There are a lot of productive things one can do on garden leave. The only thing you can't do is the thing you were doing before. Continuing education, charity

There are a lot of productive things one can do on garden leave. The only thing you can't do is the thing you were doing before. Continuing education, charity work, spending time with family, work in a non-competing field, etc. Working one job but getting paid for two ain't that bad, as long as it is at the rate specified by the grandparent post.