Know your rights, get help and advice as well as ideas for using your time to improve your skills.
Your employer may have no work for you to do because of coronavirus (COVID-19). Rather than lay you off or make you redundant, you can both agree that you take temporary leave. This is known as being ‘on furlough.’ During this time you may be able to get financial support from the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme.
You might be anxious about how you will be paid or worrying whether your employer will be able to take you back to your old job.
Knowing your rights may help you to feel less anxious and help you to have a plan to get you through the coming weeks. The following organisations are providing advice, sometimes tailored to specific groups or types of workers:
This is a stressful time and you may just want to focus on getting through your daily life. You might have to spend your time off work caring for children or other family members.
You could use some of your time to improve your skills for when you go back to work, or even to explore ideas for a career change. Remember that during a crisis, you’re practising the kind of soft skills most employers look for, like:
You should not feel pressured to do anything extra unless you really want to. If you do feel like developing new skills you could:
If your contract allows, you may be able to do other work while your current employer has placed you on furlough. This means if you want to work and your employer agrees to it, you could become a work hero by helping to fill critical vacancies in vital sectors like agriculture, food retail, logistics, care and others.
You could also use the time to plan for a change in your circumstances like:
If you’re not sure about your next steps for getting back into employment, you can speak to an adviser.