hvac technician

customer service representative

Morris-Jenkins

Over the last 5 years that I've been working here of Morris-Jenkins' now 61-year history, I've seen it transform from good to great! We have won many awards over the years, but winning Top Workplace both years we applied, 2016 & 2018, based upon employee survey data collected by The Charlotte Observer speaks for itself. The company has grown by over 250% in every way possible in the last 5 years, which is unheard of considering we're not a "startup."

Why? Get ready for some "real talk."

The company lives and breathes its core values and purpose, every day, which are deeply ingrained into our culture! "Company Culture" isn't just a buzzword here. We hire the right people that fit our culture and don't hesitate to fire people if we discover they don't. That may even seem harsh, but it wouldn't be fair to our customers, nor fellow team members, to make them work with those that don't accurately represent what we stand for. Being so selective has allowed us to attract and retain the best talent in the country. We only hire and keep happy, friendly, good-hearted people. You'll be surrounded by a ton of them and that will seem very strange, at first, but you'll love it! Unless you're not one of them.

We put team members in the right position fitting their strengths, constantly develop their strengths, hold them accountable, pay them extremely well for performing well, and provide advancement opportunity for those interested in it as they grow. Literally every single role here earns well-above its market pay average.

Morris-Jenkins has continuously gone out of its way to take care of its team members (equally as well as its customers) and treats them better than any employer has ever done in the past. Our meetings are actually fun, yes, FUN! The management team is phenomenal and constantly improving. Management is not afraid to tactfully address issues and may be considered blunt at times, which is necessary to help individuals develop professionally. Expectations are high here, but clearly defined, and you have an outstanding support system available along with the resources to achieve them at your disposal. Your success is ultimately up to you.

Top performers will love it here because this is one of the rare places you can enjoy coming to work every day, earn a high income, and still have a healthy work/life balance! Those people that either don't fit our culture or are just looking for a job to coast through life would not last long here. Somehow, many of them tend to find all sorts of excuses, complaints, or other people here to blame; not themselves, of course.

Even for a HVAC company, Morris-Jenkins has a weird work culture. The company's idea of promoting someone usually comes at the expense of demoting someone else. It wasn't until after I was hired as the head of the warranty department that I found out I was the third person in the past six months hired for that position (one of my predecessors was demoted to a customer service representative). Furthermore, I found out my direct supervisor (a young, first-time manager) was formerly the secretary to the No. 2 person in the company and she switched jobs with her predecessor. 

The company had office manager meetings at 7 a.m. once or twice per week, which seems entirely counterproductive and was more of a control mechanism. I understand technicians meeting once a week at that time to go over sales and service, but the office managers had their own separate meetings.

Other than that, the company is indicative of what you see in corporate America. They had new software installed that most of the people trained by the software provider struggled to use, but it was expected that someone just hired should have more mastery over it than they do. They set the position as a salary position as a way of bypassing overtime (after I was hired I was told they wanted me to work more than 40 hours per week regularly). They hired someone with management experience (I have more than a dozen years in various industries) but yet the first-time manager started questioning me because she thought I "acted too much like a manager" -- which led me to suspect that she was afraid she could see herself being demoted potentially like what happened to her predecessor. 

Overall, it's a classic case of a company wanting overqualified people to work in positions that are not using their skill sets and the other trappings of that work environment (cronyism, unrealistic job expectations given the lack of resources, an anti-family holiday policy, poor medical insurance benefits, etc.). Go there only if you are interested in learning proprietary information and a thick culture setting that leads to no career development.

Typical day: Leave my house around 7 AM to arrive at my first call by 8 AM. This call is usually a maintenance call or a return call to repair with part ordered. Run 2 to 3 calls. Go to lunch. Run 2 to 5 more calls and go home. My last call is usually an hour away from my house. Note that my house is in their service area. Arrive home around 8 PM. This time can vary from 6 PM (rarely) to Midnight (rarely). Don't make any personal plans on the days you work, because those tend to be the days you work late.
The company has meetings every Monday morning. There is some training in the meetings, but it's more about the numbers. There are revenue goals each tech should reach. The top revenue techs will get a lot of praise. Management thinks this makes every tech strive to be high revenue, but there is a problem in the formula. High revenue techs get calls that are older and more likely to need major repairs while the low revenue techs get newer systems or systems that have had repairs recently. In short, they keep feeding the high techs and starving the low techs. If your revenue gets too low, you could lose your job.
Long days are expected during the summer, but within the last few years they have accumulated well over 10,000 maintenance customers. This means there is no longer a slow time. The effect of working so many hours all the time burns out most techs and keeps morale low.
During the late fall and winter months, they do have Breakfast Meetings on Fridays every few weeks. This is a huge all employee breakfast that has more food than most buffets. Employees cook the food. The meeting is still mostly about the numbers, but it is more focused on each department. Get there a little early and enjoy getting to talk with everyone.

I worked a few years at this place and found out quickly what kind of people they wanted. They want salesmen!! It does not matter if you are technical and can troubleshoot. Revenue first and then fix the customer second is there culture. About a week after I started, a technician approached me and asked if I would install a compressor since he was unable to do so. I agreed. When I arrived at the job site I wanted to find out for myself what the problem was with this compressor. I did some troubleshooting of my own only to find out the compressor did not need to be replaced. The only thing wrong with the system was a broken wire. I repaired the wire and the A/C system ran perfect. This technician was going to charge a homeowner over $3000 to replace a compressor for no reason at all. This technician is a "MILLION DOLLAR REVENUE PRODUCER". After that, I could see how he did it!! 3 years ago, they started the tech builder program. They would mass hire up to 15-20 new employees that yesterday worked at Burger King, 7 Eleven or Toys- R-Us and train them in a span 2 months. Come on now, it takes more than 2 months to learn heating and air. After 2 months these guys are in vans, going into peoples houses, they don't have a clue what they are looking at and trying to sell products. As an experienced technician, I would have to go back on the calls these guys were on earlier in the day and fix there mistakes because they didn't have a clue what they were doing!!! Technicians were told to sell a part even if we were unsure of what the problem really was. This opened up the doors to sell high priced repairs to get the revenue and technician received 10% commission on the repair!! How do you think they pay for all of those commercials?

On a typical day, I come in at a flexible time and I get to bounce between a few different tasks. As more people show up throughout the day, my workload tends to get a bit busier (which I enjoy). I take a 30 minute lunch, and sometimes I use that time to go on a nice walk in the surrounding park area. I have multiple meetings per week to go to, but the meetings aren't bad (sometimes they can be fun). 

Management is super friendly and helpful! My boss makes sure I have what I need to do my job efficiently. 

The culture is fun and friendly! They have a huge company breakfast, which is a great time for everyone to get together over some awesome food. I came from a job where no one would ever participate in anything, so working for Morris-Jenkins is a breath of fresh air! Everyone participates when something is going on, and it's great to see everyone so engaged!

Hardest part of the job: Sometimes it's difficult because one person will want you to do something one way, and another will tell you the exact opposite. You'll find this at any workplace and it's just a matter of figuring out a compromise. 

Most enjoyable part of the job: Getting to know the great people I work with is one of my favorite things. I'm a people-person and I love when my coworkers chat with me in the hall! It's an incredibly friendly environment.

Working at Morris-Jenkins gives you the feel of working in a small company, where the owner knows your name and strict procedures don't hamper your every move, while also reaping the benefits of a larger company - good pay and opportunity for advancement as the company continues to grow.

Your stress level undoubtedly is tied to your position here, but most areas work together at a generally fast pace, at least during peak heating and cooling seasons. 

Yes, sales goals are prioritized throughout the year, but usually incentivized with games and contests. This is not a cut-throat sales floor that will can you the minute you fall behind on a goal. There is coaching, although management structure seems to constantly be in flux here - one of the reminders that this IS a local company that isn't quite as polished as a big corporate office.

There's a lot of departments here, so if you can find a position that you enjoy and you know how to adapt to an environment that can change pretty quickly, you'll do just fine. There are pretty defined busy and slow seasons, so maybe the hardest part of the job is not getting complacent. 

If you do fit in with the culture here, and that's pretty easy if you ask me, this will be a fruitful place to work. Everyone is friendly. Everyone is here to work and have a bit of fun.

Having come from a decidedly negative sixteen years in retail, I cannot express how positive an environment Morris-Jenkins provides its employees. 

While the job provides ample challenges to perform, growth is impossible without such challenges, and the management team is always available to provide support during transitions. The training program here is extensive and ongoing. 

Above all, this is a family-owned and run company and it shows in virtually every facet of the work environment.
One is constantly surrounded by friendly people, wherever one turns. It is truly spectacular, what a corporation can accomplish when it is based upon a foundation of trust and not fear. 

Morris-Jenkins is the polar opposite of the corporate-office micro-managed big-box retailer I previously worked for, and it shows!
Thank you, Morris-Jenkins for an opportunity to grow with your family!

This company overall has been amazing to me. Benefits are stellar, flexible/rotating schedule making getting time off a breeze preventing you from having to use all of your PTO. This company is EXTREMELY sales focused. You will ONLY be incentivized by the amount of sales you make. The hourly pay is light and moves slowly with tenured so commission will be the primary way you eat. Something MUST be sold on EVERY single call you go on to bring home decent money with that said techs are often providing recommendations that are unnecessary. In their defense, im almost certain every company that is in residential hvac operates on this same format. I can see why people love it but i can also see why they dont if you arent good at sales/commission based income you will struggle as i am. If you arent willing to adopt the practices and protocols that they roll out you will struggle as well. All in all i love this place but it has been challenging for me to make a decent living.

Pay is what they say it is. And can be more. The biggest problem is the psychological warfare you play each day. Being told your doing great in the meetings, then you start to notice your doing great isn't good enough and now your days look more like warranty work. Which keep you from hitting your "goal." Of which you set at the start of the year, and maintain solely of your own unless you misdiagnose, or estimate a Project wrong. Then no matter how many agreements you get from co-workers and management alike. will end up in your abilities and call volume being drastically changed. I would recommend this company as a entry way, because they have very detailed training, and support when it comes to new guys. For vet's of the trades. don't bother, this isnt it for you. seems great at first, but if your not producing, you'll slowly be kicked out. but of course, they won't fire you, only do everything but.

This a terrible company to work for. If you're looking for a fair and respectful place to work than look elsewhere. Unless you work in the offices "generating sales" or stealing from people you don't matter to them. If you work in the warehouse and are responsible for managing every piece of inventory that comes and goes and work any shift other than 1st, you don't matter. You can almost always bet that if someone there tries to sell you something, you don't need it. The only thing that matters to this company is the bottom line, and if you're not directly responsible for bringing in a profit then they don't actually care about you. I could go on forever about the hypocrisy and inequality but it's not needed because the company will never solve any problems to make things better. They would rather just get rid of anyone that doesn't drink the Kool-Aid and move on. Be warned that this is not the company it tries to be in the commercials. I wish I could give the management a 0 but that's not possible.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Hvac technician 4 salaries reported	$22.13 per hour
Customer service representative 3 salaries reported	$25.00 per hour

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