Take Classes Online on Furlough Days
Use Off Days for Free Webinars or Master’s Degrees Online
Sep 14, 2009
State and local government employees who are facing furloughs can use time off wisely by pursuing higher education, exploring other areas of interest or simply expanding their horizons with online learning.
Furloughs in Maryland Continue
Companies, colleges and universities, and government at all levels used furloughs in 2009 as a means to trim expenses without widespread layoffs. State and local governments are now looking ahead to 2010 and predicting budget shortfalls. Maryland has already expanded its furlough program for this fiscal year, according to Laura Smitherman’s Aug. 5, 2009, Baltimore Sun article, “Maryland state workers to face furloughs.”
Smitherman reports as many as 70,000 state workers will be required to take as few as three and as many as 10 furlough days. The two-part plan sets aside specific days for government offices to close and allows employees to choose which additional days they will take. Salary determines how many furlough days each person is required to take.
Begin College Degrees Online
What many employees see in a negative light – time off without pay – may also be seen as opportunity knocking. Between the stresses of career and family, many employees choose to forgo higher education. Using furlough days to begin master’s degrees online or to work on online PhD programs is a great way to spend time off. Those who can choose their furlough days can plan their time off without pay around the school’s semesters, large projects or final exams.
Workers Can Take Classes Online
Not everyone on furlough can pick and choose which days they will take off from work. For example, Seattle Times staff reporter Christine Clarridge wrote in the Aug. 7, 2009, article, “6,700 Seattle city workers face 2010 furloughs” that library employees will take a one-week furlough. Other city workers will have 10 days of furlough, but “furlough schedules would be assigned so that most city services would remain available to the public,” Clarridge reported.
Those who have no choice of when to take their furlough days can still use their time off without pay to take classes online. The opportunities are so expansive it can be hard to know which internet class to take. Someone who has always wanted to own his or her own business might want to explore an internet class in small business ownership or money management. Another person may want to brush up on public speaking skills and confidence-boosting exercises needed to excel in the current job or find work elsewhere.
Try Free Webinars on Off Days
In addition to paid college online classes, there is a whole world of free webinars that provide greater learning. Webinars are web-based seminars, lectures or workshops that often have interactive elements. Searching for webinars online reveals a plethora of topics. Off days aren’t wasted when they are spent learning new things like scrapbooking, carpentry or gardening. There are free webinars on all these topics and more. For example, the National Association of Digital Scrapbookers has free webinars that explain in step-by-step detail how to create digital scrapbook pages.
As governments and companies look to furloughs as a means of cutting costs without widespread layoffs, more employees will have time off without pay on their hands. Instead of wasting days off without pay, use this time as an opportunity to begin online PhD programs or master’s degrees online. Furlough days can be used to strengthen on-the-job skills, explore potential career tracks or pursue other areas of interest. Employees who can’t schedule their time off can try an internet class or free webinar to make the most of off days.
To learn more about the furloughs that have taken place this year, read Businesses Look to Furloughs to Cut Costs. For creative and inexpensive ways to spend furlough days, read Cheap and Free Ways to Spend Furlough Days or How to Reduce Stress on Furlough Days.
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