Furlough, it's a fancied-up word for unpaid time off. Before this year I'd only heard it used with military personnel. Maybe that makes me a member of the military. Okay, probably not. Whatever the case, my employer issued a memo about our mandatory week-long furloughs. Every employee, even managers, will be taking a week of unpaid time off. In the short run it saves money on staffing. It also, however, takes valuable revenue-generating folks off their beats and while their number obviously aren't that impressive lately, every dollar still goes toward that all-important bottom line.
I am glad that it's not just the "worker bees" taking this latest hit due to the circumstances around us but I also have to wonder how many more times this will happen this year and next year and the year after that? How long will it be until companies realize that most everyone is running negative numbers and that your employees are your most valuable resource? How long can even somewhat financially set "worker bees" take hits like this and continue to keep their heads above water. Do minimal cuts like these do more harm than good for the economy? Do they do more harm than good for the very companies making these hard, bottom-line decisions?
I'm happy to still have a job but I often wonder, even while trying to be optimistic as the stock markets begins to rebound and home sales start to improve, how long I will count myself among the ranks of the employed.
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