Bullying pervades throughout HME. Fostered at the top, you will find it at every level of the company and perhaps most significantly and destructively within lower-level management. Upper-level managers are so distanced that they are either unaware or simply ignoring the problem. While the behavior takes many forms, common threads include the inflation of small mistakes into monumental errors, the manufacturing of a “history” of errors by digging up past actions that were not an issue at the time, and the misrepresentation of events to make an individual look bad. The bullying is most often carried out behind closed doors providing deniability. Most everyone knows of a victim or was victimized at one time, but HR all too often protects the bully and retaliation is common. I was fortunate to leave on my own terms, but many are not. There are good people at HME and Clear-Com (HME’s daughter company that shares the Poway offices and some resources), even a few good managers, and I hope for their sake the culture improves. I cannot, however, recommend working at HME or Clear-Com. The hours and pay may be decent, but the negative environment quickly erodes the advantages. It is best to look elsewhere.
