truck driver

local driver

shipper

maintenance mechanic

route driver

HP Hood

What is the best part of working at the company?
Some of the best pay for line workers. Employees who would seek better jobs, often came back & said the pay did not compare.
A genuine care & concern from management.  This does not mean they were perfect, but generally better than my experiences with other companies.  It seem to me they frequently asked for feedback & for employee emotional investment (ie interest in improving the company). All reasonable suggestions were considered seriously, and on occasion an unreasonable request was considered.  They even hired a 3rd party company to interview all employees, during company time, to find out what was working well & what needed to be addressed! I have NEVER experienced this in my many years of working.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Maintaining the quality standards & cleanliness standards. it was a part of nearly every discussion one had with any level of leadership. It was paramount.  Unfortunately, not every employee gave their 'A' effort, so leadership expected the team to make up the difference. This could be quite stressful!

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
As with ANY organization, its focus is on production & profit. Beyond those necessary  goals, they made safety & quality twin pillars of priority. The people were a close 2nd. i was at the company for decades, and saw steady, continuous improvement over that time.  Not everyone who works there is happy, but that is more a personal issue. The company usually would listen to constructive feedback, complaints, and try to make reasonable accommodations.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A formal pre-shift meeting or an informal one, where a leader would try to give updates & highlights of the shift prior.  When things ran smoothly, it was more relaxed & even fun. When problems arose, it was not very relaxed!

Scheduling a day off, even without pay, is an impossibility. Ridiculous company policy that using earned time off is disciplined and can lead to termination. The management is focused on "catching" employees in petty situation which will lead to write ups rather than actually providing tools, information, or support for the employees to do the job. Essential equipment breaks down and is left to collect dust for months. The plant is constantly understaffed. Redundant, irrelevant, and outdated tests are the norm, with no course for suggestions to make them modern. Everyone covers their tracks and tries to avoid being held responsible for the mistakes of an overgrown production. Pay is okay for a starting position but the plant is a Union so you'll be making the same as people who have been there for 20 years. You'll have no chance for advancement or pay raises, a little detail they leave out when making the job offer. Other departments will reminded you as often as possible that they lack a college degree but earn as much, or more, than you. Disrespect for the lab is encouraged from the top. Management distrusts and ignores lab results if they delay with production schedules. In essence the lab exist only to create documentation. There is a false sense of safety which borders as a scam. Posters brag of 1500+ days without an injury while broken bones and burns are swept under the rug. Loopholes in injury definitions are exploited to win awards from corporate.  If you do stick it out don't look forward to a better sift of better day off, employee turnover is huge, but not for the old timers who are invested.

Firstly I love the COMPANY and what they do BUT From my experience there is BAD management, nobody to call, not an office to get in contact with,  just the plant manager who’s currently running two plants so…absolute S***. Office workers don’t do anything other then look busy and not at all clear nor direct when applying for a position especially since they sent the wrong application TWICE! Before filling the right one out themselves with the info I gave them and hours are not clear at all, you basically HAVE to go to someone everyday your first few weeks and keep asking for a response that changes to what you applied for which is a bit ridiculous especially when I told them I couldn’t work weekends because of court ordered supervised visitations which clearly if it’s court ordered, nobody has a say in that and I told them prior to getting the position but they got all upset when I brought it up to them after the fact when someone came up to me and said I work Saturdays AND THEN! forcefully pushed a position I never even wanted nor applied for onto me that was F*cked hours but I can’t get another job at the moment so I HAD to take the position which is 1st of all LESS PAY ANDDD 4AM!!!!! Very unsatisfactory business and needs better management and clearly set rules and regulations a full hp hood reboot and redo is very much needed I’m unsure as to other plants but 100% needed in barre Vermont 

When I started out someone asked about how there wasn't a lot of time off and the rep said "well you're off half the month because of the schedule".  That might have been true at one point, but not anymore. If you have a lot of debt to pay off or want to earn money pretty quick at the sacrifice of your personal time, welcome aboard. They request overtime constantly, the pay is good though.  Also, remember 12 hour shifts of constantly standing or moving around does wonders for the body, so hold on to those vacation days if you need a doctor's appointment.  Attendance policy is overly strict too: being 5 minutes late is treated the same as 5 hours, sick and personal call-offs count against you all the same except one is paid. Sure we were busy most days but sometimes it was hard to find something to do, and you're paid hourly. Why pay someone overtime to stand around? We were either short-staffed or had extra people who hid to avoid doing silly busy-work.  Due to policy changes because of the pandemic, they stopped allowing food to be ordered in so rely on the canteen or yourself if you find time to take a break.  Being short-staffed also led to pretty bad training of new people, the coworkers would be nice if they weren't worn thin from the poor work-life balance.  

With complete turnover in management in the last few years, many long tenured employees are not properly understood. The lack of knowledge and inability for leadership to actually relate to employees has become obsolete. You are not given resources needed to succeed at your job and in an environment where ignorant leadership Is trying to stay above water to keep their jobs, it’s done so at the expense of those who try to care to be thorough and motivated in their work but are not given a fair shot because of poor training. You have to learn to trust fellow employees to get the support you need even if it means texting them on their days off because managers have no comprehension beyond numbers on a computer screen to help. When leadership is questioned for mistakes, it’s easier to blame the ones that had subpar training. It’s the blind leading the blind. If you want to feel like you can work hard and retire from a place, don’t come here. The unqualified train the unqualified and  the qualified are conquered by ignorant managers trying to stay afloat. The communication is chaotic and disunited plant wide. All of the qualified help has left. The only positivity is the new hires who’ve not been around long enough to get burned yet. 

EXTREMELY poor management pushed by a plant manager that is basically a bully. Management is seemingly bases on highest levels of incompetency. In my over 4 years with the company, I have yet to come across a manager with any actualy definitive leadership qualities, or attitude. 
Training is an absolute joke. Machines are held together with tape and bubble gum (figuratively), There is no sense of pride or ownership of company assests simply because rarely is anyone held accountable for upkeep--maintenance being the exception, since they are tasked with repairing everything around the plant...and responding to the most ridiculous, non-maintenance related calls and work orders. 
Expect to be led in circles and work toward no other purpose other than to please the managers, who in turn need to pander to the plant manager.

The pay is great...but that's about it. I worked maintenance, most of those guys were great at what they did, but the management sure put a damper on the overral mood of the place. 
Warehouse is packed to the gills with people who lack even the class to choose their words wisely. The rampant use of the "N" word when, and wherever is appalling!
But the pay is great.

A typical workday consist of 12-hour work days, troubleshooting equipment, assessing and reassessing priorities, dealing with customers (internal and external) and focusing on solutions, interacting with management team, HR, co-workers and subordinates on a daily bases. Making sure that we, as a manufacturing plant, are making the highest quality and safest food products available for sale to the consumer.
What I have learned is that a team may not always consist of a 50/50 split, my part may consist of 75% and the other 25% from the team. That it takes the entire team to be successful. I have also learned that flexibility and communication with management as well as plant personnel is a key part of the success of the organization.
When working along side my co-workers, I find being consistent in my environment is an essential part of the work flow or productivity. Being an example to co-workers in setting higher standards along with consistency.
The hardest part of the job is recognizing that I cannot always see the product through to the end.
The most enjoyable part of the job is exceeding the standards or reaching the goals set.

The reviews are right. This is the highest paying job I've ever had but it is also the worst job I've ever had. This is a multibillion dollar company that cannot seem to maintain their equipment. Machines break down on a daily basis. It's like trying to do your job with one hand tied behind your back. You are reminded daily that you are expendable and can be replaced. Management resorts to threats on a regular basis & reminds you- there are cameras watching at all times. That is a common threat "I will be forced to look at the camera footage". They will come up to you 30 minutes before the end of your shift and demand you work overtime. Come on! I don't mind OT, but at least give me enough time to make arrangements with my sitter. Your fellow employees will throw you under the bus, not to be mean but because they are scared for their own jobs. Too many people thinking they are boss. Very unpleasant atmosphere to work in. Not worth the money. Probation is a joke. It's all in whether or not they like you. And if they don't like you.......it's like there is a target on your back. They will eventually get you

I was hired to work for HP Hood at the end of last year. I had high hopes for this company. I worked with excitement and enthusiasm and was always eager and ready to learn new things while I worked there. In fact I asked so many times to be trained on new things in the lab that my foreman actually got angry with me and snapped at me and told me to stop asking to be trained. My training kept being pushed back and put off. I complained to my supervisors about this but not enough was done to resolve this. They hired new people and trained them on the things I practically begged for weeks to be trained on. At HP Hood they have a six-month probationary period. When my probation time was complete, they extended my probation instead of hiring me on as a full-time permanent employee. When they let me go they said it was because I still had gaps in my training and because I drove past a supervisor at the company front gate. They kept me on probation because they wanted to fire me with immunity. So very disappointed with this company, sad that this is my review.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The pay is a huge incentive.aswell as the people who work there .great company for someone who’s serious about staying at a hood company .

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The 12 hrs you have to be there a half of day will always be half your day. Mandatory overtime usually when others on vacation or people don’t show up nd in return need to be replaced 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is great the leadership can be leadership like anywhere but tbh it’s the best job I’ve had nd I don’t hate coming to work nd it’s rare to find someone who does


What is a typical day like for you at the company?
 Depends on the day . But I work in shipping. So it’s all on the amount of product coming in and out the door.  It’s a fast paced environment but your task switches everyday ,between three areas  so it’s not to strenuous ,On the mind or body. Work can get overwhelming volume wise but the tasks at hand are not hard with effort applied.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Truck driver 21 salaries reported	$1,606 per week
Local driver 7 salaries reported	$30.43 per hour
Shipper 45 salaries reported	$28.60 per hour
Maintenance mechanic 50 salaries reported	$32.00 per hour
Route driver 26 salaries reported	$1,579 per month

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