Working from home and have been for the last 3 weeks. Been designated a critical/key worker in Financial Services, so could get called into work if needed, but that’s unlikely, hopefully. I do have a letter from my employers to that effect if I have to go to the office and get stopped.
My wife is also working from home and my youngest, who is still technically at college, has a part time job in a supermarket. Fortunately, she has been moved to night shifts, so managing to avoid mixing with the general public.
i am a key worker ( because linked to food + beverage ) and work for a multi national company , until easter we were working our normal rota.
Then i get a call telling me that my department is closed the following week (14th to 17th ) and that i have to put holiday days in or pay back the hours !!..
i’m told i have to be shut down 3 weeks to be furloughed ( gov’ paid scheme )
but what now , if they come again after i return to work and tell me they are closing it again for another 1, 2 weeks …???
i understand the situation we are all in and the need to keep businesses open …but i only get 12 holidays per year ( due to rota + 12hr shifts ) and could be forced to use them up in lockdown
That’s a rough situation to be in. Sounds like they’re giving you a week’s unpaid leave with the option to use up holidays to make it paid leave instead. But if they do it a couple more times your holiday for the next year is all gone. I dont know enough about it to say if there’s any reason they shouldn’t put you on unpaid leave, sorry. I hope it’s a one-off though.
furlough has to be for a minimum of three weeks. You company have to discuss it with you and agree it, then confirm in writing. The alternative is I guess redundancy in most cases. The government will give your employer a grant equivalently to 80% of you pay. Your employer will still pay you but that could be with the 20% pay cut, but they don’t have to do that, they can still pay you the full amount. Government will also cover employers National insurance and workplace pension contribution at the minimum rate. Furlough can be longer than three weeks however, but it can’t be for a continuous period of less than 3. I think its now going to run until June. So far the scheme is not live of course, no one has had a penny from it but its coming online in a few days I think, and I believe the idea is companies will apply for the grant when payroll is done, and get the money a few days later to pay them back.
I’ve furloughed a couple of people, but that’s so far an internal process only pending payroll and the online system being live.
Once they turn this on I don’t recommending standing too close to the server running it as its going to get quite warm! I think millions have been furloughed so far and its going to need one very robust system to cope with the massive hit once its live.
i’d rather they shut it for a while and get 80% of my wage than continue working as its rather difficult to keep to social distancing (2m ) due to nature of work ,
i’m hoping they call me monday to tell me its going to close for 3/4 weeks and i’m going to be furloughed
The grants for small business have not arrived either, although the documentation was completed over two weeks ago.
As the council’s send you the application data directly, therefore know who you are, I am hoping the delay is down to having to manually enter bank account information and possibly even a check procedure with the banks to prevent fraud or money going missing.
Our small business grant has arrived and was in the bank account within days of filling out the online form. I have to say I was surprised but that worked really well. As its all being administered by local authorities I guess it depends on what resources they can throw at it.
Our son is working from home as a Pensions Administrator and work is increasing as Coronavirus deaths hit the system. We are having to tiptoe around so as not to disturb his workplace !
I’m off…for ages…as a driving instructor I can’t see me going back to work until later in the year, it is as it is, no point in getting fed up about it.
Will have to see if the government are going to shell out the cash for us self employed in June…we shall see
The good news for me is that no one is trying to kill me 3 to 4 times a day
I am working from home for a high street retail outfit, paying the wages for all the drivers, as they slowly come back to work on a voluntary basis. The employer has apparently gone to great lengths to isolate warehouse and office staff, but with someone at home suffering from a serious underlying health condition, it has been a case of needs must.
I am missing driving the MX5 with the roof down, especially when the weather of late has been rather sunny and warm.
Best wishes to you all, with a hope that we get back to some form of normality soon.
I’m in the “vulnerable” group due to recent and very urgent abdominal surgery for that other dreaded illness beginning with the letter C. Although I’m recovering well, I have to deal with the added issue of convincing the Civil Aviation Authority that I’m well enough to get my medical certificate re-instated before I can work again, which might take another couple of months . Looking on the bright side, in a way I’m lucky to be able to combine both “lock-downs” at once!
Second that. Easy to forget that there are other illnesses with the focus sharply on Covid 19. Hope everyone comes out of the other side at least as fit and well as when we went in.
