Furloughed workers find ways to fill their free time

ASSOCIATED PRESS

When Jodi Sokolowski had her weekly hours slashed from 40 to 32 at the Buffalo, N.Y., law firm where she works as a legal assistant, she began pursuing freelance writing to make up for lost income.

But she also picked up something for fun: Promoting an independent rock band called the Stone Hearts.

“It’s something I’d never thought I’d do,” said Sokolowski, 33. “I’m probably going to get paid peanuts for this, but it’s not about the money. This is another way to keep young.”

As the recession deepens and companies reduce employees’ hours or require them to take unpaid leave, idle workers have discovered a silver lining: spare time.

Many are making the most of it. They work out, fix up their homes, play board games with their children. Others delve into a local music scene or attempt to learn a foreign language.

The turndown in the auto industry has Ken Dolan spending 32 hours a week at the office instead of 40. Dolan, 50, sells license-plate holders, floor-mat covers and other accessories to car dealers.

Reached at his home in Newtown, Pa., Dolan was playing Nintendo Wii golf, trying to sink the second hole on the virtual video game.

“If I’m taking time off, I’m playing Wii,” Dolan said with a chuckle. “My wife thinks I’m working around the house.”

Frank Mancini, who is off work every other week from his job on the assembly line at General Motors Corp.’s Lordstown, Ohio, plant, is spending some of his spare time building shelves in the basement.

Mancini, 45, of Girard, also plays a lot of Monopoly, Sorry and Battleship with his wife and daughters, age 14 and 9. And then there’s pizza night, renting movies, driving his daughter to dance practice, and helping with party decorations at school.

The advertising agency in St. Petersburg, Fla., where Kate Sullivan works slashed her weekly hours from 45 to 30. To fill the void, she runs a radio show out of New York City and serves as an industry observer for the book publishing industry.

Sullivan has also increased spending quality time with her husband and friends.

“We’re riding our bicycles,” she said. “We’re taking walks.”

According to a February survey of 245 large U.S. employers by the Arlington-Va.-based Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc., 13 percent of companies are shortening the five-day work week, up from only 2 percent in December.

Fred Crandall, who helps track employment trends and business practices for Watson Wyatt, said it is difficult for companies to find talented workers, and businesses don’t want to lay them off only to discover they need them back when the economy rebounds.

“The whole idea is to maintain the hearts and minds of people,” Crandall said.