When Time Off Is No Vacation

With the economy in the can, many universities are opting to cut expenditures through mandatory furloughs — or unpaid time off — in lieu of layoffs. Over the past few months a host of universities, including Arizona State, Clemson, and Utah State Universities, as well as the University of Maryland, have used furloughs, and many more are considering it. But for those workers who find themselves on a forced leave of absence, coping with the accompanying pay cut and deciding how to spend the extra “free” time is far from easy, a recent article by Thomas Bartlett in The Chronicle reports.

Taking time off from work without pay might not sound all that bad — who couldn’t use a little extra time for hobbies or travel or family and friends? — but not when money is tight, as it is for many people right now. To compensate for the reduction in pay, furloughed workers must often find ways to come up with extra cash or chop spending at home, the article notes.

For example, Eddy Berry, a sociology professor at Utah State, is postponing a trip to visit her elderly father. Megan Shockley, a Clemson history professor, is canceling magazine subscriptions. Dennis Hoffman, an Arizona State economics professor, is socking away less for retirement. Daniel Childers, a professor in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State, is scaling back a planned vacation and delaying improvements to his house.

For Jeremy Gonzalez, a student-support coordinator at Arizona State, the furlough has meant paying the minimum on his credit-card bill and being extra careful about food purchases. “It’s far from ideal,” he told Mr. Bartlett, “but the alternative would be someone losing their job.” Ms. Berry echoes that sentiment: “I’d rather lose the money than lose my colleagues.”

The loss of pay is one damaging effect of a furlough, but another one is the loss of time on the job. While workers aren’t usually supposed to work on furlough days, some professors opt to anyway, just to keep from falling behind, the article notes.

Dennis Hoffman, an Arizona State economics professor, told The Chronicle that’s why he chose to take a pay cut instead of a furlough: “Going to play golf or whatever sets your research agenda back one day,” he says. “I’d rather [take the pay cut] than take some crazy furlough day and let the work pile up.”

Many administrators feel the same way, the article observes:

C.D. Mote Jr., is taking six furlough days, but he doesn’t know when they are. Nor does he care. Mr. Mote, president of the University of Maryland at College Park, had his assistant pick six days on the calendar, but he’s treating those days like any other day. The exact dates are nothing but a formality. …

Read how one English professor spent his furlough, and tell us what you’d do if you were suddenly forced to take unpaid leave.