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MONTRÉAL’S TOP EMPLOYERS (2025)
Good communication drives success at Atwill-Morin
G
rowing up in the
construction industry,
Matthew AtwillMorin, now president
of Montréal-based
construction giant Atwill-Morin,
remembers realizing how a
construction site was really just
like a big sports team. “Everybody
has a role,” he says. “It’s like
hockey — defence, goalies,
forwards. I fell in love with it.”
Maybe that’s why, when Morin
was part of the third generation
to take over the family business
along with his brothers, communication was key to its ongoing
success. “We had a vision of
growth and also of inclusiveness
in all aspects, including decisionmaking,” he says. “We don’t rule
with an iron fist, we consult and
listen.”
The brothers brought in a team
of consultants over a decade ago
to help grow the business, which
triggered the cultural changes
that have carried on to this day,
Morin says. “It’s a huge part of our
success. We had the openness to
listen to people that knew more
than us.”
Indeed, over the last 20 years,
the company has expanded to
offer concrete, scaffolding and
civil work across Canada and
grown from 30 employees to just
over 1,000.
Listening to — and being
invested in — staff drives every decision at Atwill-Morin, Morin says,
resulting in several key initiatives
encompassing training, health and
safety and the environment.
“We surveyed employees and
those were the three most important things,” explains Mélyssa
Provost, brands and communications director. “The construction
industry has a lot of work to do
environmentally,” says Provost,
who is also a member of the
ecological transition committee.
Atwill-Morin calculates its
environmental impact in and is
co-owner of Brick Recyc Ontario,
a Canadian innovation that allows
Workers at Atwill-Morin use exoskeletons to reduce the load on their bodies and prevent injuries.
the reuse of bricks on construction
sites. “Looking at our carbon
footprint is going to be a huge step
in the right direction,” Provost
says. “I’m very excited.”
We had a vision of growth
and also of inclusiveness
in all aspects, including
decision-making. We don’t
rule with an iron fist, we
consult and listen.
— Matthew Atwill-Morin
President
In 2024, Atwill-Morin
announced the addition of a
dozen exoskeletons — technology
that reduces the load on the body
and increases strength — to
prevent worker injuries.
“Everybody needs to be safe and
to go home at the end of the day,
but it’s also a long-term vision,”
Morin explains. “If you’re chipping
concrete or bricks for 2,000 hours
in a year, we want to make sure
you can have a long and healthy
career.”
One initiative Morin is
particularly proud of began in
2008 as a response to reduced
workload in the winter months:
several apprentices are selected
for paid training with seasoned labourers during the off-season. The
employees are trained with up to
500 hours of on-site work training
during a time when they may have
been out of work otherwise.
Taking care of others extends
to the greater community for the
construction company, which
