Furloughs May Be Just What We All Need

Anita Bruzzese www.45things.com/blog.php wrote an excellent blog on Monday March 9. She commented on the rather new phenomenon of employees being asked to take unpaid days off in order to ease the financial strain on their employers. I'm sure there will be families for whom the lost wages will cause a strain. But there are sure to be those who welcome the respite from the long and demanding days that they have been enduring for years. It seems that the rules of furloughs forbid calling in for messages or checking e-mail, so furlough days are real day OFF.You don't feel obligated to keep in touch and to mentally keep working as many of us have on vacation, personal, or sick days.

Now that I own my own business, I find it hard to avoid checking e-mail several times a day even on Saturday and Sunday. I always want to respond quickly to any client or colleague.

This new furlough situation reminds me of the idea proposed by futurists back in the '60s when I started college. They predicted that computers would soon take over so many routine tasks for workers that the 40-hour work week would disappear. There would not be enough work to keep anyone busy for more than four 8-hour work days at most. I'm glad I didn't bet money on that prediction coming true.