#stayathome Furloughed?
COVID-19 means many are being Furloughed. Time at home being paid, sounds good? But many are worried. In this blog I hope to offer some support in understanding what this means and how to make it work for you.
The chances are this word is new to you, what does it actually mean? According to www.gov.co.uk it means:
If you and your employer both agree, your employer might be able to keep you on the payroll if they’re unable to operate or have no work for you to do because of coronavirus (COVID-19). This is known as being ‘on furlough’.
Your employer could pay 80% of your wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, up to a monthly cap of £2,500.
You’ll still be paid by your employer and pay taxes from your income. You cannot undertake work for your employer while on furlough. We expect the scheme to be up and running by the end of April.
How to pronounce it? Fur Low . Businesses are furloughing employees because they are unable to continue to pay wages for various reasons e.g they have been forced to close under government guidelines or there is no demand for their product or service during the current crisis causing no business income.
Even though we can understand this logically and jobs are likely to be still there when this is all over many are finding it an unsettling time. So why is this the case? In a previous blog I mentioned that humans need a degree of predictability to feel safe and in control. The one thing we know about COVID-19 is that it is unpredictable. We have no collective experience and we can not predict how it will all work out which is leading to everyone feeling out of control on a global scale and individually. When out of control we will revert back to our instinct to protect ourselves and feel safe, often referred to as the fight, flight or freeze mechanism triggering a variety of reactions such as anxiety, anger, the need to stay in bed and depression.
It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters (Epictetus 400AD)
So how do we change these negative feelings about furloughing to more positive ones? Here is my 3 point guide:
Identity - in this modern world we identify with our job role, people put you in a box; “what do you do?” we make assumptions based on the answer: Lawyer, supermarket check out, fireman, accountant. So when we dont have a job to go to, who are we? Maybe now is the time to work that out? This can be a difficult question to answer so think about what you want to be when you grow up, or how you spent your time as a child. Try this: describe your ideal self in one sentence.
Choice - as many leaders know choice is a massive motivator, when people have a choice they take responsibility, not having a choice can be miserable, so consider your current situation as an active choice not a sacrifice. Now you have chosen this, what are you going to do with it? How do you choose to use this time?
Values and beliefs - consider what work means to you and your family? The values and beliefs we have are usually handed down to us from our families, often we are judged by how hard we work, so if we are being paid and not working, how do we feel about that? How could you feel about that? If that’s difficult for you, imagine what it might be like to be relaxed about it Again consider the situation as your choice, a sabattical maybe or opportunity to recharge your tired body and brain.
Maybe you can view this time as an opportunity to learn and grow. Perhaps its a time to give back and reconnect to the earth, to slow down and offer our support to our fellow humans and celebrate how good it is to be alive.