours. I'd much rather have job security.

As stated upthread these people are most likely to have the most unstable financial circumstances so it's nothing to snipe at them about, they will come out worst.

I didn’t choose 6 months furlough, I was initially TOLD I would be furloughed for 3 weeks +. Its lovely that you think I could be trained to work in a hospital during that time, personally I would rather professionals who have trained for years to staff our hospitals and care for some really vulnerable people did those important jobs rather than have some random on furlough forced into it. Who knows though Hardsell keep stirring up the hate and they might bring back nation service and workhouses.

You do have to "consent" to being furloughed but let's face it, it's Hobson's Choice.

We'll have to get @NoHardSell to choose tonight's Lottery Numbers for us, they clearly have so much insight to have known back in January everything that needed to be done, in the right order, who to involve, amazing - they must have psychic powers and can make us millionaires!

Actually, not everyone did choose furlough, and for those who did nohardsell they had no way of knowing how long it would go on for. There are likely to be redundancies once the current terms end on 1 August and employers are required to contributewhich should please you. But there are a few people who refused because they figured they'd be made redundant soon enough anyway and wanted the award based on full salary not 80%.

@NoHardSell yeah, let's spend time and money training up people in roles that they will be leaving in a couple of months when they go back to their real jobs. That makes financial sense.

Yeah, instead of training up temps in contact tracing roles for instance?

Fair enough, first three weeks in it was hardly worth it, but come on ... til September and there's no way some people could be retrained in call centre work or carehome duties?

Any reasonable person could have predicted exactly what needed to be done and when from January onwards. That's the tragedy of our situation. Many other countries did predict it and then went out and did it. It's sadly nothing special about me and amazing powers to see into the future. Pandemic coming = buy medical stuff before everyone else does, try to stop it arriving, try to stop it spreading. It really wasn't anything difficult to work out. As you can see from the countries that did it in the timeline I suggested. You just do what they are doing. Easy. We applied the same to our workplace and were ready for wfh by beginning March. I don't think we were the only ones by any means.

You should ask some nhs workers what it was suggested they redeploy to! Or civil servants. If an admin officer can become a hcp or do the cleaning on a covid ward or supervise donning and doffing of ppe, then anyone can. Those are all roles that various friends were told they might end up in (I think it was voluntary redeployment to be fair, but it might not have been, I can't remember). It never happened as things never got that bad in the end. There was plenty that could have been done with shielding as another example, and I know a lot of furloughed as well as non furloughed volunteered for that, but it could have been developed in a much more thorough way to enable us to lift lockdown more safely, whilst protecting the incomes of those furloughed. Still could be.

You are definitely not unreasonable. My husband’s firm is still shut and the boss says it may not open but he’ll keep the 3 staff furloughed as long as possible. My husband is actively seeking work though so he can leave with some security in place.

The government told them not to go to work and businesses temporarily shut. Many businesses still are not allowed or can't operate at the moment. The government have people some compensation for this by paying 80 per cent of wages for a few months. How is that scrounging???!! Don't listen to these judgmental tw1ts. A lot of furloughed workers are now worrying if they will lose their jobs soon aswell and face draconian universal credit. Some people just don't get it🙄

People haven’t chosen to be on furlough. The scenes of people enjoying themselves on the beach are presented as if it’s people on furlough taking the piss but they won’t all be on furlough, some will be on a day off etc. The issue with the beach is social distancing, not furlough.
Bottom line: Everyone is anxious and we will all be worse off due to the economic downturn. I’m working from 8am to 8pm from home on a huge pay cut but I guess I’m lucky. I am trying to manage a team and that’s difficult. Some people who were lead swingers before are using the virus to swing the lead now and of course that means a bigger burden on others.

You do have to "consent" to being furloughed but let's face it, it's Hobson's Choice.

Exactly. Do you want some money to live on and a chance your job is there when this is over or do you want to be cut loose into an unstable job market, with no money to live on and no jobs available in your industry because they're all shut, and the only ones available that you've no qualifications or experience for are temporary so no job when this is all over.
Oh and no you can't get another job on furlough because your employer has written into your contract that if you do you lose your job and any security, however small, of having one when this is all over.

Why aren't people who think furloughed workers should be redeployed angry at the employers that have written that clause into contracts? Why only the workers on the recieving end? Easier targets?

People who peddle this type of crap are called "trolls" for a reason. They are mean, horrible, viscious creatures who hide from the world in a basement somewhere. I'd love to track one or two down, then go and knock on their door. Obviously their mum would answer the door, so youd have to explain why you're there. Don't pay any mind to it OP. 😘

Take no notice of what other people are saying your life is not their business. Its going to take time for many people to get back on their feet, don't let any ahole stress you.

I don't know if anyone else thinks they should have had redeployment instead of furlough. But I'm not angry with them for not being redeployed (for want of a better word). It's just one more of a million reasons why our government response is shit.

God help anyone who is furloughed & lives in social housing, they must be social pariah now.

There are always a couple of arseholes.

I have been Furloughed- It wasn’t my choice, my job requires me to be onsite. Why are people being so nasty about this? I just hope I have a job at the end of it. I love my job, and don’t want to be on benefits.

I lost my job, they wouldn’t furlough me and I had to claim UC for the first time in my life.

I have no anger to those furloughed. I can imagine how scary and frustrating it must be.

I have lots and lots of anger towards actual benefit scroungers. It killed me to apply and I found a job as soon as I could (I’m a nanny so the family have to have been isolating and following rules) and it just makes me so pissed to know so many people who have been claiming their whole lives for no good reason whatsoever (obviously health excluded)

Those posts can fuck right off. We didn't ask to be furloughed, our jobs temporarily don't exist!

I've worked continuously for the last 16 years since I left school and paid more than my fair share of tax. I can't wait to start working again once my industry opens up again... So certainly not workshy.

And as for sitting around doing fuck all, I've taken full responsibility for home schooling our child so my DH can continue working from home uninterrupted, as are all the others furloughed parents I know. Almost every childless person I know who is furloughed has started some form of volunteer or key work.

I was furloughed from a public sector job, no notice of it and no discussion.There's plenty of work for me to do and I had been working at home. My public sector employee is loosing income every month and they're showing no regard to the public who I had been working with or the employees.It's a difficult route for many of us and I sympathize with everyone who's furloughed, particularly those for whom the route back to work isn't straight forward.

Those who are workshy were already doing less than their colleagues.

Your post is utterly pointless.

Those of us that work on the frontline have every right to be pissed off if workers being furloughed are going out on jollies. You are furloughed to STAY AT HOME not to go out and enjoy yourselves at OUR expense thereby contributing to the ongoing problem and putting yourselves in line to lose your jobs permanently.

If you are furloughed and you are NOT going out then these posts are clearly not aimed at you are they?

Why therefore are you pissed off? Is it because you are one of those people who whine about the great benefit scandal and now find yourself on their side of the fence and are frantically trying to convince yourself that you're not one of "them"?

Pandemics/illness are a great levelled I find and it just goes to show what can turn your world upside down in an instant and turn you into the people you despise. Funny that.

Take a seat.

NoHardSell there are c. 6m furloughed. Suggesting that they should all be on Universal Credit, on top of all those who have lost their jobs, would do a similar amount of damage to the economy. At least a quarter of all jobs are currently not available, most of those people have no chance of getting another job while this lasts. It seems as if you want to punish them for something outside their control. I fully expect tax rises & price rises to follow as the cost of having a functioning economy in place when the crisis is past. I think it’s a price worth paying. As long as all pay their share & don’t hide their bail outs in a tax haven, that is.