If you are still furloughed do you want to go back?

[Justaonetimeting]

Friend is desperate to stay off work and she says everyone in non essential retail feels the same as she does. I'm sure they don't, that most want some stability and, you know, 100% of their wages. What do you think?

I work in hospitality and I'm not really looking forward to going back this time. Guests were so rude and entitled after we reopened last time and I'm not looking forward to that again, especially as I bet some of them will whinge "but we've had our vaccines why can't we do xyz?" I think people forget we have to follow the laws/rules from the government very strictly otherwise we can potentially get into a lot of trouble. People try and come up with ways to get round the restrictions and get upset when they're told no. Honestly all the restrictions have totally sucked the enjoyment out of my job

@longsigh

Retail is hell just now. When my store reopens it'll be nothing but refunds and people complaining they can't get what they want in their size or colour. And people complaining they can't try anything on, as of course its us sales assistants who obviously make the rules. Long queuing system with staff trying to encourage social distancing. Staff jumping back as people constantly come right up to us to ask a question. People wearing masks under their noses. Managers on our backs as store must increase sales to stay open. Monitoring the one way out and in system, people swearing at you as you ask them to please observe the correct way out.

Oh yes, we're all desperate to get back to working in a shop during a pandemic...said no shop worker ever...

Try being a medical worker or supermarket worker or teacher or... I would love to be returning to work after a year off-instead a lot of us have been working through the whole pandemic in the exact situations that you are moaning about having to return to.

I'm a retail worker who has been redeployed to a supermarket, so thanks for your post.

I've been flexi furloughed with 100% pay this lockdown. I was fully furloughed for a bit in lockdown 1. I can tell you I don't want to go back full time .Of course I will have to and I wouldn't moan about going back as that's life but of course after living working 2/3 days max for 100% pay, the idea of going back full time for the same pay is horrible 😂

What my flexi-furlough has taught me is I would rather have four 10 hour days than five 8 hour days. Full days off are so valuable.

@incywincyspiders

What my flexi-furlough has taught me is I would rather have four 10 hour days than five 8 hour days. Full days off are so valuable.

Is that an option at your work, might be worth asking for this?

In my company most of the furloughed staff came back last autumn and my goodness, the whinging!

One didn't want to come back the week she was asked to because she had made plans with her family as the weather was nice, most complained about having to take their accrued annual leave first and then there were the requirements for returning - where they would and wouldn't sit, who they wanted to work with - we have a rota for going into the office, the ones who were furloughed were the ones who couldn't work from home and so had to go into the office which they didn't like, my company rotate desk use and have a cleaning programme so it isn't as simple as having your own desk and sitting at it or choosing who else would be in your office area. The uproar! When the unfurloughed had been muddling through, covering their work and putting in extra (unpaid) hours for over six months. Their productivity was way down too, I also found that they didn't want to come back into their old jobs and would push back on the bits they didn't like (that someone else had been covering) and wanted to only take on the tasks they liked. Plus, the silly mistakes which is understandable after a time away but six months later they are still making them.
It actually still really irks me when I have my turn in the office with the furloughed ones - there is definitely a shift in their attitude compared with those who worked all the way through and it is not for the better.

There is still one furloughed employee who has basically just refused to come back (she is due to retire at the end of the year) and no one seems to have the balls to get rid of her.

Not saying this is everyone's experience, just my office.

@ssd Well then obviously my post doesn't apply to you!

@sdd I highly doubt it but I wish it was. I feel grateful for all the time off I've had but also understand that it is only temporary. So instead of whinging when it's over, I'm making the most of it while it lasts!

I would of love to be furlonged. Having 80% of my wages and sitting at home doing nothing. Yes please.

What this thread shows is that the most overused phrase of the last year is actually true - we are all in the same storm but all in different boats!

Nobody I know who has been on furlough has 100% enjoyed it. Yes of course they liked the fact that their alarm never went off in the morning but that was countered with the fact that they didn’t know when the phone would ring to say their job wasn’t there anymore.
For some that call has already happened, for others they dread not knowing what each day is going to bring

@Waxonwaxoff0

Most people in retail are only on minumum wage, so I don't know why they'd want to stay on 80%.

Furlough is not just minimum wage retail staff! Off the top of my head it would/ could include anyone who works in music, theater or the arts, anyone in hospitality and anyone in the travel industry which might include airline pilots and cruise ship captains, plus people who work behind the scenes in these industries which could be on various incomes.

It must be really hard to gear yourself up to going back into work after all this time.

At least folk can comfort themselves with the knowledge that infection rates are currently pretty low.

A lot of people I knew that were on furlough last year were being topped up to 100% of pay, one I knew was quite a high earner, I'm not sure if this is still the case a year down the line.

It not surprising ppl want to get paid 80% for doing nothing opposed to an extra 20% and having to commute and work

@ChocOrange1 I know that, I only mentioned retail because OP said her friend works in retail.