Accepting your furlough is not easy. If anything, it costs you time delving into the thought that you were not fit for the position your company hired you for. A person’s self-pity could be worse if they have worked for the company for years now, therefore giving them more than ample time to prove their capabilities only to be less preferred to their younger colleagues. If you are feeling lost and dejected, the following is a guide for you to navigate your current status, which should only be temporary if you persevere:
Unspent Company Benefits
Company benefits mostly go for regular employees. People who work on a definite contract or are still in a probationary status may be partially covered with benefits or not at all, depending on the company they work for. Knowing ahead of what you are entitled to avail from your company could work to your advantage.
This is more so if you are counting down to your final day of work. This could come in the form of unspent leaves with pay, the usage of which you would have to agree on with your supervisor to avoid violating any technicalities constituting the prescribed tender period. You can maximize these leave compensations to look for a job to fall back into or one that is temporary that will help you sustain your needs while you look for a better-paying one.
Benefits like medication or general health examination coverage, although monetary, are also worth availing of just before you officially leave the company. For example, you might yet to claim a birthday gift voucher. Or, there might have been an incentive scheme for employees who rendered a certain length of service during the pandemic that you happened to qualify for but failed to claim.
It is worth making a call to HR to clarify everything you are due, especially if the company chose it was best to furlough you for practical business reasons. If you called specifying you are one of those who unfortunately did not make it to the cut of the workforce that the company chose to keep, the HR might refer you to an insurance program which could last up to a certain period after you have been laid off. This is on top of the pension benefits you can claim, that is if you apply for such a plan.
Unemployment Benefits
Beware that, as stipulated by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 (WARN), all employers should notify staff they are about to lay off 60 days ahead and, if they fail to do so, they must pay them 60 days worth of wage as compensation for their severance. Just like receiving your severance pay is mandated by law, you may also be eligible for several other employment benefits depending on your state, that is, unless you were terminated for wrongful acts.
However, the catch with this is that you have to present evidence that you are actively seeking a new job or hours you have been working a part-time job in the duration of receiving such unemployment benefits. As reported by business news authority CNBC last year, eligibility to receive unemployment benefits may last for as short as 12 weeks to as long as 28 weeks, again depending on which state you are in.
Redrawing Your Career Path
After ample soul-searching, you can expand your options by gauging the pulse of industries, especially those that are currently mass hiring to meet the demand spike that has returned after the first stages of the pandemic, schools, retail, and the construction industry, for instance. Obtaining essential skills and competencies should naturally come after.
The beauty industry is making a grand comeback. If you can see yourself enjoying the cosmetology field in the long haul, you might want to saddle up by learning the latest trends in cosmetic enhancement and age-fighting procedures, including PDO threading. And what is a better way to learn how to perform this procedure than to enroll in a PDO thread training course? Fortunately, the country boasts many training centers to produce certified professionals to perform the procedure.
The Bottom Line
You have to keep charging forward not just because you have to survive somehow during this financial crisis but also because you are capable of so much more. You should not define yourself with what has passed. No matter how dark this period in your life may seem, it would be nice to take this as that long-awaited break to inspect yourself for untapped passions and potentials.
