laborer

cutter

driver assistant

sanitation worker

packer

Foster-Farms

I worked on the line. Cutting and packing chicken. (The Assembly Line) This review is only for those positions as I have no clue how the corporate is ran but based on the new letters I read, it looks good on that side of the Farm. The vast majority of (the assembly line)  employees do not have any college education. Im not sure even if you have to have a HS diploma. The Superintends, the machine mechanics, and the USDA are the only ones I believe that have any college. And whomever works the office jobs. On the assembly line there are hundreds of people working back there with germ protection gear and goggles. All day long working the line rotating stations from cutting to packing every two hours after the 15 minute break. 15 minutes is hardly enough time to remove gear, run to the bathroom, put gear back on and sanitize. So you have to decide if your going to go to the bathroom or have a snack, not both. Because of all the work you do with your hands, it is a very PAINFUL job. My hands hurt every day and every night. I would wake up crying in pain. The nurse on duty said I just need to get used to it. After 2 months it still hurt, actually felt worse. I was lucky to be offered the back up LEAD position to help with running the line rotations and supply stocking. I did not have to work the painful line again!!! It felt like management only seemed to care about completing the packing quota for the day.  They didn't really care if you called in sick, unless you did it chronically. The whole job is hard. Most people quit or just stop coming to work within the first 3 weeks, sometimes after the first day! Their turnover is very high. You would think it would be pretty easy to cut and pack, but its not even close to easy. You just learn how to do it if you stay long enough.  And although its a union job the maximum pay is $10.25 for life!! Well actually it is $ .25 per hour more than minimum wage. Most of the longtime employees are there because its hard to find employment anywhere else because they either don't speak English or it is very broken English. I became very fond of the long timers and older employees. They are very strong to do that job all those years because they HAVE to. We take so many things for granite. That is a tough job !!! and they put in 10 hours a day 5-6-7 days a week whether they want to or not, its mandatory.  The most enjoyable part of the job are  the co-workers they become like family. Once they get to now you they are very kind. I had a great experience learning key words in several different languages and they loved to bring me food. I miss them !!! Even though the pay is low, it is great that people who really want to work but cant attain employment can work for Foster Farms. There are also several people working there that are getting their life together and other employers wont hire them because of their past. They can work to prove they have changed their lifestyle so they look more attractive to other employers. And if they stay past 3 days they are most fidelity committed. Great job to Foster Farms for giving them the opportunity. I learned a lot about myself and other people while working for Foster Farms and I am glad to have had the opportunity. And yes, I do still eat chicken.

I wish I would have trusted my instincts! After my interview I had a feeling that the manager had no idea how to effectively manage people! Truthfully, I'm not sure how this guy even got the job if he had to actually communicate with anyone, the only thing I can think of was that he had an acceptable resume and the company was desperate! 

The employee "on-boarding," was a complete joke and consisted on watching a couple of videos that had absolutely nothing to do with the job I was hired for. There is absolutely no training and the best you can hope for is that one of the other office clerk's is willing to help you out, because other than that, there is no training whatsoever. Expect to be thrown to the wolves and then held to the same standards as employees who have been there for years! There also won't be any communication about how you're doing or even an actual explanation of what your duties are, if you're lucky you'll get a list of your duties, but don't expect anyone to show you how to actually preform those duties. If you're lucky one of the other clerk's has 10 minutes free, (from their impossible workload,) to show you, but you better be able to retain everything within that 10 minutes because you won't be shown again! Make sure to stay on your toes and continue looking for an actual job because if you don't have the entire position figured out and the ability to focus completely on the speed with which you complete each task by your 7th day you'll be fired on your 8th! Since no one has ever communicated with you at all regarding how you're doing and anything you need to do differently, you'll also be completely blindsided, but after a few days and the time to run through what just happened, you'll conclude, as I have, that you dodged a bullet, because who wants to constantly walk on eggshells and never know whether your "manager," is happy with your work or whether he plans on firing you the next day! Also, when I say that the "manager," will fire you, I only mean that he'll make the decision, because he has absolutely ZERO communication skills, he'll have someone from the HR department in California actually let you go through a zoom call that she'll be on when you come into his office! If, like me, you want to know why he never gave you ANY feedback at all and certainly never said a word about you not meeting expectations, he'll give you some ridiculously vague response like, "you're just not a good fit!" I've never in my life experienced anything like that and the only thing I can come up with is that Delta CO is such a tiny town that they were having a hard time replacing the last manager after he retired, therefore they ended up with this cut rate joke that would never get a job in a big city where there is actual competition for each position! 

My experience was a combination of great and sad. I love the product, I am proud of the product and really enjoyed working with all levels of employees. Corporate office and staff are very organized and care deelply for thier employees. The company mission statement is true. However my experience was with my immediate Director very rude demeaning, racist, unprofessional, fake and unappreciative. Instead of maintaining a team work enviornment there is a great seperation. My hard work and dedication was overlooked, she took credit for my ideas, never provided me with any positive feedback. My coworkers did admire my work ethnic and my performance and when mentioned in front of her she just sneered. I did communicate this twice with the chain of command but it fell into the hands of deaf ears. Not sure why, maybe because of the effort it would take to replace her position. She continues to terrorize the staff and my replacement of almost one year has no resigned. No doubt that, this position will always hold headaches, stress and heartaches as long as she is directing this plant in Porterville and the position of Senior Human Resources Supervisor. I do want to inform everyone that the administrative staff and the HR team are wonderful, caring, value thier employees and the production staff is magnificant! I would of continued in this position if she was not directing but, sometimes the battle needs to be fought several times before wining. This would be three HR Supervisors for this location in less than 5 years. HR colleague if you are looking for a challenge this is the place such a wonderful company and employees except for that one severe challenge, good luck! :)

What is the best part of working at the company?
Having a job in a community that cared about where they worked.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Working for a Complex and Plant managers that had no business being in charge of a facility that supplied protein products to commerce/consumers. Those two Managers made decisions that tainted product deliberately and had no conscious about it. I was a Plant Shift Manager that repeatedly brought it to their attention running a 8lb bird into automatic debone machines designed for 5lb birds causing mutilated products. Which in turn caused failures in Quality. I Ran a Shift where I ran in control based on labor. These Managers would override my decisions until I got fed up with failure after failure due to the fact they would say I'm the Plant manager or I'm the Complex manager! I resigned and wouldn't you know it both of them were replaced. I know what I am doing because when I put on a Company name on my chest it means everything to me for I represent the Company. We were well on our way to something special but since my shift would run clean and rework all their mess. I was considered a threat because I have always had that effect on other managers. I treated the people good and that was frowned upon go figure I was taught and trained under John Simons long time CEO of conagra. I will always train all employees the correct way. FOLLOW COMPANY POLICY from Safety to Sanitation.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Always looking over my shoulders for managers plotting against the rules of the Company. It was sad!

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Cleaning up the mess from the previous shift while running mine.

I'd suggest working here only if you have no other choice. There are some positive aspects. For instance, you'll learn the time and effort which go into supplying poultry products across the nation. Also, there are some individuals that work here that are very helpful. However, the bad outweighs the good. I truly hope that I never have to work here again. First, an employee always knows when to report to work, but never when to leave. The temperature is always cold, so wear layers. Promotions are available if you can put up with the mind games and the supervisors use of favoritism. Speaking of supervisors, don't expect them to know you or talk to you in a respectful manner. You will experience pain in your joints after repeated movements in your area over a length of time. Don't worry about going to HR. They turn a blind eye to any issue and have poor people skills as well. An inmate can threaten you and they will do nothing about it. The inmates are more of an asset because they don't receive employee benefits, they're made to come unwillingly, they get paid less, and the company receives a tax credit off of each one they bring in. You'll have to open your purse after entering the gate so the guard can inspect it , even though drug use is rampant among supervisors, employees, and inmates. Meaningless gossip energizes the facility and an occasional fight breaks out in the break room. Bathrooms are unclean after lunch and hours are not always accounted for on each paycheck. Also, be prepared to work weekends. You get supplies that last for 3 days and then you have to pay for them out of your check. Praise is never received. Overall, as the title says; if you must; make the most of it.

I worked in day (first) shift. Be prepared to work most Saturdays, especially if your in day shift and during spring/summer. Often times only one shift would work Saturday, almost always day shift.  And even sometimes in the middle of the workweek, only say shift world come in to work.   Work is also not split evenly between shifts, as day shift does 60-65% and swing (second) shift only does 40-35% of work in a 24 hour period. 
 Upper management ignores most workers, leaving department managers with pretty much free reign on the typical worker, so try to be friends with management or your job will be that much harder.  Same things go for workers as many would just ignore you. On top of that many workers are treated as a number rather than a person.  

 In the whole weigh/price department, start times are consistent,  however end times are different EVERY SINGLE DAY.  Suppost to get off at 5, however that is rare and is usually either 5:30 or 6:00PM, sometimes but not often, even 7:00pm.  You most likely will feel like your working for every single penny, as even the simple jobs can be Stressful.  So pay is not favorable. 

The only real good things here are you do get pretty good health insurance, that includes dental, vision, and medical, all relatively cheap too.  
Jobs there are pretty straightforward also, most (from what I can tell) are relatively simple, only bad thing is that they typically are very fast paced though. Decent job security, less likely to be punished or fired overall here.  However that also ties in with your manager(s) too. 

Every time I get a new job, I think 'well, at least it's not Foster Farms.' That place is vile. When you're in there, it's difficult to believe you're in a first-world country. I worked at Foster Farms for a year and a half, and I have nothing good to say about it. When I found out that my local plant had a Coronavirus outbreak, I wasn't surprised at all, and neither was anyone else I know who used to work there. The general hygiene standards of both the company and the individual employees is so low.

Aside from the work itself being inherently gross, messy, and smelly, the work environment is so awful. Three different employees wiped their noses on me on three separate occasions, I swear on my life I'm not making that up. I was sexually harassed and groped so many times I stopped keeping track, once by a supervisor from another department. I was screamed at, sworn at, and hazed by area leads/quality control officials. My personal belongings and PPE were often stolen. Most of the employees were criminals and drug addicts. My coworkers and lead harassed me so badly on a daily basis that when I returned from a two-day sick leave I overheard one of them saying they were relieved to see me back because they were convinced that I wasn't at work due to a suicide attempt and they were scared they'd get blamed.

I don't care how desperate you think you are- you're not desperate enough to work at Foster Farms. Don't do it. You want to be scarred for life for the sake of a minimum wage job? No? Okay then, DON'T DO IT.

Evening  cook plant manager is the worst that they have ever hired. The production is not managed very professional. Some of the supervisors are very hateful.  Some days I just wanted to turn around in the middle of the road and go back home. The product was not that good. They was more concerned about. quantity than quality.  The employees are very over worked.  You don't have a life outside of Foster Farms. The point system that they had for absentee and being late to work or from your lunch break is very childless.  If the line that you is assigned to is scheduled to be off the next day or on the weekend the plant manager would post a notice on the board and make you come to work even though you are scheduled to be off. Some of the supervisors and some of the managers need to have training so they know how to treat the employees. The quantity of the product was the only thing that the supervisors and the Managers was concerned about. They was never concerned about the quality of the product.  There was no concern about the health of the employees. There was always the constant swell of CO2. The line 3 Clean Room was always to cold for the employees. The line 4 Clean Room always was ran to fast and product was always on the floor.  There was no control over the production  on Lines 3 and 4. I was never able to do my job without being stopped by the line manager to work on a job that should have never been created all because they didn't want to stop the front of the line so I could throw product back up on the line. That is why I quit. There was no concern about employees being over worked.

Oh boy... where to even begin. It was a decent starting job back a decade ago. Got me my first full-time job with benefits at 18-19 years old. Many of my co-workers who'd been there longer said it wasn't a place where you could move up at all. I dismissed their concerns, thinking that I could just work harder and slowly climb up the ladder. Fast forward a few years later, and I'm still in my starting position after multiple applications and even voluntary overtime in a different department for more added experience. I'm second guessing my rational from before.

Aside from my personal position stagnation, the recent constant management changes also affected alot of our company's efficiency the last two years. Rotations in HR staff, supervisory positions and even a few top leadership roles were vacated within that time frame. 

There were more than a few instances where we had to deal with low staffing issues, leading me to do fill in and do more than what my position is expected. Now, I've dealt with extended crunch in this company before, but this last time was way beyond untenable due to it being constant. This created a very stressful and chaotic work environment with no assured stability, which did lead to burn out in the last few months there.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend working at this particular plant due to the current management. But if you have no other alternative, just put in your first few months (max a year) for some experience, then look elsewhere. This is not a job you should take as a career path.

Foster farms is good to start your career but not to make a long career. Upper management only care about the numbers and not the people or struggles of what happens during the day. A machine might break down and they still complain about why we didn’t finish when it’s their fault they keep maintenance understaffed. My team was great but they started demanding more I started losing people and had a high turnover with people since I had to keep training new employees. And one thing to look out for is if one of the superintendent doesn’t like a employee they will find the stupidest reason to fire them and leave you struggling for people. The thing I hated the most is that you really never know if you are going to work Saturday and if there is some news or update from the company management will not tell you until everyone on the floor knows. I used to find out more what was going on talking to my hourly employees then management which made you look like the bad person because the employees used to think you didn’t want to update them but in reality we didn’t know what was going on because our bosses didn’t want to tell us. They would say they didn’t know but they did because when we would bring it up they would alway be like I know they told us in our meeting. This place is only good to get experience and add to your resume but not to make a long career.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Laborer 157 salaries reported	$16.51 per hour
Cutter 126 salaries reported	$17.47 per hour
Driver assistant 45 salaries reported	$18.39 per hour
Sanitation worker 39 salaries reported	$18.93 per hour
Packer 37 salaries reported	$17.66 per hour

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