hi all,
I've decided to publish,
anonymised, the farewell note I left a my employer's, after all. Why? Because
it had quite an impact and showed me what a fine bunch of friends I have (yes,
deliberately in present tence 😃). This
for me made it easier to let go, close one door and opening the next.
I left out the names, which went
wrong yesterday .... (GDPR 😉).
Nevertheless, enjoy.
cheers, Gerlach
Time to say goodbye....
As a couple of you know already I will be leaving NGA soon because my illness made it more and more difficult to keep up the pace.
In the summer of 2009 I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. My first reaction was one of disbelief, “come on you’re making a mistake” or “this can’t be true”. But it was true. Medication was prescribed, which I didn’t want to take at first, but you learn quickly when you’re in a situation that calls out for those damn pills.
Gradually, slowly (!) I came to terms with this new situation and started the medication. Regular checkups were in the calendar every three months to monitor the progress and see whether medication needed adjusting. In those 15 minutes as a patient you needed to inform them of the “strange situations you got caught up in”, leaving something out was “a missed opportunity”. So, I kept track of what seemed good and bad in the way that I felt, that helped the neurologists to assess the condition a bit. It’s almost keeping a medical diary.
Technology progresses in the last couple of years dramatically. Nowadays smartwatches are being tested to register for 23 hours (the 24th hour of a day is used to upload the data to the medical center) of a day the condition of a patient. If they can monitor heart-beats and steps well they can monitor almost everything. It’s a matter of how that data is being interpreted that’s being one of the main challenges.
In 2010 --------------- (in those days responsible for Operations in the Netherlands) was looking for a manager who could take on the responsibility of a part of the CIAN organization that NGA took over from Randstad. It was Philips on one side and the rest (in total around 10 clients of which ASML is one name well known in NGA) which would be my “cup of tea”. All colleagues in Eindhoven made it easy for me to come back to NGA(rinso).
My Parkinson’s however progressed over the past 4 to 5 years. When I re-joined NGA back in 2010, I could work my way around Parkinson’s easy, I became an expert in hiding symptoms. But that, over time, became more and more difficult.
As years passed by, I think somewhere in late 2013 or early 2014 it must have been, it was in a meeting with my manager, we came to the conclusion that due to Parkinson’s, my position as a Service Delivery Director wasn’t sustainable. It wasn’t giving me the possibility to recuperate and let’s face it, in the end it wasn’t ok for the customer and NGA as well. “We should be prepared and seek other options”, we set ourselves some goals! In the same period, we were implementing DSM in the Netherlands. After a very stressful period from April 2014 to August 2014 together with fine colleagues in Granada like ---------------, ---------------, --------------- and lots of other fine colleagues we brought DSM live. A period in my working career I will never forget.
As said, after DSM was live, I stepped down as a Service Delivery Director and joined SDAC were I met ---------------. Despite all good intentions to start working on standard global payroll processes, --------------- hooked me up with our Third-party payroll providers. Soon we were with five of us, --------------- in APJ, --------------- and me in Europe, --------------- in the Americas, and we had --------------- supporting us from a technical-perspective.
To bring structure in the chaos of working with TPV’s --------------- was asked to set up an organization which is currently known as VPS. Lots of procedures and standards have been setup. And with the assistance of the ELT and senior management, we accomplished a lot. The progress that the team made in dealing with escalations is awesome.
In the meantime, every day I noticed that Parkinson’s was still there, becoming more and more a burden. Keeping structure, to use the word, was a mess. Seeking structure which I needed badly, in the job I was in was …………… almost a mission impossible. There wasn’t a day anymore where at the end I hadn’t been facing regular off (rigidness) and on (dyskinesia) moments. I couldn’t go out for an hour’s walk anymore, cycling was ok, but the rest <beep>. My world was becoming very small. Something needed to happen.
Together with the neurologist we concluded that we came to a point were medication would no longer bring enough relief to keep on going on. I was signed up for a DBS operation in 2015. DBS, in laymen’s terms, brain surgery to implant electrodes in the brain to manage the Parkinson’s side effects. There was a waiting list of 16 month in those days. So, in November 2016 I had the DBS operation upcoming and I would be, as I thought back in those days, out of business for 2 or 3 months. Very quickly ---------------´s name was mentioned, and she took up the challenge being my replacement. Now, almost two years further down the line, --------------- and all VPS colleagues are still doing an extraordinary job and I am still out.
I’ll be, moving forward, devoting a lot of my time to Parkinson’s to create awareness on one side and to take a role in new treatments of whatever kind the universal hospitals all over the globe come up with. A lot of research is done, and in many cases Dutch scientists are involved. My mission is to get a foot between the door. For those who worked with me know that I can be successful in getting that foot between the door.
I will be closing off in a short while but not without saying THANK YOU, to each one of you and a special thank you goes to
● ---------------, for his personal touch, for giving me the opportunity to work with the TPV’s
● --------------- for re-hiring me in 2010 and her support
● --------------- for being a friend and colleague already for 32(!) years, and for the persistence he had when I had doubts about re-joining NGA
● ---------------, for his unconditional and continuous support and empathy
● ---------------, ---------------, ---------------, --------------- and --------------- for the #oneteam-spirit in the management team of VPS, thanks guys
● The whole “Eindhoven”-crew for your support, especially --------------- with her expert knowledge on WIA-cases.
● And last but certainly not least “the VPS family”, you guys are awesome!
Take care, “gonna” miss you all! I’ll be medically retiring in November 2018. For those who like to keep in touch, you can find me at abc.xyzemail.com
My story (in Dutch): gerlachroomans.blogspot.com
As a couple of you know already I will be leaving NGA soon because my illness made it more and more difficult to keep up the pace.
In the summer of 2009 I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. My first reaction was one of disbelief, “come on you’re making a mistake” or “this can’t be true”. But it was true. Medication was prescribed, which I didn’t want to take at first, but you learn quickly when you’re in a situation that calls out for those damn pills.
Gradually, slowly (!) I came to terms with this new situation and started the medication. Regular checkups were in the calendar every three months to monitor the progress and see whether medication needed adjusting. In those 15 minutes as a patient you needed to inform them of the “strange situations you got caught up in”, leaving something out was “a missed opportunity”. So, I kept track of what seemed good and bad in the way that I felt, that helped the neurologists to assess the condition a bit. It’s almost keeping a medical diary.
Technology progresses in the last couple of years dramatically. Nowadays smartwatches are being tested to register for 23 hours (the 24th hour of a day is used to upload the data to the medical center) of a day the condition of a patient. If they can monitor heart-beats and steps well they can monitor almost everything. It’s a matter of how that data is being interpreted that’s being one of the main challenges.
In 2010 --------------- (in those days responsible for Operations in the Netherlands) was looking for a manager who could take on the responsibility of a part of the CIAN organization that NGA took over from Randstad. It was Philips on one side and the rest (in total around 10 clients of which ASML is one name well known in NGA) which would be my “cup of tea”. All colleagues in Eindhoven made it easy for me to come back to NGA(rinso).
My Parkinson’s however progressed over the past 4 to 5 years. When I re-joined NGA back in 2010, I could work my way around Parkinson’s easy, I became an expert in hiding symptoms. But that, over time, became more and more difficult.
As years passed by, I think somewhere in late 2013 or early 2014 it must have been, it was in a meeting with my manager, we came to the conclusion that due to Parkinson’s, my position as a Service Delivery Director wasn’t sustainable. It wasn’t giving me the possibility to recuperate and let’s face it, in the end it wasn’t ok for the customer and NGA as well. “We should be prepared and seek other options”, we set ourselves some goals! In the same period, we were implementing DSM in the Netherlands. After a very stressful period from April 2014 to August 2014 together with fine colleagues in Granada like ---------------, ---------------, --------------- and lots of other fine colleagues we brought DSM live. A period in my working career I will never forget.
As said, after DSM was live, I stepped down as a Service Delivery Director and joined SDAC were I met ---------------. Despite all good intentions to start working on standard global payroll processes, --------------- hooked me up with our Third-party payroll providers. Soon we were with five of us, --------------- in APJ, --------------- and me in Europe, --------------- in the Americas, and we had --------------- supporting us from a technical-perspective.
To bring structure in the chaos of working with TPV’s --------------- was asked to set up an organization which is currently known as VPS. Lots of procedures and standards have been setup. And with the assistance of the ELT and senior management, we accomplished a lot. The progress that the team made in dealing with escalations is awesome.
In the meantime, every day I noticed that Parkinson’s was still there, becoming more and more a burden. Keeping structure, to use the word, was a mess. Seeking structure which I needed badly, in the job I was in was …………… almost a mission impossible. There wasn’t a day anymore where at the end I hadn’t been facing regular off (rigidness) and on (dyskinesia) moments. I couldn’t go out for an hour’s walk anymore, cycling was ok, but the rest <beep>. My world was becoming very small. Something needed to happen.
Together with the neurologist we concluded that we came to a point were medication would no longer bring enough relief to keep on going on. I was signed up for a DBS operation in 2015. DBS, in laymen’s terms, brain surgery to implant electrodes in the brain to manage the Parkinson’s side effects. There was a waiting list of 16 month in those days. So, in November 2016 I had the DBS operation upcoming and I would be, as I thought back in those days, out of business for 2 or 3 months. Very quickly ---------------´s name was mentioned, and she took up the challenge being my replacement. Now, almost two years further down the line, --------------- and all VPS colleagues are still doing an extraordinary job and I am still out.
I’ll be, moving forward, devoting a lot of my time to Parkinson’s to create awareness on one side and to take a role in new treatments of whatever kind the universal hospitals all over the globe come up with. A lot of research is done, and in many cases Dutch scientists are involved. My mission is to get a foot between the door. For those who worked with me know that I can be successful in getting that foot between the door.
I will be closing off in a short while but not without saying THANK YOU, to each one of you and a special thank you goes to
● ---------------, for his personal touch, for giving me the opportunity to work with the TPV’s
● --------------- for re-hiring me in 2010 and her support
● --------------- for being a friend and colleague already for 32(!) years, and for the persistence he had when I had doubts about re-joining NGA
● ---------------, for his unconditional and continuous support and empathy
● ---------------, ---------------, ---------------, --------------- and --------------- for the #oneteam-spirit in the management team of VPS, thanks guys
● The whole “Eindhoven”-crew for your support, especially --------------- with her expert knowledge on WIA-cases.
● And last but certainly not least “the VPS family”, you guys are awesome!
Take care, “gonna” miss you all! I’ll be medically retiring in November 2018. For those who like to keep in touch, you can find me at abc.xyzemail.com
My story (in Dutch): gerlachroomans.blogspot.com
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