Been Furloughed Due to Coronavirus? Here's How to Spend Your Free Time

As part of the response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the government has introduced the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme which allows all UK employers with employees on a PAYE scheme to designate those employees as ‘furloughed workers’. A furlough is a temporary leave of employees due to special needs of a company or employer, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in the economy as a whole. The employer will have access to government support to continue paying part of these furloughed employees’ salaries and protect the employees from redundancy. The goal is that once the pandemic is under control, businesses are able to reopen and their staff can continue working rather than the country deal with mass unemployment and the loss of businesses which make up the backbone of the economy. Here’s what you can do if you’re currently furloughed with time on your hands. 

Do some other work

While on furlough you’re allowed to do other work, although of course you’re limited to what you can do. However, there are plenty of ways to earn money from home these days, and some time away from your day job could allow you to explore these. You could set up a blog, a Youtube channel or a home business such as online tutoring. You might not be able to earn lots of money right away, but you could get it established now and continue as a side hustle when you go back to work. 

Work on your skills

Improving your skills is a great way to use your time, and it’s something that we don’t often get chance to do when we work busy jobs. You could enrol on a course like business at CHC, or study psychology at an online college. You could teach yourself how to play an instrument, or how to cook or bake using online tutorials and videos. Not only is this great for your mental health but it kills boredom and keeps you productive on the days that you feel like doing something. 

Rest and relax

It might not seem like the ideal time to rest and relax, the world is in chaos and people are losing their lives. However, panicking isn’t good, so follow government advice of staying home when you can and maintaining social distancing guidelines. This is a very rare situation, you’re being paid almost your full wage and being allowed to stay at home so for many, this could be just the period of rest that they need. Many of us work ourselves half to death, our stress levels and mental health suffer as a result. So use this time to recuperate and relax, take a much needed break from work that you might not get again. If you have a stressful job, this could be a life saver.