Forced back to work from furlough

ToxicWomble

Fed up of hearing about people moaning that they are being forced back to work having been furloughed.
80% was way to generous and people got too comfortable with their government funded holiday.

[Deleted User]

Anyone treating it as a "holiday" were obviously not treating the situation seriously  enough. These would be the one's sunbathing in public parks and invading the Snowdonia National Park over the Easter Bank Holiday. 

But  those "moaning" about a return to work have a valid complaint that the pandemic is far from over and those returning to a customer-facing role can especially and correctly fear that they will now be exposed to a second wave of the virus. 

Rather than a (tax-payer funded) furlough scheme, would you have preferred the American model of simply putting people out-of-work and claiming Welfare benefits? That didn't stop the virus from spreading at all. One look at the mass graves in New York should tell you that. 

Those same Americans  are the people now gathering in dangerous large crowds protesting against government lockdown. 

We live in unprecedented times, history alone will show who was right and who was wrong during these times. 

At the moment, it's a little premature to be calling the furlough scheme a "free holiday" though. At huge expense admittedly,  it's currently saved the NHS from becoming overwhelmed as well as thousands of lives. 

 

SevenOfNine

Plenty off customer facing people were not furloughed, I don't expect those who were gave a second thought to going to the supermarket to buy their groceries!  Probably the most obvious day to day customer facing with precious little real protection even now.

Who do they think is sorting & delivering your mail, or picking, packing & delivering internet purchases. Driving cabs & buses. Goodness only knows what else, it's not all about NHS & care home workers.

Covid-19 will be here in various levels of serious, if furloughed staff don't want to go back to work, don't. But they can't expect this level of financial support indefinitely. 2nd wave, 3rd wave, annual deaths thereafter, all unknown. None of us can hide indefinitely.

giraffe69

I would have thought that people returning to work and off furlough was essential for our economy and probably the sanity of many!

DoaM

In today's COVID-19 briefing, Wee Jimmy said the restrictions are staying in place for now. And whilst she is aware that businesses need to get moving, if someone is able to work from home then they must. (Paraphrased but the underlined word was used - that's why it stuck in my mind).

[Deleted User]

SevenOfNine said:

Plenty off customer facing people were not furloughed, I don't expect those who were gave a second thought to going to the supermarket to buy their groceries!  
Who do they think is sorting & delivering your mail, or picking, packing & delivering internet purchases. Driving cabs & buses. Goodness only knows what else, it's not all about NHS & care home workers.

All of the "customer" facing roles you mention were deemed essential to keep day-to-day life flowing of course. 

 The buying of groceries has changed out of all recognition, with long socially distanced queues for a severely reduced selection of goods. The furloughed staff going shopping will certainly have given a "second thought" to it, otherwise the amount of online grocery purchases delivered to home wouldn't have soared to a level never dreamed of. 

There was no way public transport was going to be completely halted (though buses largely run empty)  but  I agree cab drivers do indeed take probably the greatest risk of both catching and passing on the virus. 

The danger of the restrictions (and the safety net) being removed too soon is that a further wave of the virus will undo everything achieved so far by overwhelming the Health Service. 

I do agree that, ultimately, the furlough scheme is unsustainable but (as I said at the outset) no one should have regarded this Emergency  as a "free holiday" in the first place.  Those that did are the ones most likely to place themselves and others in danger.

CKhalvashi

We have limited people returning as of last week on secondment to a new venture (niche in terms of industry size and won't affect many other companies, but big enough to pursue and bolts onto other projects) with limited forward work being done on existing ventures so we can get back into play within a week. Except in the case of anything requiring access to back end payment systems this work is being done from home.

The feedback that we've had is that focusing on something is actually more satisfying (even from home) than sitting around knowing nothing.

This isn't a free holiday, it's designed to protect the economy as much as possible and allow the dust to settle on Coronavirus. Doing nothing could have far worse consequences.

MothballsWallet

My employer sent out an email on Monday afternoon (which I need to reply to by next Monday) saying we're going back to work on the 26th of this month.

I'm a little concerned as I've only heard about an announcement on Sunday including proposals for lifting lockdown but no mention of if it will be lifted or extended further.

sheramber

If the work cannot be done at home and social distancing is implemented in the workplace then you can return to work. you  do  not need lockdown to be lifted. 
Latest announcement is that lockdown will not be lifted at present. 

[Deleted User]

sheramber said:

If the work cannot be done at home and social distancing is implemented in the workplace then you can return to work. you  do  not need lockdown to be lifted. 

That's only true for those businesses which the government have not instructed to close indefinitely, but of course the  businesses told to close are those least likely to be able to implement social distancing in the first place..

annetheman

I wouldn't say furlough was a holiday. I got depression and anxiety driven by boredom quite a bit (some very dark moments) and have enjoyed being back WFH as of Monday. I work in the pharmaceutical industry though so it was never going to last - I've never seen it so busy. Much more preferable to sitting about bored and useless; I don't know anyone who would prefer not to be working, even with a 20% top-up from employer.

The people you're talking about must be customer-facing, I would hate that.