Furlough / working backside off

[Mingkong]

Am I the only person who is hacked off seeing people frolicking about whilst on furlough, while my husband works 12 hour days ? Also we have stuck to the rules throughout. I appreciate that he is lucky to have a job but he is worn out , not a break from the screen, has had shingles and eczema over the lockdown months, but still carries on without complaint. Meanwhile others ( some through no fault of their own ) are furloughed and having a jolly old time . And who will have to pay the furlough money ??? Us !! Makes me bloody angry.

What do you do for work OP?

Op left the thread ages ago. She has an online business, which I'm guessing is selling magic coffee or perfect facsimiles of branded perfume.

@Gliblet

No. But then we have staff who are utterly fucking miserable being furloughed, stuck at home with nothing to do, no social contact at all in some cases, wondering if this is the first step on a slippery slope to their job being less needed in a market where finding a new one could be a nightmare. We have staff who have been working flat out throughout and are exhausted with no real respite in sight. Staff who are loving working from home, staff who are hating every minute of it. All of them think the others have it better somehow.

^ this. I couldn't have put it better. Everyone is looking at everyone else thinking it's a nicer life.

Either way is outrageously shite and no fault of anyone who's making the most of the situation they find themselves in.

@Funneth

Remember that the whole point of furlough is to reduce the transmission of the virus. It's all very well saying people on furlough should volunteer but that defeats the object really when the point is that not being at work prevents the transmission in the workplace. A lot of industries have taken the piss with it though and claimed it when they don't need/have to close, that should really have been prevented but obviously too late now.

Volunteering is allowed as an activity under restrictions and much of it could be done from home or little risk e.g. contacting someone who is isolated with poor mental health It makes sense for those who are furloughed to give back in this way, if their own caring or health situation allows

@MotherExtraordinaire I am disgusted by you. Really I am. You are what is wrong with the world. Christ.

@Cosmos123

Those on furlough are likely to be those warnings g minimum wages bar staff, waiters and waitresses etc. Now they have to live on 80% of what little they earned. Having a jolly time, sure. Such a selfish view point OP.

If their furlough incomes are so low, as a household they'd ve entitled to uc. If they're not entitled, then that says it all...

But if they're claiming both, that's a double cist, as yet again, uc alone would be cheaper.

@MotherExtraordinaire wrong. If they are homeowners they wouldn't be entitled to UC.

Which is a very good reason for furlough. However, I know people who are being furloughed in sectors which can carry on as normal. There's a lot of abuse going on and I am surprised the system wasn't restricted to the sectors whichhaveto close, rather than any at all. For example, it make sense to furlough hairdressers, not so much sense to furlough an insurance broker (unless their specialism is in event insurance)

I work in manufacturing which has been allowed to continue throughout any of the lockdowns and restrictions. However I've been on furlough or pt furlough for most of the past year. The workplace is technically allowed to open....but theres barely any work.(We supply non-essential retail shops) Last year no new orders were placed between beginning of March and end of June.

Eaxctly.

My next door neighbour is furloughed. He is a salesman for a company selling non essential items but which had a huge demand for their products during lockdown.

But he is furloughed because everything is manufactured in place like China and the company cannot fulfil the huge backlog of orders they have never mind employing someone to sell more.

Cosmos123

Those on furlough are likely to be those warnings g minimum wages bar staff, waiters and waitresses etc.
Now they have to live on 80% of what little they earned.
Having a jolly time, sure.
Such a selfish view point OP.

If their furlough incomes are so low, as a household they'd ve entitled to uc. If they're not entitled, then that says it all...

But if they're claiming both, that's a double cist, as yet again, uc alone would be cheaper.

I'm not sure I understand your point here, but UC or TC are limited to a certain income a month, so yes if the furlough income is very low it will be topped up by UC and to that amount. If there was no furlough, the entire amount would come from UC. The same would apply for wages, the more you earn, the less UC you'd get and vice versa. So the cost, whether you call it UC or furlough, or a bit of each would be the same.

In addition, my contract was 25 hours, I regularly worked more, a lot more over the busy periods, there was only maybe a week or two in January that I actually worked 25 hours. That's what kept me afloat, the overtime, when on furlough I received 80% of the 25 hours I'm contracted to. Obviously no overtime to build my wages up. I also did the odd shift on bank work in a care home (where I now have a ft position since being made redundant ) which they didn't want me to do at the start of all this for obvious reasons.
So I was on 80% of my contract, not 80%of what I actually earned in reality.

We have some shielding on full pay dumped into him shopping twice in morrisons. ( lives with wife no reason for hm to go she's fine and drives)

Another one had to pick up there company vehicle 3 times they weren't in .

We have to pick up the slack at work all the said I think I would of struggled being off work for so long . I do think it could be a case of the grass looks green but isn't.

The one thing that does piss me off is people furloughed getting paid then take another job . i know 2 on full pay and work at asda full time . Think thats totally wrong.

The thing about this situation is everyone is having a tough time, for different reasons, whether furloughed or working.

I was furloughed for 8 weeks last April - hated it. Spent the time worrying about my job and money. Was so glad to get back to work, and have pretty much worked extra hours since. Would hate to be furloughed again.

We need to remember people post the good stuff on social media and rarely the negative stuff. And generally we only feel jealous of these posts when unhappy in our own lives. We don't see that behind the lovely photos on Facebook etc are people maybe struggling. We don't want to read that.

Just remember people on furlough have 20% cut from their average income and most of them come from industries where they don't earn too much at normal times and may not recover after this. The weather has been miserable for months, everywhere is closed. Where could these people possibly go that has pissed you off so much and rubbing your Dh the wrong way? To the Supermarkets to spend their 80% income with no job security at the end of it, is this what is bothering you? Or that they don't have a job to go to right now because it's closed so they are free to go for a walk in this Baltic weather? The novelty of furlough at the start has gone, same as working from home. It's hard for everyone, you need to look beyond your own personal sphere. I would 100% prefer to work right now than lose my job at the end of the scheme which will result me losing my home. I truly hope from the bottom of my heart that people on furlough would come out of this scheme going back to their jobs.

Obviously I’ve been ‘frolicking’ in the ice & snow, enjoying the biting wind whipping at my furloughed brow, perhaps my furloughed brow should be more furrowed therefore not appearing frolicked!

Where my husband works, there was a very
close correlation between furlough & later redundancies.

100% agree OP. My husband and I have worked our backsides off, working evenings and weekends on critical COVID matters. We didn’t holiday last year due to work and also because we complied with the spirit of the rules that it would worsen the pandemic- well now it seems like every other bugger has been doing whatever they please!

I was previously on furlough, spent the months on it desperately trying to find a new job as I knew mine would probably be gone. I found a job, and now work for approx double the hours and half the pay. Worrying about your job in a global pandemic isn’t all fun really.

I also fail to understand why the furlough payments weren’t given on the condition that those able to volunteered to help with the government’s efforts to support the pandemic response- test and trace, people employed to organise and deliver food and medicine to those shielding, etc. There are still over 4 million people furloughed nearly a year on! The worry about eventually losing one’s job has to be balanced against the benefit of being paid minimum 80% salary to do what you please at home. Whether that is pottering, DIY, time with children, learning a new skill or hobby etc. I’d rather take that than being chained to my desk and having to work unpaid overtime at evenings and weekends, with a house that’s a constant tip! And in any event, many of those working throughout will face redundancies when the economy eventually takes the hit. So they will have had a double whammy!!

I’ve continuously worked my backside off for 35 years, never been out of work. Have been furloughed when I don’t want to be, I hate it, totally beyond my control, so what the fuck would you prefer me to do?

@Rosie2111 I’ve been sticking to the rules and not ‘doing as I please’ - why, just because I’m unfortunate enough to be furloughed (again) have I been doing as I please? Could you explain!

@Rosie2111

100% agree OP. My husband and I have worked our backsides off, working evenings and weekends on critical COVID matters. We didn’t holiday last year due to work and also because we complied with the spirit of the rules that it would worsen the pandemic- well now it seems like every other bugger has been doing whatever they please!

what even is this logic? the pandemic hasn't been worsened by people sunbathing or decorating on furlough, it's been worsened by mixed messages from the government, eat out to help out, sending students back, letting London carry on regardless in December instead of putting them into tier 4, the mass exodus at Christmas and all the mixing then, and then again in schools for the one day they were opened. keeping people at home on furlough has stopped it being even worse. there is no evidence to suggest any correlation whatsoever between people breaking rules and being furloughed and if you have any I suggest you link to it.

I also fail to understand why the furlough payments weren’t given on the condition that those able to volunteered to help with the government’s efforts to support the pandemic response- test and trace, people employed to organise and deliver food and medicine to those shielding, etc.

you've answered your own question here. test and trace work is paid, those 'employed to deliver food' are also paid, that's how the word 'employed' works. people on furlough are not allowed to undertake paid work.

We've been working throughout too. And yes, it would definitely have been easier to be furloughed, especially as we've got 3 DC at home with us who require schooling and some vague adult interaction occasionally.

But I'd much rather know that my company considers me so essential to their running that I can't be furloughed. I'd rather work in an industry that can carry on throughout a pandemic, at home, safely. I'd rather not be sitting around at home worrying that at some point the money will run out and then it'll be redundancies all around. I don't resent people who are on furlough, i feel lucky to be in the positron I'm in.

All the individuals I know who were furloughed spent the summer meeting others in parks, having bbqs, going on trips to the beach and holidaying. All were technically ‘within’ the rules at the time but not really within the spirit of things, ie minimising contact with others and minimising travel. Whereas my husband and I spent virtually all our weekends chained to our desks working on covid critical matters. When we did have free time, we mixed with others very sparingly because it was obvious that mixing would cause the problems that have come about this Autumn. Yes, those furloughed will be worried about their jobs. But those of us working throughout will be worried too and we’ve had the double whammy of being worked to death, home schooling on top of our jobs, etc.

@MadameButterface

You’ve missed the point. The furlough scheme could have been structured to require those in receipt of furlough to work. I know that it wasn’t! The point I was making was that it should have been. What is the point of paying millions to sit at home and then paying thousands of others to undertake essential work?

I get you, OP. It is mega disheartening to work solid while homeschooling and seeing others being paid to do nothing, knowing we're all on the hook for the inevitable tax bill to fund it all. It's a perfectly valid frustration.

That said, always remember the people on furlough didn't choose this, and their industry was hamstrung because of rules imposed ON it. Its not easy to gain different employment at the moment with loads of the economy effectively closed. It's not their fault, and those people still have bills to pay.

Just try to focus on the positives of your own situation. For every person "chilling", there'll be another whose job is gone, or whose business is collapsing, and they're losing sleep about the next mortgage payment. There aren't many winners at the mo.