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Bringing a little sunshine into people’s lives

Pete Gower, a service desk engineer with Network ROI talks about his charity work during the coronavirus pandemic in Wigan, what inspires him at work, and what it’s like working for an employee-owned company remotely.

Before working at Network ROI Pete describes how he ran his own training company: “I enjoyed giving IT skills to people that didn’t have any or helping the long term unemployed develop their skills to get them back into the workforce.”

“I used to train homeless people and would ask them to let me know how they got on after the course. One day I had a knock at the door after running a course and it was a young couple, I trained three weeks earlier, they were there to tell me they had moved into a house and got their life back on track, it was very emotional to see them improve their lives.”

In his role with Network ROI, Pete enjoys mentoring a young apprentice called Michael Wilkinson. He said: “I like to see young people get on in life, it’s great to see an enthusiastic young man make a start on their career.”


Working in an employee-owned company

“Being employee-owned, there is no ‘them and us’ culture.”
Pete describes what it’s like working for an employee-owned IT company: “Being employee-owned, there is no ‘them and us’ culture. Despite working remotely, we have an open-door policy where you can talk to anybody. We get to chat to our senior leadership team and board on a regular basis, there is not many companies I have worked for where you can do that. So, you get core insights into how the company is doing on a regular basis, you know where your piece fits in that jigsaw and what’s expected of you.”

Giving Back

Pete described why helping out the charity is so important to him: “Sunshine House helped me in setting up my business, so it’s great to give back”
Pete is passionate about his role as Chairman of the board of trustees Sunshine House, a community centre charity in Wigan, that supports the local area in various ways including delivering food to vulnerable community members. Pete said “During lockdowns in the pandemic we have lost 95% of our income. But that hasn’t stopped us from helping those in need, including people self-isolating. I am proud of the fact that we are supporting the local community by delivering food to vulnerable people. We are now up to 40 meals a day and on New Year’s Day we delivered 90 meals.”
“I started out helping the community centre by teaching people about computers and they helped me make a start in setting up my own business. So, it’s great to give back, recently I helped upgrade their IT system to Office 365, taught them how to use Microsoft Teams to keep people connected during the pandemic, and on a practical level, love helping them by delivering meals on a Sunday with my wife.”

Network ROI

Network ROI are not just employees, we are employee-owners. With a strong culture and an emphasis on training, we believe our people are our greatest asset. We look after our people, so they’re ready to look after your people. Working with Network ROI, you have a UK-wide team of technology experts available to help with strategy, give you practical feedback on your goals, and guide your business growth. You’re getting more than an “IT person”—you’re getting a strategy team.