Edward Pollard Mr Edward Pollard was the short - term personnel manager seconded to the Weatherfield Mark Brittain Warehouse in the weeks before its opening with the specific task of recruiting a workforce ready for the first day . Among the people taken on was Elsie Howard who was offered the position of supervisor in the checking department on the grand salary of £30 per week . Elsie handed over references and received her letter of confirmation , making husband Alan happy as the money would alleviate their precarious financial position . Elsie was therefore dumbstruck when she was summoned to Mr Pollard ' s office with a request that she obtain a reference from her former employer Miami Modes . Elsie guessed correctly that someone had told Pollard about her court case for theft in November 1969 and her subsequent resignation from the store , even though she wasn ' t found guilty at the trial . When she confirmed these events to Pollard , he rescinded the job offer . Elsie subsequently found out that Hilda Ogden had been the one who had told half a story to Pollard in spite for Elsie ' s refusal to get her a job at the warehouse . When Alan found out what had happened , he went to see Pollard but the latter ' s brusque manner annoyed Alan who told him that he was incompetent . Pollard had done his homework though and told Alan that he wasn ' t going to be lectured to by a bankrupt and told his secretary Susie Proctor to escort Alan from his office . Maggie Clegg and Annie Walker , annoyed at Hilda ' s actions went back later to the warehouse to plead Elsie ' s case . Pollard had returned to the London office and his successor , Dennis Maxwell , proved far more amenable and Elsie got her job back . By 1974 , Pollard was back at the warehouse as its permanent personnel manager . In July , Ken Barlow left his teaching job at Bessie Street School to enter the world of big business as Sir Julius Berlin ' s Northern Executive Administrative Assistant . Treading unfamiliar waters in an undefined role , Ken relied on Pollard for help getting settled . Pollard showed Ken the ropes but was candid in his view that in his view he was not needed at the warehouse . He was quickly proved wrong when the workers , fighting to get their union recognised , called a strike , and it was Ken who dealt with the crisis by getting militant shop steward Peggy Barton ' s resignation in exchange for the girls getting their union . Unlike Pollard ' s stiff management style in which he always kept a distance from the workers , Ken had tried a more personable approach , mixing with the girls during lunch breaks , which had made them more receptive to his suggestions . In November , Pollard decided to fire his secretary Gail Potter for skiving but Ken convinced him to train her instead . Pollard and Ken clashed again when Pollard , after seeing Ken and Peggy ( now working for the union ) drinking together , advised him to stop seeing her as Sir Julius wouldn ' t approve . Ken took the view that his professional and private lives were separate , but when she was called to the warehouse on a union matter and backed the management ' s position , Peggy found Ivy Tilsley ' s accusations of siding with her boyfriend difficult to cope with and broke it off with Ken . Pollard then tried to get Ken the sack by telling Marcus Berlin about him and Peggy , but with Ken in the Berlins ' good books after solving a staffing problem at the warehouse , Marcus and Sir Julius demanded Pollard ' s resignation instead .