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“I confirm that I wish to take voluntary redundancy”

Written By Projects Coordinator / Administrator | Posted By Projects Coordinator / Administrator | Published 30th January 2013

Nicholas Whitehead signs on the dotted line and takes voluntary redundancy after 11 years at ITV Wales

I’ve done it. I’ve sent the email that will end my employment.

I work for ITV, the major independent TV network in the United Kingdom. Most of the staff at ITV are sales people, managers, administrators and accountants but I am one of those lucky people who actually make programmes. I am a journalist/producer and I’ve worked for ITV for eleven years. When the company announced a round of voluntary redundancies, I put my name forward.

After weeks of waiting, I received the email from Human Resources in London. It was a very simple memo which I had to print out, sign, scan back in and return. “Please delete as appropriate,” it said. The next line was “I confirm that I wish to accept voluntary redundancy.”

Using my favourite pen*, I deleted the words: “I do not wish to accept voluntary redundancy” and signed on the dotted line. The signature looked fine. Cheerful even.

I felt very calm and businesslike as I scanned the signed form into my ITV-issue MacBook Pro. I wrote a brief, polite email to this person in HR I’d never previously heard of and attached the signed memo. It was ready to go.

I considered the touchpad on the computer. I could say that this small, silvery square looked like a swimming pool seen from the top of a skyscraper and I was about to jump. But it didn’t really feel like that. It just felt like the right thing to do. I held the middle finger of my right hand over the touchpad and said aloud “One, two, three …” and smartly tapped the pad.

“Your email has been sent,” said a little message on the screen. Right then.

I hope that whatever I get right and wrong in the coming months will be of some use to anyone considering a similar move. More soon.

* Oh, it’s a Yard-o-Led.

Follow Nicholas’ journey into life after ITV Wales at: misterwhitehead.com

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