Three (!) week Christmas contractor furlough

[Big Blue Plymouth]

Three weeks is brutal - my stepson works at Argos so I’ve asked him if they have any temp jobs ...

Feck me, if they told me that, I'd be punching the air not complaining!

[Pip in a Poke]

Furlough? Inneresting.

I had to look it up as it sounds agricultural....

[BrilloPad]

Furlough? Inneresting.

I had to look it up as it sounds agricultural....

Another Americanism.

[kaiser78]

Two week furlough for me over Christmas - happy days

Have never really understood why fellow contractors moan about this...

[northernladyuk]

Two week furlough for me over Christmas - happy days

Have never really understood why fellow contractors moan about this...

I always take 2 weeks' leave at Christmas. Busiest time of year for the old man, so I get a bit of peace and quiet.

[NotAllThere]

December is often the busiest part of my year. It's when clients realise that need to spend their budget, and I'm happy to help them do that.

[northernladuk]

Another tedious sockie past it's ban by date..

FTFY

[BrilloPad]

December is often the busiest part of my year. It's when clients realise that need to spend their budget, and I'm happy to help them do that.

How much do you need for the mod Christmas party this year?

[d000hg]

Completely agree. Unless you've literally just started contracting, you should be able to take some time off. Surely it's one of the perks of being a contractor/freelancer?

You should be able to but one of the perks of being a contractor is also deciding when you work, not being told. It's tantamount to a 6% pay cut over the year if you were planning to work those weeks, and that's not something one wants to hear - especially if they only tell you shortly before.
If you tell your client "by the way I won't be here in June" only a few weeks beforehand they likely would consider that a bit unprofessional.

[silverlight1]

I can remember the old time contractors I worked with back in the 90's all used to go off to the Bahamas / Caribbean for Xmas.

Take a leaf out of their book...

I mean 3 weeks is long enough for a trip to New Zealand - I know what I'd do!