My Fire Hydrant

Wednesday at 3 o’clock everybody at work received an email saying that there would be a mandatory company meeting at 8:30 yesterday morning. The message gave us just barely enough time to rearrange our schedules, but not enough time to really sniff out what the heck was going on.

Our Front Door

For several years now, we have all seen many of our teams migrate south to other P&G offices in Cincinnati so that we can take advantage of efficiencies and streamline our work flow (OK, I realize that sounds like corporate-speak—but at least I’m not using words like “synergy” and “leverage”). The number of people actually working from our HQ in Dayton has shrunk considerably to the point of being cut in half over the past couple of years.

I won’t say I lost sleep in speculating on the topic of the meeting, but it was the last thing I thought of as I dropped off to sleep last night, and the first thing I thought of this morning.

So yesterday morning we all trooped in to the biggest meeting room in the building. And the topic of the meeting? We’re going to sell our building after we all move down to P&G’s Mason Business Center (MBC). The announcement was met with hardy applause. Quite a few of the people who work in our Dayton office must commute from Cincinnati.

To me, this is a little bitter-sweet.

Our building at 7250 Poe Avenue became our corporate headquarters in February of 1985. When we moved in, we occupied three-quarters of the first floor. By July of 1990 we occupied the entire 4 floors of the building. Before 1995 we had built a 2nd 4-story building of offices to the north of the original building, connecting the two through a lobby. I started with the company not long after we expanded into the 2nd building. I’ve worked from this building for nearly 14 years.

The Paw over our Front Door

I will miss this old building with the Paw Print carved into its concrete façade.

But I won’t miss our cafeteria—the one at the MBC is much nicer with a larger selection of food and a bank of windows that looks out onto a green space.

Plus our new digs has a fitness center, on site banking, a dry cleaning service, and a little corner shop in case your pantyhose gets a run. There is a beautiful outdoor walk surrounded by lots of trees. We will be investing in an on site dog park, so that we can continue to bring our dogs to work with us. And we will all be together under one roof instead of scattered between Dayton and Cincinnati.

We will continue our relationships with the three shelters here in Dayton. And we get to keep our jobs, which is really the very best part of the deal in this economic climate. Did I mention that it will be 10 years ago in August that we were acquired by P&G? And we are now, finally, moving in together. I think this will be a good thing for P&G Pet Care (AKA The Iams Company).

Here’s what the press release says:

Cincinnati, May 28, 2009 – Procter & Gamble, maker of Iams and Eukanuba pet foods, announced today it will move its North American operations for this business from Dayton to Mason, Ohio.

These operations will now become part of P&G’s Mason Business Center, where the company’s oral care, personal health and pharmaceuticals business are also based.

P&G said that moving its NA Pet Care business to Mason will increase productivity and enhance collaboration among even more of its health care employees at this site. About 2000 P&G employees work in Mason.

About 240 P&G Pet Care employees, currently based in Dayton, will now work in Mason. P&G said it expects the move to begin in early October.

“Our home address is changing but not our commitment to improving the well-being of all dogs and cats,” said Dan Rajczak, vice president of P&G’s pet care business in North America. “If anything, this will help us do an even better job of connecting with our colleagues in health care to bring great innovation to pet care.”

P&G acquired The Iams Company in 1999. Since then, sales of its Iams and Eukanuba brands have more than doubled. The pet food category remains attractive to P&G. It is large, growing and fits well within the company’s core strengths.