Furlough: Would You Go?
April 27, 2009 by Kathy McManus
It’s the recession question being asked at factories, offices, workplaces, and dinner tables across America: would you volunteer for an unpaid furlough to keep your colleagues from losing their jobs?
Three days here. Six days there. A week, two weeks, a month. Thousands of workers in dozens of industries are making the trade-off of losing pay for saving jobs.
But is everyone stepping up simply because it’s the responsible thing to do?
When the University of New Mexico asked for furlough volunteers in order to avoid layoffs, a 30-year-old paid intern raised her hand and said, “I’m glad to do what little I can” to help the school weather the recession.
While one co-worker saw the move as “gracious,” another worker publicly questioned the young woman’s motivation, saying she was trying to “suck up” to her bosses for future employment. “Supervisors love that attitude,” said the critic. “What she has said will ensure her a good-paying job once she finishes (her) internship.”
The tension at the university “highlights a behind-the-scenes drama playing out in a growing number of workplaces,” reports The Wall Street Journal, where the question of whether to volunteer for a furlough has sparked contention and anxiety among workers.
Some employers are shielding the identity of furlough volunteers from the rest of the staff. “We didn’t want there to be any sense of competitiveness, like ‘I did this, why didn’t you?’” said an Iowa executive whose employees are taking secret furloughs.
Employment experts offer advice about the politics of volunteering for an unpaid furlough. “In this job market, the last thing you want is for people to think they can do without you,” one said, cautioning that an employee who sacrifices a lot of time off “may be viewed as expendable” rather than as a team player.
At the University of New Mexico, a staff head said employees are worried not just about image, but reality. “I have people emailing me and saying, ‘I’m one paycheck away from homelessness. I can’t miss one day of work.’”
Tell us what you think: Are you responsible for saving a colleague’s job by reducing your own hours and pay? If you were asked to volunteer for unpaid time off, what would you do?
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43 Comments
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April 30, 2009 by Susan Mabe
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August 19, 2010 by ARU
No matter where you are, the question remains. Would you take unpaid time off in order for someone else to keep their job? I've done this before and will do so again where the need arises. If we are "only it it for ourselves" we will all sink. It doesn't take much to stay afloat. It takes *much* less to exist or survive this horrid recession that we've come to believe is the American Dream. Let's pull together folks. Plywood is stronger than a single thin board.
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September 28, 2010 by Rissa
I'm all for saving someone's job don't get me wrong. But my husband works for a state prison and we are getting 15% paycut which accumulates to 3 furlough days off a month. The problem with that is they are still working their furlough days and not getting paid for it. Prisons never close and that's what these politicians don't understand. If he was to actually be able to come home 3 extra days a month, then I wouldn't complain, but he's still working, putting himself in danger everyday and more and more C/O's are coming down with Valley Fever which not alot of people know about. It's a dangerous job and I worry about him everyday. What they need to think about is taking more benefits away from the inmates than us. You would all die if you only knew what these inmates get. Three hot meals a day, they need everything in the basic food group, medical/dental benefits, not generic medicine, everything is name brand. I could go on and on and it would make you sick. I think C/O's have done their fair share of trying to save California, so now it's someone elses turn.
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May 1, 2009 by Vix
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