To think that as I am furloughed, my employer shouldn’t be expecting me to be spending my time doing training courses?

[Anquin]

I’ve been furloughed for 8 weeks and am likely to remain on furlough for another few weeks. My boss wants me to pick online courses to do which will benefit the Company if or when I return to work.
At the same time, the senior management are sending weekly updates that are increasingly negative about the future of the Company.
I find it extremely difficult to self-learn, and I’m becoming more worried about the future as I think I might be made redundant. My immediate boss keeps asking how the training is going (we have meetings weekly to catch up) and I’m getting really upset and anxious about it.
AIBU to think that if I’m on furlough I should be able to spend my day at home doing gardening etc. without worrying about training?

" It doesn’t change the fact they can’t require or pressurise her to train unless they are paying the the NLW, though."
They can most certainly require her to do the training.
The furlough money will be there to meet the NMW/NLW obligations. No need to top up unless she is doing THAT much training that 80% of her pay does not cover training hours x NMW.
Refusal to do the training can certainly lead to disciplinary action (or as mentioned unpaid lay off or ultimately redundancy).

You sound lazy and negative. Seriously you expect to be paid 80% of your salary just to do the gardening. I suggest you get a grip and make an effort.

Sorry just saw the 8hrs training etc. If indeed the training is full time in effect (all day every day) and OP is on NMW then her pay needs to be effectively topped up.
That's a lot of training! Sounds like a good thing though.

Your employer shows their commitment to you by providing training. Its costs money and they wouldnt invest in their money just to make you redundant and for some other employer to benefit.
By not doing it, you are really opening yourself up to redundancy. I'd be disappointed in a member of my team who didn't want to learn. Knowledge and education are so important

What's a reasonable amount of time? I'd say whatever your employers asks of you - unless you are juggling caring responsibilities too then they should cut you a bit of slack.

Last post on this topic from me...
Woke up feeling vaguely depressed and stressed about whether I’ve been doing enough training (have been doing training for about 3 hours DAILY (including weekends) and asked my original question.
Your replies helped me to see that with the holidays I’ve taken this month plus Bank Holidays, I’ve actually done very well - it evens out to about 7 hours of training per working day!
Sometimes I overthink everything and this is one of those times, so thank you all for seeing the other side and adding some logic and perspective to my train of thought.

vanillandhoney the key word in my post was 'because'. I appreciate many people are working alongside childcare. What if they literally can't and that is why they were furloighed?

I understand that if you find online training hard then it's tricky for you. That's absolutely not a reason not to give it your best shot though. You'll be likely to learn at least something.

Your attitude would be a red flag to me as an employee and would push you towards the top of my mental list of someone who isn't the type of person that I want on my team.

Redundancies will be rife soon OP, and people will be fighting over jobs. If I were you I'd be fighting hard to prove my worth, and improve my skills any way that I can.

OP- this is a stressful and anxious time for everyone. So maybe you are overthinking it. But whatever the case, and however you feel- DO look after yourself and take care of your mental health. And that goes for everyone on this thread. The siutaiton just sucks generally. I hope everyone is feeling okay and can look after what is important.

I'm on furlough. I do training in the morning then 'me' time in the afternoon. Training is allowed under the furlough rules. Doing it is a no brainer. You improve your skills and make it less likely that you will be made redundant. If they need to make someone redundant in your team and one of them hasn't done any training and everyone else has who do you think they will choose? If I do need another job I can say I've got up to date skills.
In my field (IT) staying up to date is a big thing - last time I was job hunting I was asked about it in every interview.

GrimmsFairytales what you've stated says that employees can train, not that they can be required to train. Very different

It’s the constant “How’s the training going?” that’s getting to me... is 40% of working time reasonable? Or what percentage would be reasonable in your opinion?

100% would be reasonable. It helps you, and it will help you more if or when you get back to work.

OP rather than taking the requests for updates negatively, ake them as a way to open discussions you want. Your boss might be opening lines of communication or simply making sure you know they are thinking of you. Just give brief updates.
Training is going well but of course there are challenges X,y, z
Am not sure you need to explain how you use each our of your day on the studies
As for negative emails, it's hard to interpret what you mean given that I think you are overthinking your boss' require for training updates. Perhaps the HR are just being honest and preparing people for coming redundancies? Redundancies WILL happen at unprecedented scales and it would be unfair IMHO for companies not to prepare staff. Sadly life is not all sunshine and roses. Especially in these covid times

@Anquin

Last post on this topic from me... Woke up feeling vaguely depressed and stressed about whether I’ve been doing enough training (have been doing training for about 3 hours DAILY (including weekends) and asked my original question. Your replies helped me to see that with the holidays I’ve taken this month plus Bank Holidays, I’ve actually done very well - it evens out to about 7 hours of training per working day! Sometimes I overthink everything and this is one of those times, so thank you all for seeing the other side and adding some logic and perspective to my train of thought.

From your update, it sounds as though you are stressing unnecessarily. When they ask you how training is going Just be honest with them. You have been training for all of your ‘working hours’ but are finding it hard. They are probably just checking in that you are doing something. It benefits them but you in the long run.

Training is never wasted especially when someone else is paying for it

If you were not being paid at all, I agree they can’t make you do anything but as a Tax Payer I.e. Those people who pay into the Government coffers to pay for the cost of furlough, I feel it is a reasonable request by the company.

If they have to call you weekly to kit then there’s probably not much to ask about. So obviously they will go towards what they know you are doing, your training. Don’t stress. Do it, don’t view it negatively, the hours sound fine.

How does “holidays I’ve taken this month plus Bank Holidays, I’ve actually done very well - it evens out to about 7 hours of training per working day!” When you said your doing 3 hours daily?

So effectively OP has been taking on average 2 days off every week. And done 21hours of training.

You can do training whilst on furlough and if you are pessimistic about your future with the company then getting some additional skills for you CV would be beneficial. It would also show any future employers that you were pro-active during lockdown and made some efforts to remain current and up to date during this time.
I find it strange that you seem unwilling to progress yourself for the mutual benefit of you and your employer. Let's face it there is plenty of time in the day, evening of night to do a few hours of training.
Making an effort for the company will put you in a better position to remain employed than doing nothing but potter in the garden whilst being paid a furlough salary.

Unbelievable

I think technically you're right but really where's the harm in spending a bit of your free time doing some training, which benefits you as well as the company and why would you want to be difficult about it in your current situation?

I think it could be argued that the company are going above and beyond in keeping in touch and providing these training opportunities.

I'm devouring all the training I can whilst I'm furloughed.
The course that usually cost my company the best part of a grand are now free online....I'm ploughing through as many as possible before they take them away.

More of a side point but when did it become 'self learning', isn't that just learning as opposed to being taught?

Have you been keeping a full record of all the training you've done? If there's a good chance of you needing to jobseek in the near future it would be best to make sure you can show how up to date you are with everything.

In my organisation, I’ve heard that “how did you spend your time during the pandemic/lockdown?” is going to be a regular interview question moving forward.

That’s disgusting and discriminatory against those with children, health problems or caring responsibilities, by the way. And I say that as someone who’s been working from home full time with children around. I’d strongly advise them not to ask that question unless they want to be fed a bunch of bullshit. It’s a global crisis unprecedented in our lifetimes, not a self-improvement retreat.