Just been put on Furlough

Soldato
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I had a question I wanted to ask but didn't want to give the game away to my employer.

Just been put on Furlogh for a few months.

I want to know if I can interview elsewhere during this time and hand in my resignation if I get an offer?

Obviously I understand once my end date arrives for me to leave during this furlough period I would no longer be paid by current company as per usual circumstances.
 
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I don't know the official answer but I don't see why not, unless there are conditions attached to the furlough. They definitely can't stop you resigning but not sure if they can stipulate what you can/can't do during working hours whilst on furlough (i.e. if you want a day to do whatever you want would that need to be taken as holiday). Seems unlikely I would have thought given people are getting paid max 80% of normal wage so arguably shouldn't be held to normal conditions.
 
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Yup I have just been furloughed for a month at least and then it will be reviewed. So basically I gotta down tools as the end of play today and do nothing work related at all, apart from check what's going on via the companies intranet , emails etc etc

There is no stipulation on what you can or can't do , but I have to be ready to be back at work 48 hours when called back in.

Our company are paying 80% regardless going over the £2500 threshold, but mentioned they will review it in a months time. I don't think they can stop you looking around. I guess you have to furlong your notice if needs be or negotiate with your employer to see if you can go before the notice period.
 
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Everyone at our company was notified today.
Luckily I'm still on full time (from home) as there are things I can contribute.

I'm still thinking being furloughed, and being paid £2500 a month still isn't that bad. I'm sure I'm missing something.
 
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I guess you have to furlong your notice if needs be or negotiate with your employer to see if you can go before the notice period.
That doesn't really make sense to me, there isn't really a benefit to the company from holding a furloughed employee to their notice period, as it just costs them NI contributions or whatever (plus in your case top up salary over the £2500 threshold) without actually getting any output from them. Only exceptions would be if they think there is a possibility you might be called on to work during your notice period (more of an issue for people with long notice periods) or perhaps to effectively enforce gardening leave if you were joining a competitor or something.
 
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I'm still thinking being furloughed, and being paid £2500 a month still isn't that bad. I'm sure I'm missing something.
It's great for lower paid workers who won't suffer a big drop in earnings, you're effectively getting paid loads to take a holiday (admittedly with less freedom than normal but I'd much rather be furloughed than forced to work from home if I was in that sort of income bracket).
 
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That doesn't really make sense to me, there isn't really a benefit to the company from holding a furloughed employee to their notice period, as it just costs them NI contributions or whatever (plus in your case top up salary over the £2500 threshold) without actually getting any output from them. Only exceptions would be if they think there is a possibility you might be called on to work during your notice period (more of an issue for people with long notice periods) or perhaps to effectively enforce gardening leave if you were joining a competitor or something.

Totally agreed, if someone wants to go when they are on furlough, there is no point for the company to hang onto you any longer. For someone that has been put on furlough might think that they are more likely to be made selected for redundancy once the CJRS dries up and the company can no longer afford to keep you.
 
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Everyone at our company was notified today.
Luckily I'm still on full time (from home) as there are things I can contribute.

I'm still thinking being furloughed, and being paid £2500 a month still isn't that bad. I'm sure I'm missing something.

Thats £2500 gross , so its a smidge under £2k take-home assuming if you are on the default tax code with no deductions.
 
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I guess it depends on what obligations you have; if you are normally pulling in six figures with a big mortgage hanging over you then probably not that appealing unless you hate your job.
 
Soldato
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IIRC, you absolutely retain your right to seek employment elsewhere and your notice still stands unless you come to a mutual agreement with your employer.
You'll not be able to work elsewhere whilst employed under furlough however, your company likely enforces this policy.
 
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^^I'm not saying it means it won't be manageable for them, just it might not be a preferred option because they have more to lose compared to someone on say £30k.
You'd imagine a lot of the people being furloughed are working in relatively low paid retail like restaurants, coffee shops, shops not selling food; leisure workers (cinema, theme parks) so for them it's a great opportunity to kick back at home with an unexpectedly large wedge of cash you wouldn't normally get without using up annual leave. I say that with the caveat that clearly the 20% drop in earnings could hurt some people struggling to make ends meet and they may be rightly fearful about the future could hold if a lockdown period continues.
 
Soldato
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I'm still thinking being furloughed, and being paid £2500 a month still isn't that bad. I'm sure I'm missing something.

It's upto £2500 a month. So you'll only earn the full £2500 gross if your annual salary is 37.5k+.

For most people working in retail/leisure, the annual salary is likely sub 20k, so likely to be receiving around £1.3k gross, instead of £1.6k. At the end of the day they're getting paid to sit at home and not need to work, so can't really complain too much.

I'm not sure if it's a favourable scheme for those in roles with low salary/high commission - think car sales. Reading up it says salary rather than bonuses. So if it does exclude bonuses, those who could be earning 30k/yr in just commission, will suddenly have a whopping drop in pay.
 
Soldato
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I work in the tech industry just to put it in to context.

I'm probably gonna wait a month or two before declaring to agents that I am considering my options.

I still get contacted almost daily by agents telling me companies are still hiring and willing to do interviews on line. 100% fully remote work etc... but I am in no rush.

The plan as far as my current employer has told me is for me to go back to my job once the economy picks up again.
 
Soldato
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I'm not sure if it's a favourable scheme for those in roles with low salary/high commission - think car sales. Reading up it says salary rather than bonuses. So if it does exclude bonuses, those who could be earning 30k/yr in just commission, will suddenly have a whopping drop in pay.

That's a very good point. I'd be near certain that the furlough payment will be 80% base salary which for a lot of commission based sales jobs is literally minimum wage.
 
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I'm sure they've said it's based on an average to take into account commission/bonus.
You will receive a grant from HMRC to cover the lower of 80% of an employee’s regular wage or £2,500 per month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on that subsidised wage. Fees, commission and bonuses should not be included.
 
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