What's your work status now? Back at work? Furloughed? Working from home? Or bugger all?

[Espresso]

In real life, I have two jobs; one in international events management that is a proper full time job which arranges events that normally bring in people from something like seventy countries around the world and another job in a theatre that I do for the love of it, because I get to see all the shows for free and can dance at the back. It also adds to my holiday and frippery funds.
Both of those are now monumentally and absolutely unutterably fucked.

On furlough from the full time job, not single solitary thing to do since March. It's looking like I will be made redundant at the end of the job retention scheme, so I have been applying for other jobs for about a month now.
Me and the rest of the world. I need scarcely tell you, dear reader that none of my applications have received as much as a "Thank you for applying, we will be in touch"
2020 is an arse and a half.

 

[heinous seamus]

I was waiting on a start date for a new job when lockdown kicked in. I've had very little communication from my new almost-employer so I'm a bit dubious if it will even happen.

 

[Elpenor]

Left a well paid role (for my line of work) in London in early March, mainly due to commute length destroying my physical and mental health. 10 days later the entire firm switched to WFH. Frustrating timing.

Health hasn’t improved so not done any work since apart from 2 days consultancy, currently struggling on Universal Credit :-(

 

[William of Walworth]

Today was my first day back since March 18th -- shock to the system!

My vote was 'part time back at the office', but that's a little misleading, because I've been four days a week (not Fridays) since 2012, and I'll be back on my standard p/t hours.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Enjoyed five months off basically. Had enough stashed away to cover it, pure luck, but the cash stash is starting to dwindle and being a travel agent during a plague ain’t great. Business is picking up, but probably only around 30% of normal and can’t see that changing for a long time. Won’t starve, won’t buy an RS6 either...

 

[Miss-Shelf]

working full time at home since 12th March
really miss my colleagues and students
the better parts of my job are not very satisfying to do remotely
going back into the office for a trial teaching day tomorrow for the first time since March - looking forward to seeing some colleagues

the way my organisation made arrangements around covid increased my workload and I've had covid so I have been running to catch up for months [feeling sorry for myself as I haven't feel properly well for months and the disorganisation of my workplace is just stretching ahead of me with no end in sight]
we've just been hit by loads of redundancies
while my job is not in the pool luckily, I feel for colleagues and it is plunging us into even more chaos than before
I've spent a decade now with employers expecting us to feel lucky to have a job that overworks us

on the plus side I eat better breakfasts now cos of having more time in the morning
and I don't see the colleagues who annoy me

 

[tim]

I am flexibly furloughed, at least, for this weak and next. This means going in and teaching and getting paid 100% of my salary for the hours I teach and 80% for the furloughed hours.

 

[MickiQ]

Been working full time from home since 12th March, I'm contract not permanent and my contract ran out at the end of June fortunately after one week of thumb twiddling they offered me an extension which is very fortunate since I imagine finding new work at the moment would be a challenge. So this is my 21st or 20th week of working from home depending on whether you count the thumb twiddling or not.

 

[colacubes]

Another wfh throughout. I worked full time from home before so it wasn’t a big change for me. Had a couple of months on reduced hours/wages when it all kicked off but now back to normal. Am v lucky compared to most.

 

[Cloo]

Working full time from home since 13th March, expect to continue to be doing so for the rest of this year - office is shut until at least end of September and I don't imagine it will open then either.

Two of our team are furloughed and not likely to be back at before end October and even though one of them we really need but manager has not been successful in her attempts to get him back early. And on top of this at the start of lockdown they finally approved the print journals that I work on going fully digital, which may have saved us from furlough as we were now a money-saving project. Head of dept, unwisely, decided to insist we get our entirely new web platform up and running by the end of our financial year, which was last Friday. So that was 3 months to develop a site from scratch, with editors who had never worked fully online or with a content management system, and an in-house digital content team consisting of only 5 people at the start of lockdown due huge churn last year, one of whom, who having been there 9 months was the longest serving digital team member at the time, but on a contract that wasn't renewed because of the lockdown recruitment freeze so he left when his contract ended a few weeks in. Oh, and 2 of the 4 remaining digital team have contracts that end in the next few weeks, so we might be left with no one on the social media team. We have got it up - very much in beta, not at all to the standard we'd like and with them still franticallt fixing things after launch. Last few weeks I have worked the hardest I have ever in my life, it's finally starting to let up now so we are finally getting to discuss things we should have been able to think about way ahead of launch, like how the hell we schedule and file all this fucking content on a totally new timescale (moving from bimonthly journals to a couple of articles a week)

I work for a membership organisation that is bracing itself for a massive drop in renewals early next year and there's lots of alarming talk about 'a more agile organisation' - I think they will try hard to avoid redundancies, and my team certainly won't be first in line, but I'm not going to assume I am safe in the next 12 months. OTOH, at least with the digital platform experience I am developing now a lot more types of role will be open to me, even if a lot of it might be temporary or contract work.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

been working more than full time, and mostly at regular workplace every day, since all this shit started.

Partly with the emergency leading to a lot more work having to be done and it having to be done bloody quick to keep the show on the road, and partly due to colleagues (who would have been able to assist) being put on furlough (one is potentially at risk of redundancy now.)

I haven't taken all of my annual leave for the year to the end of march yet, and they owe me about 4 weeks worth of overtime / time off in lieu, and i have a feeling i'm going to have to have an argument about that.

haven't had to do a 10 pm finish or go in at the weekend for 3 weeks now, but think there may be about to be another surge of work.

in the grand scheme of things, it could be worse, i'm not in direct contact with the public, and i'm not at the front line of health care.

i'm still bloody knackered and pissed off.

 

[Dogsauce]

Work at a school so on (partial) summer holidays, though currently quarantining for two weeks after coming back early. I’ve been back working on site since the end of May, and return to work on 17 Aug as we have multiple contractors in fixing/testing/painting stuff. I can’t really do much of my job from home apart from a few emails/phone calls. I was shielding for a few months when all this started then gradually returned, increasing my hours as workload increased (particularly getting stuff set up for reopening). Paid in full throughout, which has been good of them.

 

[weepiper]

Was furloughed for six weeks. Back at work in my workplace but only part time with no customer facing for about another 3 or 4 weeks then full time since.

 

[Mation]

I've been working full time from home and am about to start going back in for one or two days per fortnight. We will have all manner of new and involved admin procedures and will work in the same, small cohort.

Very glad to have a job. Not sure what in earth it will be like for the next however long.

 

[Yu_Gi_Oh]

I taught online all of last semester, but the word is that the students are coming back to campus next semester. I am desperate to be teaching in a classroom again, and desperate to be around other people, but feel like I can't get my hopes up because things are still so suddenly subject to change.

I have a fantasy that we'll be allowed back on campus, and I can order a load of cakes and have a little party for all of the students on my program who had to study online last semester.

 

[QueenOfGoths]

I voted "something else" because I never stopped working.

Same here. And glad, and lucky, I have.

 

[High Voltage]

I'm just coming to the end of my month and a bits furlough. I'm back to work on Friday and for the remainder of August. What happens in September? remains up in the air, I suspect I shall be furloughed again.

After that? My colleague might get the final months furlough payment, which given that he is on very tight finances and I'm not doesn't really make sense. Then, we'll see, I'm not confident that the firm will survive in its current form, the owner has sort of confided in me that, that maybe the case but there are limited options,

Finally got my CV up together, which is good, and have, as with others, started looking for options, and as with others, there's very little out there.

 

[tony.c]

Something else - I'm retired. I'm ok but I do feel for all who have been hit by all this.

 

[Voley]

Working from home full-time, have got really used to it and will be dragged back to an office kicking and screaming. Saves me an hour and a half commute a day/£150 a month in petrol. I'll need a better internet connection to do it full time but it's worked out fine apart from that.

I sort of worked right through lockdown, I wasn't furloughed at all, but there was a bit in the middle of it where the work totally dried up and they told me to take a fortnight off.

 

[quimcunx]

I went to the office for the first time yesterday for a one off task. Will have to go in one other day at end of august.


Other than that WFH officially til at least end September. January also being discussed. As far as I'm concerned I'm not going back til dunno spring/ vaccination/ eradication? I work for a charity so not sure what our income will look like medium to long term. I enjoy wfh mostly and would like to keep it up mostly.

 

[Voley]

Working from home full-time, have got really used to it and will be dragged back to an office kicking and screaming. Saves me an hour and a half commute a day/£150 a month in petrol. I'll need a better internet connection to do it full time but it's worked out fine apart from that.

I sort of worked right through lockdown, I wasn't furloughed at all, but there was a bit in the middle of it where the work totally dried up and they told me to take a fortnight off.

That's the simple version tbf. More complex one involves a fairly major change of job role in the middle of it all. It was a bit unnerving at the time - a work reorganisation in the middle of a global pandemic - ideal! But I can see the sense of it - I'm now working on a couple of things that should help bring millions in funding into the organisation so I'd like to think it's about as safe as any job is at our place.

 

[krtek a houby]

Cut down from 6 days a week to 5 and the extra day makes a difference. We still work long hours, but it's necessary to stay afloat.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Self employed, all my work disappeared overnight mid March. Normally I'd make most of my money March-July so the self employment support scheme wasn't much use, and I was subletting so couldn't claim the housing part of UC. Mrs Frank was in a pretty similar situation only the house she was living in got sold from under her two months into lockdown.

Starting teacher training in September, with a bursary that both of us are going to be living off for the forseeable until Mrs Frank can get her work up and running again.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Financially I'm OK but these long months with almost nothing productive to do have been a strain. I did love my old job

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I'm among the fortunate ones - working full time at home so essentially nothing has changed for me. I feel really sorry for others who have been adversely affected by all this.

 

[PursuedByBears]

Working from home full time since March, but furloughed for three weeks in June so that I'm eligible for the flexible furlough scheme from August onwards. Work hasn't tailed off and we've been told that we're not going back onto campus until January at least.

 

[Part 2]

Working from home full time. In reality about 15 hours a week. Started a new job at the beginning of April and have only met 3 members of the team for 45 minutes at interview. Manager reckons we're unlikely to go into the office this year but may have some small meetings in public, more for people to have social contact rather than anything else. The job is very boring and I've no wish to go into town anyway so it suits me fine. Even when we do go back it'll be a day a week or something. Tbh I'm counting down 3 years til I can get a sabbatical and fuck off for a few years.....that or hope for redundo.

 

[Pickman's model]

Working from home full time since March, but furloughed for three weeks in June so that I'm eligible for the flexible furlough scheme from August onwards. Work hasn't tailed off and we've been told that we're not going back onto campus until January at least.

Word here is maybe back mid sept. But if schools do open suspect we'll be in full lockdown again then

 

[SpookyFrank]

Word here is maybe back mid sept. But if schools do open suspect we'll be in full lockdown again then

I'm due to start school placements in January. Fuck knows what'll happen if there's no school by then.

 

[Anju]

Still very up and down for me. Had a week with no work a couple of weeks ago, Two and a half days last week but got 10 days without a break at the moment. I work as a handyman and am getting work from individuals but about half my income normally comes from a few business clients none of whom are properly open yet.

My wife has been working from home throughout and we can survive, in the bills and food sense, if I get 2-3 days a week.

Two friends who had been on furlough were made redundant in the last 2 weeks. Luckily they're both getting enough redundancy money to survive 3 months but prospect of finding anything decent doesn't look good. Also found out that a friend's daughter lost her bar job at the start of lockdown and was offered her job back recently but with minimum wage rather than the £11ph she was on before. She politely declined.

Best of luck to everyone looking for something at the moment.