Redundancy’s Impact on the Volunteer Engagement Sector
“We had to be gone by 12 noon.” In this poignant, first-person Voices, Claire Haggarty describes what it was like to be a volunteer manager who was forced to evolve during a pandemic. She recalls the touchstones of a year that included a fantastic professional start before the UK went into a national lockdown in March 2020; briefly working from home before being furloughed; crying with sadness each time the news of a volunteer’s death reached her; receiving a notice of redundancy in August; and the joys of returning to grass-roots volunteering and anticipating the future. “I believe in volunteering and I believe in people,” Haggarty writes in this personal reflection that is sure to touch the hearts and minds of all who read her story.
Faiza Venzant, CVA - Canada
Thu, 04/29/2021Claire - You wrote so well about all that was lost and found. Thank you for putting into words some of the hardest feelings and thoughts that many of our colleagues have been challenged with. Grateful to have read your story.
Article Author
Mon, 05/03/2021Thank you Faiza. Those are very kind words.
Hope all is well in Canada
Tracey O’Neill, CVA | Brotherhood of St Laurence | Australia
Sat, 05/01/2021Claire - thank you for your willingness to be so vulnerable with us, your colleagues. It has often been so hard to make sense of the feelings the last 12 months have caused us to have, how it has changed us. You really have put words to the trauma and the power and hope that so many of us have experienced. Thank you.
Article Author
Mon, 05/03/2021Thank you Tracey for giving a voice to my experiences. I'm sure that there will be parallels for many others who have been through the redundancy process. I've learnt an important lesson about who much of my self-worth I tie up in my job. It's something I've seen commented on a lot lately under the #lovols hashtag but true as many of us see this career path as vocational rather than "just a job" (for want of better wording).
Better things to come?