director of business development

laborer

senior machine operator

maintenance technician

machine operator

Roskam Foods

Worked here for a year and a half as a recruiter in their Human Resources department. 

I really think the lack of consistency with expectations from salary employees is wanting. There really are a lot of great people at Roskam, and it was maybe a good career opportunity for me, but if a person is looking for the flexibility that is supposed to come with a salary position, this is not your place. For example, when I came in to work for Roskam, I explained that I had orthodontic braces and would need to travel 1.5 hours every 6 weeks to get them checked. I was told by my manager, "We'll work things out." Once in my position, and on my first ortho appointment to get my braces adjusted, his "working things out" was actually me requesting vacation time (of which is only 10 days). I ended up using like 3 vacation days just for my ortho appointment. 

Also, last winter, we had some pretty crazy storms and ice with wind chills below 20 degrees. With a salary position, I would expect some more flexibility. But while the recruiting manager had the opportunity to endlessly work from home, I was reprimanded 4 weeks after I had left an hour early from work because the roads were so icy and I was the only person in the office. It took 4 weeks to reprimand me. Reprimands should be made in a timely manner. If you can't find the time in your "busy" schedule within 7 days, don't do it at all, and don't do it in a conference room attached to offices where everyone can hear it. 

Not only that, but beware of intense micromanaging. On several occasions, I worked with others in the company who would forward me messages of my manager checking up on me, or asking them if I did my job "correctly", on several occasions, when issues that came up were quickly addressed by me and resolved. 

Also, I would recommend that management have more consistency with regard to expectations from themselves. Don't tell your employees that it's "best practice" to leave later than 4:30, when you get there at 10 til 9;00 AM and then leave promptly once you think everyone is gone. On several occasions, I noticed my manager would stay until he thought everyone was gone, and then leave promptly at that time to appear to be making up his time. Definitely not the case. In at 8:52 and out by 4:40. 

Consistency consistency consistency. That is my advice to management. Also, maybe offer some classes on leadership for those managers who obviously have no experience leading a team successfully.

The first caveat is that I worked 3rd shift, where there was less management, a less motivated work force, and more to do (funny enough, usually to prepare for management in the morning.) I had never worked in a factory before this, were I helped produce a number of products, mainly dry mixes.
Work/Life Balance was okay if you communicated with your coordinator and supervisors what you needed or wanted off. Most of the time if I did not say anything my boss would want me to work every day the lines were running, which could be every day of the week. However when the coordinator was switch I had trouble with the new one, as she was being trained, getting the days I wanted or needed off. This brings that grade down.
Compensation and benefits were of high quality because of a Union, which has its own pros and cons.
Job security and advancement through the ranks was about even. A good thing is if you were good at your job you would most likely not be replaced. I never had to be replaced, so this was not a problem for me. Advancement was too slow however, and as I said management was scarce on 3rd shift, requiring you to stay after hours to lobby yourself to them when they arrived, or rely on others such as your supervisor to do so for you which could end good or bad.
The management and job culture was the worst part of it, as I had to constantly contend with the clique behaviors of others. The culture itself was one of a "faster, not better" attitude that left sub par work and communication for my own and for other shifts to walk into resulting in critical mistakes that broke the efficiency of the plant. Most people were of the attitude they could not wait to go home and did not care for the next shifts struggles.

I worked as a Production Sanitation worker at Roskam Baking Company and had a mostly positive experience. The company emphasizes cleanliness and safety, which is crucial in a food production environment. My role involved ensuring that all equipment and workspaces were sanitized to meet the strict industry standards, which I found both challenging and rewarding.

The team I worked with was supportive, and there was a strong sense of camaraderie among the staff. The training provided was thorough, which helped me understand the importance of my role in maintaining the quality and safety of the products we produced.

One area that could use improvement is the communication between departments. At times, it felt like there was a disconnect between production and sanitation teams, leading to occasional inefficiencies. However, management was generally receptive to feedback and made efforts to address any concerns.

Overall, Roskam Baking Company is a solid place to work if you value a clean, organized, and safety-conscious environment. The experience I gained here has been valuable, and I would recommend it to others looking to enter the food production industry.

There are two groups at the R&D facility. I worked in the Custom Blends group. Overall this way a pretty simple job that pays well. There is a good work/home balance, projects consist of a wide variety of food products and detailed research is encouraged. Some of the cons was the work environment, no teamwork, no organization, work tables are left a mess and co-workers drink at work. Overall I enjoyed my work but R&D is ignored by the rest of the company, HR never visits the building even though there have been several incidences of employees being inappropriate and management treating their workers unfairly. There is also no room for advancement unless someone retiree's, just something to keep in mind. I must say after what I saw, I would not recommend being apart of the other R&D group. Only young girls are hired, which management controls their every move.The manager would stand behind them and tell them how to write their emails word for word. The manager and her puppet are extremely negative towards everyone in that building; no one is smarter than them and their opinion is the only right one, no wonder no one stays in that group.

This place is a great place to get your foot in the door and get some good experience but do not be surprised after a year or two you see yourself extremely unhappy and wanting to move on.

It is completely true that the management here is awful and a large reason why you will leave. All management teams are against each other and just blame each other when something goes wrong instead of using teamwork.It is truly an awful thing to see and be apart of and generates a toxic work environment.

I talked to several higher ups about how bad management was treating their team members along with specific examples and while they listened nothing was done. Roskam truly does not care if management treats their workers bad and it just becomes a revolving door of new hires because people know they should not be treated this way.

If I were you I would honestly tell you to keep looking for a different company to work for. It is truly sad to see how a family owned company has let their values go and now management thinks they own this company and will throw their employees under the bus any chance they can get, making no one happy here.

There is all three shifts working around the clock 24/7.  There is not much time for family life or even much of a life at all working here.  However, if you are a hard worker and don't mind the hours, then this place is for you.  a typical day starts with 8 hours and depending on people available both physically and mentally you could be working 12+ hours.  Management is easy to get along with as long as you don't ask for much.  Typical Micro-management but easy to meet requirements.  Co-workers are probably the best part of the job here. There are some really smart and creative employees with great attitudes and integrity.  but don't worry, every place has at least one difficult, know it all bad seed.  And this place has at least that.  The hardest part about this job is the last minute notice to ruin your weekend plans.  They will literally come to you 5 minutes before your shift end on a Friday and tell you the weekend is mandatory.  If you are a single father or mother, this makes for really rough times accomadating last minute arrangements.

What is the best part of working at the company?
QA department usually short staffed.  My hours and department working has changed numerous times this year. Even with a Dr note points if miss any time.  Allowed 5 points before will fire you takes a year from time get a point for it to fall off. 
Over worked and under appreciated. Can catch issue save company 30 thousand dollars and month later treat you like your worthless cause you missed a day to be at children's hospital with baby under a year old. Anything told ensure in writing or they will deny discussing so do follow up emails regarding talks

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Under staffed some days lucky if get a single break during your shift.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Some are okay. There are favorites who get away with more than others

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Varies from day to day depending upon what is going on and what Business unit you are working in.

Management of the whole company seemed kinda bad, since the beginning they sent me wrong addresses not once but 3 times for my orientation making the hiring process take a whole month. The work is easy and simple very brainless. Work culture there is toxic! Management is horrible and has a tendency to “lose” important documents you may give them. And there’s lots of foremen in their position that probably shouldn’t be. And theres a lack of bathroom breaks, they will guilt trip you into using your bathroom breaks on your already short breaks that already are too short to heat up and eat your food without rushing! supervisors will tell formen to prevent you from using the bathroom and there are several rumors of past workers having to use the bathroom while in the line which is gross especially if a food production job. over all the job is easy and if your willing to put up with a toxic work environment and horrible management then it’s meh at best.

What is the best part of working at the company?
My Supervisor for Facilities Maintenance was knowledgeable and understanding.  

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The majority of Management looked to throw anyone under the bus, to make themselves look better, 401K was a joke.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Terrible, management was all out for themselves, including trying to get other management and employees fired and was allowed by the Plant Manager.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Crazy. Even though there was a work order system in place, it was only used for preventative maintenance. Everyone was to either-tell me verbally, phone, text, e-mail or message an issue. Any management was allowed to pull you onto a different project, especially the Line Maintenance Manager, who knew nothing about Facilities Maintenance.

I started off packing Stacys' Pita Chips with the occasional couple of days in The Meteor Department where we packaged frozen Eggo waffles. The foremen that I was a hard, very good worker and placed me in the dough room weighing ingredients and mixing the dough. I was responsible for paperwork, making a batch every five minutes. In our other dough room In some cases I was dumping anywhere from four to eleven fifty pound bags of different types of flour every eight minutes, per batch. My Co-workers were very nice people and we got along great, I still talk to a couple of them on a daily basis. As long as I paid attention there wasn't a hard part, I knew and could perform eighty percent of the jobs in my department, more than most of the hired in employees. I enjoyed being challenged with multiple tasks and working with my team of co-workers.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Director of business development 98 salaries reported	$170,000 per year
Laborer 20 salaries reported	$17.00 per hour
Senior machine operator 22 salaries reported	$19.45 per hour
Maintenance technician 28 salaries reported	$33.16 per hour
Machine operator 5 salaries reported	$17.50 per hour

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