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?

If someone “suffered” from anxiety, depression and stress at work, I certainly wouldn’t want them on my payroll, and would hope they’d crack on questioning their rights and digging their own grave in terms of employment longevity.

Why is suffered in quotation marks? You realise that approximately 1 in 4 people will have mental health issues in a normal year and Covid is going to make that worse? I pity any employees you have.

My anxiety and depression is under control normally with work and routine. Funnily enough, I live alone and spending over two months barely having a face-to-face conversation is affecting me.

No OP, don't do training. Just spend your time getting paid by the taxpayers doing absolutely nothing, with a job to come back to.

Shocking.

@QuestionMarkNow

Thanks for your comment, and of course your suggestion.

I’m really not in need of anything, I’m doing just fine, thank you !

There’s absolutely no room in any successful business for self-pitying lazy types.

It’s very competitive out there, and the only way to win is to have a winning team. People who complain about anxiety or stress, or question the need to engage in to line training when being paid for it are anything but winners.

I’ll let someone else employ them. Hopefully one of our competitors, or they might just give up completely and claim all of the benefits that they are just so entitled to ...

Isn't training going to benefit you in other jobs if you are made redundant?

Training is allowed in furlough and actually recommended

It’s the constant “How’s the training going?” that’s getting to me..

OP, that checking in with you could be a good thing. At my workplace, (not in the UK), we are all working from home. My immediate supervisor checks in with us via email multiple times per week, our dept. head, emails us twice a week, we have weekly meetings and an optional, weekly virtual drop-in chat session.
The staff in another department are not as lucky. They waited five weeks in before their supervisor called a virtual meeting with them. people They feel they are being left to flounder. They would love to be asked how the training was going.

(I realize that working from home is not the same as being furloughed.)

It’s very competitive out there, and the only way to win is to have a winning team. People who complain about anxiety or stress, or question the need to engage in to line training when being paid for it are anything but winners.

That’s very sweet. I’m sure it sounds amazing when you say it into your mirror each morning.

Legally they're not allowed to ask you to work. If the training is funded by them and for work purposes they cannot ask you to do this.

Are they contacting you on work or personal email/phone? You have no obligation to answer work phone or email so could within your rights just ignore them.

If you read the government website they can ask you to do training while on furlough and work as long as it doesn’t make money for the company.

For those saying they can’t ask you do do training,...

When your employees are on furlough
You cannot ask your employee to do any work that:

makes money for your organisation or any organisation linked or associated with your organisation
provides services for your organisation or any organisation linked or associated with your organisation.

Your employee can:

take part in training
volunteer for another employer or organisation

www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

I think training is fine and to be expected- realistically I doubt that the training is filling full time hours and it's in your interest as you keep busy, look proactive, and it keeps your knowledge fresh. I do think however many people are being a bit harsh on here! Tbh OP I think you need to have a conversation with your manager about how many training hours you'll do each week. It hasnt gotta be full time (thatd be mind numbingly borinh) but I would be prepared to negotiate. Something silly like 3hrs a day prob not acceptable, but maybe 6 or 7hours a day would be. Also ensure the courses uoure doing are actually beneficial- 2 courses a day that are understood in depth and you can research around is better than 5 hastily clicked and barely remembered. If you've got any areas of interest now might be the time to look
You might even volunteer yourself to train others? For eg in previous job I had dv work experience and done lots of courses. I spent 2weeks preparing and creating a dv leaflet for use in the offices. I enjoyed it - work and training doesn't have to be boring!

With 8 weeks off already I'd imagine youd have had enough of gardening and Netflix anyhow? Presumably.the courses are online- which makes them easy to fit around children and stuff

I'm wfh but finding I'm having a better work life balance. I do work from the garden on my laptop with a cuppa. I can go for a walk in lunch or watch tv or have an afternoon nap. It's a more relaxed pace. I appreciate you're not wfh however could you not treat the training like that? A bit of training, some gardening, watch some tv, more training?

Sorry to hear your MH is struggling. For many people I know who suffer with anxiety and depression , making themselves do things is hard at times but so so important. I know that for me, having PJ days or spending days sunbathing pr watching tv would make me worse. Same as most people I know. As humans we need our minds to be stimulated, and doing some online training might provide more of a routine and a bit of normality. I know people from my recovery groups for whom getting up and showering is hard and they've told us in the past that people saying there there ksnt helpful. They need gentle but firm support - they've asked us to ring them if they're not in a meeting, to ask them if they've showered etc. Wrte all taking pics of our dinners or scenery on walks to 'prove' were taking care of ourselves. Nothing bad would happen if I didnt post! But it's a bit of friendship and also gives me some accountability.

I do think some routine and normality would help.
Being worried about redundancy is horrible. Another potential reason for keeping your mind busy, to distract yourself. It may also reassure you to know you're keeping your professional development going and stand more chance of getting another job going forward

And you can always garden and drink gin of a weekend or an evening!

If the training is funded by them and for work purposes they cannot ask you to do this.

@Flimflamfloogety, they absolutely can. Read the guidance.

It seems more than reasonable. You can't work, but education and course is fine to do. I don't understand why people seem to think furloughed means necessarily sit around and do nothing at all, regardless of reasonable company requests.

YABU.

As a key worker (junior doctor), who has been working very hard the past few months, I find it very difficult reading these threads. A lot of people expect to be paid to do nothing currently. Economically it's not viable. Spending some of your furloughed time productively is an entirely reasonable expectation of your company.

YABVU

I also dont think the harsh replies are necessary. OP has come back a few times and accepted what has been said. It's not that she really thinks its unreasonable of her employers. More that shes stressed and anxious and there hasnt been much communication or explanation from management as to expectations

They can’t ask you to work while you’re furloughed: it’s fraud.

^ this is incorrect. They can’t ask you to do company work, but they can ask, and in fact require, you to do training. It’s one of the legal conditions of furlough. You’d be very foolish not to do it, they could take disciplinary proceedings against you. In any case, training could be useful for finding another job if it comes to that, you can put it on your CV.

I think OP is in a really stressful and uncertain situation and I personally think it’s really cheeky to expect her to do the training. At the same time, if I was the OP I would do it because I would want to show willing. I would still feel demotivated and find it really annoying.
It’s not that people are expected to be paid for doing nothing, it’s just a very stressful situation to be in.

I absolutely hate seeing the judgement piled onto people who are furloughed. Presumably these people who are now furloughed are responsible, usually work and hold down a job, pay their own bills etc. They didn't choose for their employer pay them to stay at home and if they've been furloughed, their job may in jeopardy to some degree.

Presumably if they wanted a job where they worked from home, they'd have found one. Not everyone is able to work effectively from home, we all have different skills. The uncertainty of expectation is also hard for some - lots of furloughed workers aren't quite sure exactly what their employer wants from them. Lack of structure is hard. Uncertainty is awful. There's a reason lots of people talk about the impact on mental health.

I haven't read the full thread as I don't need another outpouring of nastiness and bitterness.

A bit of training, a couple of hours per day, is great and will benefit you in the long run. If your employer is expecting you to sit there for 8 hours every day, five days a week and just do online training, that's unrealistic and really hard going. It's really difficult to stay focussed and learn effectively in those circumstances so it's just counter productive. (I have friends who work for a big company who have been told this is what they have to do). If this is the case with you, I'd negotiate how long you feel you can spend focussing on training each day. If you have a better grasp of their expectations, you might feel less anxious overall.

Incidentally, I'm not defending myself. I'm self-employed, not furloughed. I'm trying to look after two SEN children, one of whom has very significant disabilities, in lockdown conditions and keep their education going while meeting daily deadlines for my work. I'm working all the hours of the day and night. I've got clients constantly chasing me. I haven't had a single day off in weeks and I'm getting barely any sleep trying to juggle everything. Even so, I still don't feel bitter in the slightest towards those who are furloughed - I think it's hard in a completely different way that some people don't quite seem to get. We're not in a competition here about who's having the hardest time during lockdown.

OP, I hope you're doing OK. I hope you don't end up losing your job. If you can, maybe write yourself a schedule for training to give you some kind of structure. That might help. I'd also tell your employer that you're finding the uncertainty around your job really stressful and it's impacting on your current mental state. Best of luck.

Furlonged people should be doing training at home. Its not a holiday and you are getting paid to sit at home while keyworkers risk there health by going into work. There not moaning and had it more difficult than people sitting at home while getting paid

Everyone on furlough who is NOT doing as much training as humanly possible is seriously deluded. learn as much as you can if you either want to keep your job at your current company (there won‘t be that many), or a new one.
Looking at CVs, what you‘ve done during furlough will definitely be an important element!

Some people are furloighed because their children's needs mean they cannot work while caring for them.

Stealth, people are not getting this. If they could WFH with their children - not any random children, but their own children whose needs I assume they know better than anyone else - then they would be! So if they’ve been furloughed as unable to WFH with their children then they’re also unable to train or any other work related activity. If they could suck it up and plugs on they would be doing that!

I absolutely detest this culture that’s going round of “well I’m doing it, why aren’t you?”. It’s so unforgiving, so heartless. Some people are so immersed in this capitalist system that they genuinely believe people only have value when they’re earning money for someone else. How did you spend your lockdown, indeed. As if your bosses wouldn’t replace you in a heartbeat if you died at your desk.

YABU. Just do the training. I've worked throughout as a key worker and done training on my working from home days.