Furloughs

Everybody has bad days at work. There have been days when I left the office marveling at how green that grass looks on the other side of the fence. I quickly snap myself back to reality and remind myself that I should be grateful that I have a job in the first place.

You probably don't need to look too far before you can identify somebody you know whose job has been affected by the recessed economy. If you are close to anyone who works for the state government, chances are you are close to somebody who is forced to take unpaid days off of work.

Read this link.

This demonstrates utilitarianism, I suppose, in that the idea behind the furloughs is that it should bring the most good to the most people in a bad situation.

So what if our office was facing a serious budget shortfall? What if the only way to compensate for the shortage was to let go one of our employees? How would I choose which one? Would I base it on seniority? Need? Performance? Would I force all of the employees to accept a reduction in salary? Would I ask that some or all of them agree to reduce their work hours?

I can only hope I never am faced with answering those questions. I will continue being grateful that the organization that employs me is not faced with it either.