The Masterman's Extended Family | Family Business Honoree | Category: 25 - 99 employees
Photo/Edd Cote
Masterman's, 11 C St., Auburn 01501
Pictured are Linda, far left, Ben, second from left, and Tod Masterman, far right,
with long-time employee Dick Taylor, second from right.
Linda Masterman calls her husband the “classic entrepreneur,” a 24-year-old who left an accounting company and bought his own business for $500 in 1961. But ask Ben Masterman and he’ll say his safety supply business didn’t really start until he married his wife four years later.
“She’s my biggest advocate,” he said.
Today, the couple operates their $29 million business, Masterman’s of Auburn, with son, Tod, and have nearly 100 employees. But don’t ask them about fancy vacation homes or luxury travel.
Team Effort
The Mastermans are too busy sharing their success with employees and enjoying the strong community they’ve built around their company, which sells traffic signs, bandages and warehouse supplies around the world. It’s a community built on more than the standard good employer deeds of yearly raises, onsite counseling and benefits from the first day of employment.
At Masterman’s, employees enjoy holiday parties, special outings, breakfast at work and yoga — just to name a few perks. And when they’ve needed loans for car repairs or unexpected money problems in the past, they’ve usually turned to Ben Masterman.
“We treat everyone like family, whether they are or not,” Ben said adamantly.
A soft spoken man whose eyes twinkle when an employee enters the room, the 72-year-old Masterman had to do the borrowing — $200 from a cousin — to buy his $500 business back in 1961. Going door to door, the Worcester native made good on the investment quickly, bringing in $12,000 in sales his first year.
When Ben married Linda, she handled the business and shipping duties from home while he traveled from Maine to Connecticut on sales calls. They hired their first employee in 1968 and later moved Masterman’s near The Castle Restaurant on Route 9 in Leicester. Then came the Auburn warehouses, which occupy more than 100,000 square feet.
“In my wildest dreams, I didn’t think we’d ever grow to this volume or have this much space,” said Ben, who is a Holden resident with six grandchildren.
Visit Masterman’s on any given day and expect to find Ben walking around chatting with employees. He and General Manager Dick Taylor say employees are working harder than ever to help the company through the economic slowdown. Sales are expected to be down 20 percent this year, forcing many cuts, including the company’s first layoff and a salary freeze for the first time since 1991.
But even with cutbacks, there are ticket raffles for baseball games, bagels out for employees each morning and onsite exercise classes.
“As long as we can afford to do it, we’re happy to do it,” Ben said. “We don’t need a yacht.”
Most years, there are also employee picnics, the truck driving up to the warehouse filled with fresh corn for employees and special events like hot air balloon rides.
There’s also vacation.
Each summer, the Mastermans spend two weeks in their vacation home in Point Sebago, Maine, then share it with employees for the rest of the vacation season for free (employees decided on their own to start paying $100 per week this year.)
The Mastermans’ favorite charities are the Boys & Girls Club of Worcester and the Auburn Youth & Family Services. AYFS’s Executive Director Sally D. D’Darcangelo called the Mastermans “angels on our shoulders,.”
The Boys & Girls Club of Worcester honored Masterman’s as a company in 2008 with its Foundation for the Future Award.
Among the company’s many donations, it sends employees to the club several times a year to help out with Kids Café, said Liz Hamilton, club director for development.
Ben Masterman is a regular at the club, participating in tennis tournaments, and Tod, a board member, goes to the club one night a week to teach the kids ping pong, Hamilton said.
“This guy’s an ace,” Hamilton said. “I don’t think any kid has beat him yet, but they’re getting close.”
Hamilton praised the Mastermans for giving their time as well as money.
“They call and ask if we need anything,” Hamilton said. “We’re so blessed to have them. We really consider them part of the family. They know us and know our kids as well.”
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