Pros
Worked in the field and at the corporate office for multiple years. There are advantages and disadvantages for both. I had a good career here and left on good terms for significantly more money. Corporate: - You aren't really held accountable. You can suck at your job and they'll continue to move you to different positions until your impact is marginalized. I saw many people that had grown complacent with mediocrity, but were never held to a higher standard. - The attitude is very relaxed. People wear business casual. The pace of work and progress is slow. I attribute this to Louisiana culture, paying people less and getting lower quality in return, and the fact that it's the pool industry (not military or medical equipment, etc). - MIT program gives new college grads a softer landing pad for the real world. I personally enjoyed going into a competitive training program. Most people that do this have a flaw in their resume and use this company as a stepping stone for something bigger and better (myself and most of my classmates included). - You grow pretty close with your MIT class. I still chat with them even though we've moved on. -The people are generally good people. There are some hostile jerks, but 85% of the people there are well intentioned. - Stock is performing really well. Ultimately, this is the only thing that matters at this company. - The company often hires people that aren't fully qualified for their role and trains them. This is a benefit if you're trying to get into another line of work or different career path. - Management at the top is very sharp. Every VP and C level has earned their role and are good at it. Director level is where things start to get mediocre. Field: - Active job. Constantly on your feet. - They'll hire people with unconventional backgrounds and train them. The pool industry is a lifestyle. The industry requires you to sit out in the sun with chemical stained clothes, so it only attracts certain kinds of people. - If you end up in a good/growing market with a capable team, you'll make bank. - Some of the best pool industry talent in the entire industry. A lot of the people in the field are the studs of the pool industry. Notes on pool industry: - It's small. Really. - They drink like fish. - There's a lot of low quality pool people that bring the rest of the industry down. There isn't a great solution out there for this.
Cons
- Penny pinching, short term incentivized culture. This is primarily driven by the CFO downward, but you can see its repercussions throughout the business. Basically, the entire company is heavily incentivized on one results. This leads to accruing significant management debt (kicking problems down the road), understaffing, and getting lower quality people because they won't pay what the market will. - Pay less than market wages and benefits: that's why people are complacent with mediocrity or move on to other things. If you make this argument to HR or attempt to negotiate, things get hostile... but the numbers and employee turnover rate don't lie. - Don't invest in technology or systems: the company uses an ERP that was created 40 years ago. You only learn it through rote memorization. They're hesitant to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to technology. They pick the cheapest platforms (in basically every business unit) and accept the problems and limitations. - Over-promoted managers: there's several managers that were promoted to positions because they were simply the last person standing. They are not good at their jobs and hinder progress, but I was not confident they'd ever be held accountable. - Age bias for managers: you have to be at least 30 to be consider for any manager position here. There's an unspoken age bias. It's not a big deal though, because of the next point. - Not prepared for the next generations workforce: they have like 5-10 people at the corporate office that are in their 20s. They don't care to hire/retain young people unless it's for the MIT program. - Don't promote from within for high level positions: this is probably a good thing, but they hire externally when they need a high level position field. Field: -Log jam of capable managers: I saw tons of markets where the branch managers were qualified to be regional managers, but the regional managers were making bank and not remotely close to retirement age (and also didn't have opportunities for advancement). Talented people leave because there isn't a great opportunity to move up. -Way too many incapable managers: there are lots of branch managers that don't care. They'll sit in their office, leave early, won't engage the customers, etc... but never held accountable. -Sales focused: they promote sales people to management roles more than operations people. There's a general emphasis on sales more than anything. They will rarely fire customers, even if the business is unprofitable. -Horizon business model doesn't make sense given the market needs and competition. Are we retail? are we B2B? who cares! we try to do retail and B2B at the same time and end up being average at both.
