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At my current job, work has really tried up. It's a combination of COVID and a few other internal matters but there's a bit of bureaucracy preventing new projects from starting.

My estimate is that it'll be at least a 2-3 weeks before there is work coming through. But who knows, could be longer.

This has never been an issue for me. My job has always had a lot of autonomy and I've always been very busy, but now I'm not sure what I'm meant to do.

I've hinted that I have free capacity, but it's kind of being ignored. I also know there isn't a lot on for work with my skillset at the moment and I think it's actually more work for them to find something for me to do. The management is also really busy right now, trying to sort out these internal matters so me constantly reminding them I'm under-utilized isn't really helping as I'm sure they know.

Do I just lay low? Do some online courses to skill up? But what if the weeks turn to months?

I'll also mention that my job is not in jeopardy. This is a government department job. The only way they could get rid of me is through a redundancy package which actually would be fine as I've been there for so long, it would be a nice bonus.

Hats o
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3 Answers3

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Do I just lay low? Do some online courses to skill up?

This is a possibility, but if it's not very appealing, there are another one.

You could ask your employer to put you on short-time working or temporary lay-off.

Depending of your location, you might be able to stay home when not being utilized while retaining your job and being paid a compensation near full salary (check the location relevant law extracts and your contract for more details there). This is relevant law extracts for the UK and for France. AFAIK compensation vary state by state in the US.

Even if the management is busy, being unable to work is an urgent matter they have to deal with. If you have a solution to propose, even if you just notify you go on some courses, do not hesitate to bring it up and "be annoying".

If you are worried about politeness, explain you are without a task, ask if there is any, then explain you could agree to be laid off temporarily in the meantime.

Diane M
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Time when you don't have any assigned work to do is a dangerous thing. On one hand, even if your boss doesn't have anything for you to do immediately, whatever you do must have some sort of business value to your employer. For example, if you are a researcher, read some papers and summarize the research. Developer? Do a Proof of Concept for some tech you're looking at.

You also want to make sure, depending on what kind of work you do, that the work being completed is around your pay grade. I know of several people who were let go during a slowdown because they were highly paid knowledge workers, and they elected to do things that a minimum wage worker could easily do. I know you work at a government job, but that doesn't mean you're immune, and unions won't generally defend people terminated when progressive discipline is followed.

Don't get me wrong, if you take it upon yourself to clean that filthy kitchenette at the office that the boss has been too cheap to do, you're probably not going to catch shit for that. DO be careful about that becoming one of your duties though.

Malisbad
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I would suggest that it is the best time for self-improvement and skillset expansion

As you stated, its not that you have no work, but some free time.

In the industry, its always good to update / enhance your knowledge :)

Strader
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