Funemployment
Jun 24, 2009 Print This Post
In light of last weekend’s teaching on work, I thought this was an interesting article
Michael Van Gorkom was laid off by Yahoo in late April. He didn’t panic. He didn’t rush off to a therapist. Instead, the 33-year-old Santa Monica resident discovered that being jobless “kind of settled nicely.”
Week one: “I thought, ‘OK . . . I need to send out resumes, send some e-mails, need to do networking.”
Week two: “A little less.”
Every week since: “I’m going to go to the beach and enjoy some margaritas.”
What most people would call unemployment, Van Gorkom embraced as “funemployment.”
(Thanks to Lisa for the link to For the ‘funemployed,’ unemployment is welcome – Los Angeles Times)
So, what do you think about funemployment?
June 24th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Obviously, the only way this works is if you’ve got an enormous nest egg built up… I suspect that a lot of folks here in Lansing who have been laid off don’t have that.
One other point that comes to my mind is that maybe instead of sipping margaritas on the beach, perhaps it’s better to spend some time volunteering in your community. Just a thought.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:44 am
I was unemployed for 6 months (just recently landed a job) and I’d say you get a mix of everything (from funemployment to I’ve lost all direction in life).
I had a decent “nest egg”, as brgulker puts it, and some decent freelance work so I was able to travel a bit (Kansas City, Dallas & Nashville) which was great but as the weeks turn to months you can start to lose it a little.
While being laid off can be a great time to take a minute to re-evaluate where your career/life is pointing and a good excuse to give your family, health whatever some extra attention I think “funemployment” can quickly turn into laziness and it’s a downward spiral from there.
I think I smell my own post on a topic such as this brewing ;-)
June 24th, 2009 at 10:02 am
It’s fun while you have the money to pull it off. I think some people do need to pull back and rethink things and this is one way to do it.
Hearing the stat about how much time we spend having fun versus work during your message and the fact that younger people look for more vacation time in their perks is fairly telling. I pretty much always carry over the max amount of vacation time to the next year and have to remind myself to use the amount I get on a yearly basis as is.
And what’s this overtime they speak of? I’m full time and I rarely get more than 32-38 hours in a week.
June 24th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Make sure you let me know when you do your blog post, Ben. I’d love to read it.
July 6th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I’m in a constant state of working and not having a clue when I’ll work next. I say make the most out of every opportunity. Not working? Have fun and don’t worry, but be responsible and know your limits.