A furlough (IPA: /?f?lo?/) (from Dutch: “verlof”) is a temporary leave of absence from employment, duty in the armed services, or from a prison term. It may be voluntary or involuntary.

Voluntary furloughs from employment or armed services are essentially a vacation (though those who take it may also pursue other activity). In some Commonwealth countries (such as Australia and New Zealand), furlough is an employee benefit known as long service leave.

Involuntary furloughs from employment may be mandated by employers. A furlough can also refer to time off based on a company-planned schedule. For example, with a “work 3 weeks, off 1 week” schedule, a company’s workforce is divided into 4 groups. Each group, in turn, takes a week off on furlough while the remainder work). In other cases, a furlough is more like a temporary layoff, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in the economy as a whole. These involuntary furloughs may be short or long term, and many of those affected may seek other temporary employment during that time.

A furlough from prison may also be part of a work release program.

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Five months ago, I didn’t even know what furlough meant. Unfortunately, now I am on my second (and sure to not be my last) five-day, mandatory furlough. Well, not as we speak, but I had to schedule my second one.

Wow.

(At least someone’s making some money off furloughs!)

I work for a rather large company, Gannett, and they are only one of many companies having to lay off employees, eliminate positions and issue company-wide furloughs (aka: Nation wide!). Editorandpublisher.com had an article about Gannett’s second furlough:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003954243

Anyway- so when my area got word of the first furlough, the overall mood was pretty positive. No one seemed more mad than excited about the days off, even if they were unpaid. I’m definitely in that boat. Most people have mixed feelings about it, in that it does suck that we are going to lose up to a month’s salary in a year (five unpaid days off eveyr quarter [3 months]), yet anyone that works full-time will tell you that two weeks of vacation a year is NOT sufficient! Ha ha, for me at least! I’m still young and I want to travel, go out and have fun, blah blah, so having those extra days off doesn’t seem too bad for me.

Once the first ones were over with, we all pretty much knew another would come the next quarter so no one was surprised last week when they informed us of the second one to be done between April 1st and June 30th.  The main thing about these furloughs that really annoy me is the fact that they inform us that it’s official, and then by 4 pm that day we have to give them which five days we’re going to use. This, of course, has to be coordinated with the other employees because when someone is gone, another person has to cover for them (duh) so that can get complicated. If we had a week or two to figure out which days would work best for us, maybe talk with our cowokers, feel out which days are open, etc… but whatever, it is what it is! Ha! It sucks to lose the money when we all need is ooooh so bad, but then again I will take those free days to be away from the office and just do whatever. Personally, I tried to think of the concerts coming up that I plan to go to (Agnostic Front, Rancid, Pennywise, Gwar, tons of ‘em!) in the next three months and see if I could get the day after off to recover. Works for me!

Learn a new hobby!

So, for those of you that are experiencing furloughs; don’t be sad! Think of it as an opportunity to relax, rest, or just do whatever the hell you want! Now, I understand for those of you with mouths (other than your own) to feed, this can be a little more wearing but hey, use the days off to still be productive so they aren’t a total waste! Learn how to sell on eBay, have a yard sale! There are other ways to make some extra pocket money that you may have not normally have time to explore. So… do it!!! :)

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