Dear Mr. Coogan,

I worked for Pomeroy IT Solutions, the company you are CEO of, for a total of three and a half weeks, There is a reason why I no longer work there. I quit.

I want to make it clear that this letter is not published with the intent of blaming anyone or even to air my grievances. Quite honestly, I am not even upset, as I have moved on to more rewarding opportunities and have found the grass to be greener elsewhere.

No, this letter is actually to make you aware of some of the things that are going on with your company so that you can fix them. There are 4,000 employees in your organization, the vast majority of whom I trust are hard-working individuals who look towards the leadership with the highest of hopes in making Pomeroy a leader in the regional IT services and sales sphere. If you and the board fail, they fail.

While I only worked for Pomeroy for three and a half weeks, I quickly discerned many destructive patterns exhibited by both employees and management. I will briefly describe them and offer you suggestions as far as remedial action you might consider taking.

1. No sense of corporate identity. A large portion of your Hebron staff have no sense of loyalty towards the company. They come to work merely for their paycheck and they lack enthusiasm in general. There is little to unite them or inspire them towards excellence.

This is one of the more difficult problems to resolve as making people excited about their work is a challenge. This is where the HR department can get involved however. Start recognizing people who distinguish themselves in their performance, attititude, and capabilities. Brainstorm. Create a corporate culture that is positive and makes people want to come to work every day.

2. Poor communications among management with one another at various levels and with employees. Managers and employees should have fully operational communication. Communication is a skill that is utterly imperitive for an operation to succeed. It is also a skill that is deficient at Pomeroy.

Teach people to communicate with one another. Enforce a policy of mutual respect when it comes to communicating. If employees do not respect management or vice versa, then these individuals should not be on your payroll.

3. Little/no regard for IT Professionals. During my three weeks at Pomeroy, I witnessed the attitude of many employees and supervisors towards IT professionals. Many times, IT professionals who worked in various departments were sent arbitrarily to the warehouse to pull freight, break down skids, unbox/rebox shipments, etc.

While no one would suggest these employees were too good to do such work, is paying a certified technician more to do someone else’s job a wise use of capital? Why should you pay someone $15 an hour to do the work of someone who is only paid $10 an hour?

Stop filling your payroll with temporary employees who walk off the job, do poor quality work, or have no desire to maintain a high level of productivity. Hire quality warehouse staff so you don’t have to use your quality IT staff to do their jobs.

4. Build more and better relationships. Have you looked into forming relationships with partners such as Apple, Novell, Red Hat, AMD, or Sun? These companies offer a broad range of software and hardware solutions that could benefit your clients. What kind of relationships do you have? Where can they be improved? Think outside the box. Many of your clients already are.

I hope that Pomeroy is able to establish itself as a powerhouse in the region and that the company returns to a consistent state of profitability. You can no longer afford to do business as usual at Pomeroy and the solutions to your problems do not lie in any one particular person or committee. I would encourage you to hold an open forum for employees, not only at the Hebron headquarters, but at the Pomeroy offices and divisions across the United States.

While there are many employees at Pomeroy who are mainly negative and unconstructive, there are quite a few who do care and are willing to contribute towards your mutual success. I sincerely hope you and them are the ones who decide where Pomeroy goes from here.

Warmest regards,

Kenneth C. Vendler
Bright, Indiana