A Legacy Of Giving Continues At Morgan | Old habits of giving die hard under new ownership
Sitting alongside an antique, wooden roll top desk that appears in office photos dating as far back as 1891, Philip R. Morgan, the former CEO now consultant at Morgan Construction, a Siemens VAI business, is hunched over a small notepad and scribbling in pencil. When he’s done, he presents a five-generation-long family tree charting his relatives — both recent and far-removed — that have worked for the company over the last 100 years.
It’s an exercise borne out of familiarity. There’s no head scratching, no pauses. He’s clearly done this before. It is proof that the 61-year-old former CEO is constantly reminded of the longstanding history behind the Morgan Construction company. Those reminders served him well during the 23 years that he steered the company’s business ventures, but they also proved to be instrumental in the company’s commitment to serving the Central Massachusetts communities.
“It’s been a cultural thing for us to give back to the community,” he said.
Consistent Charity
Company founder Charles Hill Morgan had his hand in the betterment of the community long before he even had a namesake company. He was instrumental in the founding of the manufacturing shop at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1868—then called the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science. More than 140 years later, Philip Morgan sits on the WPI Board of Trustees. But he would also tell you that he’s prouder that Siemens VAI, the international engineering and plant-building company that acquired Morgan Construction in April 2008, now recruits at the college.
“My grandfather was on every board you can think of,” Morgan said. “You read his obit and you wonder how he had any time to work.”
But the way Philip Morgan sees it, the work that you can do to better the community will repay you with better workers; it’s a win for all parties involved.
“People want to work for a good company and in a good community,” he said, explaining that all of the company’s charitable and volunteer work improves the community and also makes the company a better employer. “Word gets out that you’re a good place to work and at the end of the day you have the opportunity to hire the best people.”
Teaching The Trade
It’s a recipe for success that the company has applied to its relationship with every vocational and trade school in Worcester County.
“The school committees don’t realize the importance of trade schools,” said James Laliberte, Morgan Construction’s manager of production control and manufacturing. “A lot of the engineers we have nowadays start at vocational schools.”
Laliberte sits on advisory boards at Worcester Technical High School, Bay Path Regional Technical High School in Charlton and the Tantasqua Regional High School’s technical division in Southbridge. As a former technical school student himself, Laliberte knows that vocational schools offer a strong foundation for higher education, and he is adamant that the company lend support to as many area schools as possible.
To that end, the company hosts career days at which former vocational school students — now Morgan employees — share their career stories with current students; and employees in the human resources department give students a crash course on interviewing techniques. The company also organizes classes on blueprint reading and other machining fundamentals because, as Laliberte says, “running a machine is not the same as running a computer (which is how many students are learning in the classroom).”
“It’s a little self-serving,” Morgan said of the company’s presence in the vocational school community, since it helps the company mold future employees, but he said it’s also guiding the schools to success. “It’s a hands-on link to what’s reality in the workplace.”
United Efforts
Of course, when it comes to the company’s commitment to local nonprofits, specifically the United Way, Morgan credits his own hands-on experience early in his career as the difference-maker.
“I was in the loaned executive program in 1976,” he said. “I got sold on the United Way back then and I’m proud to still be a part of it.”
Today the company is a cornerstone supporter of the organization, meaning it provides more than $100,000 each year to the nonprofit.
“That was an important piece of his training to get involved in the community,” United Way CEO Tim Garvin said of Philip Morgan’s experience in the 1970s. “I think that speaks to so much more than writing a check. It’s getting involved and making a difference.”
When it comes to the United Way, Morgan Construction was involved from the very beginning.
In 1920, the company was involved in the nonprofit’s first campaign and raised a total of $863, which surpassed its intended goal by almost $200.
“Their leaders and their employees get involved in the volunteer activities of so much of the nonprofit community,” Garvin said.
Due to its acquisition by Siemens VAI in 2008, the Morgan Construction company now is at a crossroads.
The company will continue to serve the community, but it also finds itself in a transitional period.
Morgan employees continue to participate in events like Relay For Life, and continue to gain corporate support for those efforts, but now that the company ownership is headquartered overseas, making all of those charitable efforts successful requires a bit more work than it did a few years ago.
“One of the challenges is to understand what they do, what’s available and take advantage of that,” said Russell Vanderbaan, vice president of human resources, of the task to align the Morgan company with Siemens. “It’s a challenge but also an opportunity to make that happen.”
Ultimately, Morgan Construction will continue to be active in the community, simply because the company knows no other way to do things.
“You develop the culture and then the people who want to get involved can,” Philip Morgan said. “It’s just the culture of the company to be a good citizen.”
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