Not fairly furloughed

HollyTrees

sharpe106 said:

If they were just taking advantage of the scheme they would have done it for far more then 3 weeks. They would have been rotating staff in and out of it. Which quite a lot of companies probably have done. Just to save some money even if they had no intention of getting rid of the staff.  

No because we have hundreds of staff and started furloughing late anyway. It would have been impossible for everyone to have a turn. But that doesnt make it fair. 

Grumpy_chap

If the company was really busy all the way through and having "some" staff on furlough for 3 weeks did not affect capacity, capability, turnover or profits, then it seems certain that the company will make cut backs in the near future.

How many staff are there and how many were furloughed?

HollyTrees

Thrugelmir said:

HollyTrees said:

sharpe106 said:

HollyTrees said:

sharpe106 said:

Surely the ones that were furloughed have had to use the holiday to so they won't be having it at Christmas either. 

No thats the whole point. They haven't had to touch their annual leave. They basically been given 3 weeks off for free on full pay. 80% paid by the government, so the company were saving money and taking full advantage of it. 

Don't they have to take holiday in August to?

The company is far from being in trouble. They have been busy all throughout lockdown. It was very much business as usual. 

If that were the case no employees would have been furloughed. As there would have been work to do.  Always comes as a shock when the true state of Company finances becomes known. 

They were late in starting to furlough anyone anyway. In the end according to the union they literally took advantage of furlough but a bit late for it to go around to every member of staff unless they closed down. But its been very much business as usual. 

sharpe106

What I was saying is that if they were abusing the furlough like you said earlier they could have done a far better job of it. So I don't think that was a reason at all in this case. If it was the management are shockingly bad. 

HollyTrees

sharpe106 said:

What I was saying is that if they were abusing the furlough like you said earlier they could have done a far better job of it. So I don't think that was a reason at all in this case. If it was the management are shockingly bad. 

Well it was the union that unearthed the company was merely taking advantage of furlough because the shop floor has been business as usual. They started it late was the flaw in the planning. Too late for it to go even half way round the staff. 

Barny1979

Ultimately there were roles that could be furloughed and your husband's role and others wasn't able to be furloughed as key to day to day operation of business. I have a friend whose company went down to 5 staff in a business, rest were furloughed and they were limping along to keep a business for the furloughed staff to come back to, they are a director and had to pick up the ordering, invoicing etc and warehouse ended up with just 2 people working.

Grumpy_chap

If they can have "business as usual" with a group of staff furloughed, then "right sizing" has to be near.

HollyTrees

Barny1979 said:

Ultimately there were roles that could be furloughed and your husband's role and others wasn't able to be furloughed as key to day to day operation of business. I have a friend whose company went down to 5 staff in a business, rest were furloughed and they were limping along to keep a business for the furloughed staff to come back to, they are a director and had to pick up the ordering, invoicing etc and warehouse ended up with just 2 people working.

But where hubby works its been business as usual all throught lockdown. Thats what has been baffling. They started furloughing when lockdown was almost over which didnt make sense. Its as if they thought well we might aswell take advantage of this furlough scheme before the deadline is up, I dont know. 

sharpe106

Another down side of the furlough scheme, I would be more worried then that job cuts are in the future. How many staff were furloughed? If they can cope without that how long do you think they will keep that many of staff on for?

HollyTrees

Grumpy_chap said:

If they can have "business as usual" with a group of staff furloughed, then "right sizing" has to be near.

I see where you're coming from, but they got around this by shuffling staff around from other areas and using pool staff. This is what fueled hubbys confusion.