How I Prepared for my Three Week Furlough

By: Anonymous / May 4th, 2020

I should’ve seen it coming, but I didn’t. During the quarantine crisis, my company, like many others, has been struggling with declining revenue. On a weekday afternoon, the leader of my region announced over Zoom that they were instituting a mandatory three week unpaid leave for all staff, staggered over the course of the next quarter.

They stressed that these were dire solutions to dire times, and that management had worked tirelessly to come up with the best possible way to keep the team together and get through the crisis.

Needless to say, this rocked me. But here’s how I prepared:

1: Took time to process

I never understood the more modern use of the word “shook” until my company announced the company-wide furlough. I felt like someone had physically shaken me. Many times I had wished for a few weeks of staycation. There is so much I could do! So many parts of my apartment to reorganize, so many online skills to learn, so much sleep to catch up on. Now, here I was, forced to take the staycation and I couldn’t quite grasp it.

I felt fear. What if this step isn’t enough? What if I get laid off in the future? Grief for myself. I am going to miss out on income. And grief for others. I feel for parents with children. For those with mortgages. For those with student loans. For those who are not as prepared financially. How are they going to handle this?

It was a (co)rona-coaster of emotions.

The first thing I did upon hearing the news was take a walk outside and call my loved ones. I spoke through my emotions in real time. Then, I wrote down my emotions, so that I would have them handy at my weekly therapy session (thankfully, through the furlough, I was still able to maintain my health benefits).

Finally, I took a step back to think about what I was thankful for. Those in management at my company had made the choice to ask all of us for a smaller sacrifice, so that they wouldn’t have to ask a few of us for a big sacrifice (in the form of full layoffs). They had exhausted their options. And after my three weeks, I would - for at least the foreseeable future - still have a job. Finding the silver lining among all of the chaos helped to ground me.

2: Got finances and other adulting-related things in order

The most important piece of advice I can offer someone who has recently been furloughed: ask questions and do research.

Am I entitled to unemployment during this time? - HR was able to point me in the direction of some helpful resources, particularly following the passing of the CARES Act, and I found a number of online discussion boards.

Will I be able to maintain my medical benefits? - Yes. And actually, in my state (MA) co-pays were being waived. I would be able to save on my weekly therapy sessions and any prescriptions I was taking.

Am I going to be able to cover my living expenses with this loss of income? - Yes. I can’t stress enough the importance of an emergency fund in times like this. I had a few months’ worth of savings that would be more than enough to cover the three weeks without pay. I also would be eligible for the CARES Act stimulus check. Both of these would be instrumental to helping me get through the three weeks without pay.

Are there items in my budget that I can cut to make up for the loss of income? - In more normal times, this would involve the not fun task of understanding how much I was spending to live life (e.g., happy hours with friends, going out with my boyfriend, fitness classes and manicures) that could likely be foregone. With the social distancing in place, a lot of this income was going to be saved already. But I looked deeper.

Could I get rid of the Disney Plus subscription I had used once in the last few months? Yes. Could I eat a bit more chicken and pasta and a bit less fish with fancy vegetables to save on my grocery shopping? Yes. Could I cut back on my wine subscription? Absolutely not.

3: Made a list of things I’d like to accomplish (and be realistic)

They say be careful what you wish for, but I did get what I had asked for: a three week long staycation. What was I going to do with the time?

First and foremost: time to do absolutely nothing. I typically work 60+ hours a week. I hate waking up to an alarm. I don’t often get time to myself. On top of that, we’re going through a national crisis. I think a lil extra scheduled napping and Tik Tok-ing are in order.

I also wanted to make sure I carved out time for all of the things my most productive, type A self would have wanted me to do with the time off: study for the GRE. Take an online class in Python. Snore.

Finally, I wanted to prioritize things that I knew would be productive stress relievers. Sounds like an oxymoron right? Then prepare to have your mind blown. Productive stress relievers are things that sound impressive and fun, but actually allow your mind to melt. For me, that’s making homemade pasta while I watched hours of Bravo, doing in-home pilates workouts while I watched hours of Bravo, and cleaning out my entire apartment while I watched hours of Bravo. There’s a theme here, but such is life.

Carving out these activities gave me a sense of purpose. I could get out of bed (after naptime) knowing that I had things to look forward to, even if it didn’t involve going to work for a paycheck.

—

I have the benefit of knowing that, at least for the time being, my furlough is temporary. I recognize that there are many others who don’t have that privilege. My heart goes out to you and I hope, for your sake and mine, that this is all over soon.

Whether you are in a similar situation as me, have fully lost your job, are gainfully employed at Zoom and are quickly becoming a millionaire, or anywhere in between, I hope you take away from this piece this: during these incredibly uncertain times, we need to take time to grieve, get our shit in order, and make the best out of a bad situation.

Good luck to you all and stay healthy.