supervisor

utility worker

plc technician

nurse

laborer

Simmons Foods

I typically don't review previous companies I have been employed or products since I believe each individual perception and experience can differ Simmons Pet Foods in Pennsauken is the exception. I voluntarily ended my employment so I am not disgruntled former employee that was released giving bias opinion. Not surprised they are closing the Plant in Pennsauken. The Management at the Pennsauken facility is poor at best contributing to the negative culture within the plant and with years of neglected equipment and failure to invest in capital improvements that are put on the backs of the maintenance department and operators to keep the run down out dated equipment running in order to attempt to attain unrealistic goals in production. The Corporate Core Values they promote are all talk "Putting People First" only applies to one employee to another. Hourly employees are treated as if their only purpose is to serve the company's needs first your family and personal life comes last and should feel privileged to work for the company. And if you fail comply with mandatory OT they either get reprimanded or terminated unless your one of management's favorites.  "Act with Intigrity" is almost none existant among management there is a severe lack of professionalism among some of the salaried ranks and front line supervisors are micro managed by superiors and given tasks to do and held accountable that operators and technicians should be performing. "Being Curious" is for front line supervisors and hourly workers curious where is their next job going to be once they have been frustrated enough to leave. "Taking Action" the only action being taken is looking for individuals to blame when goals are not attained or something goes wrong or looking at cameras during back shifts to find things wrong. There is no clear direction on improving the systems and chaos rules the day on daily basis, they institute cost savings teams but have no follow through. Everything is left to front line supervisors to complete with little or no support from management. Good suggestions are just that suggestions no follow through from management to get Corporate buy in on improvements that clearly need to be made. There is reluctance from Maintenance team to suggest improvements because those that suggest are given ownership to implement with no support or cast off that they are trying to get out of work. Recent new capital equipment purchases do nothing to fix the issues in other parts of the process that are more critical to production and have bigger issues which demonstrates a lack a vision across the board. The positive thing I took away from my experience was working with a great maintenance team and most shared my vision of continuous improvement but were frustrated with lack of support from upper management over the years. The Corporate office in Arkansas needs to be more hands on to gain a complete understanding of the culture in the facility without the any local management involvement including HR that could possibly put taint on the situation. Until the Core Values that they promote are truly incorporated and capital improvements made then the high rate of turnover with employees will continue along with the chaos.The talent is there to make Pennsauken a success all that is needed is a good leadership team a defined direction and patience because it will not happen overnight.

Petfood, Pet Treats, Poultry no matter where you go you see the same thing. No structure, no care for employees, long hours, or not enough hours, slaved, bad leadership, and bad management. I've worked in all three and they are all the same.

 I didn't have much problems with supervisors it's the upper management that trumps everything. This is a fear full environment, no job security unless you know someone. To promote you have to know someone,  or be there for a long time. Pay sucks, but in Petfood pay is good. Though in Pettfood your slaved, turnover rates are bad especially in the last year. Pet Treats no hours very unbalanced life at home, and can't get there facility going on the market. Why take a guess upper management micro managing everyone instead of doing their job booking sales.

 Most upper Management is corrupt, and if there is one good manager they learn to just go with the flow. Corruption comes from the top VP's, Directors, Ops Managers, HR managers, managers. Not so much CEO, or Presidents, but how stupid are they if they are the ones putting their buddies in these positions and neglect what one day trump them to the ground. Treats will fall, Petfood can't get people,  and Poultry Government will shut them down one day, at least with all the NRs they get per week. 

My time here was a nightmare they blame the supervisor, and employees for everything. HR is suppose to be your advocate but really theie just there to make a paycheck. They don't care about you, if the upper management wants you out your out. They'll fire you for no reason much of the time. There was a guy who just because he tried to transfer to another plant he got the boot. Others because they won't do their dirty work. People will not be let go to the restroom, training program does not exists. They blame it on no people but really it's because they don't want to budget it. Anyone who gives a good rating is either lying or was one of the good managers/ supervisors, or is a common employee. If you don't believe me apply at one of these places and see for yiurself. It's upper management that's the problem,  they don't trouble shoot they just fire.

 I've recently quit can't tell you where but it sucked. Upper management needs to back off and let superintedents, and supervisors do their job. They are to involved with the process rather than managing the plant as a whole behind their desk. They talk about training but they are the ones who need the training. To many good people lost their jobs because of stupid managers, Ops managers, and Directors. Go back to school somewhere besides University of Arkansas. Superintedents,  Supervisors,  employees keep your heads up. Hope this opens up CEOs eyes.

I'm sure some people love this sort of work but I sure as heck don't. Extremely long (12hr) days with very dull robotic work.

I work as a Product Checker (PC) which basically means I measure the weights of random samples of chicken pieces for 12 hours, even though the entire job takes about 2hrs. For the remainder I stand around 'looking busy' for the other 10 after I finish my work. The leads will often try to get you to work on the line in downtime, but I am man over a foot taller than most of the hispanic women who work here - the lines are far too short for me and it really kills my back. Really bad, I'm serious. Many days I also am not even able to do my job requirements as my dept only needs 3 PCs and I am often the 4th of 5th there. In those cases I either have to work on the line or just go home if they request it. 
It is VERY dull work. One of the most mundane, mind-numbing jobs I have ever done. I seriously have gotten to the point where I play tic-tac-toe with myself because I basically have 10 hours to kill. There is no creativity, no variety, and very picky & stubborn people you have to answer to. Take that how you will. 
There is almost no one for me to talk to, as I don't speak spanish and most people that work hear speak it exclusively. For a spanish speaker I imagine this job is much more bearable.
The days are long (5am-4:30pm), but 4 days a week however the break days change every week on a cycle which can be a bit annoying for scheduling life apart from work. Do not expect to be able to do anything else than work on work days, there is no time especially with a commute. Do not expect to have any sort of night life during a work day. 

DO NOT apply to work on (or a job near, because they will put you on it) the line if you 1) only speak english, and 2) are taller than 5'5". I'm serious on this. 90% of the people in this area speak little to no english (only spanish), and someone like me who only speaks english really has no one to talk to all day long. It's nobody's fault, but it is what it is. Also, I am 6'1" and my back absolutely kills me after working days here because everything (tables, machines, etc) is made for people around 5'2" (the height of most hispanic women who work here in abundance), and I am not exaggerating. Also do not apply if you expect anything other than dull, repetitive assembly line type work where you do the same thing all day every day with no variety or creative freedom whatsoever.
DO apply if you speak spanish, are under 5'5" (again, I'm dead serious - it's for your health), and enjoy very mundane robotic work. Some people love this and that is great. I'm not one of them.

It's either working 60 hours a week with no life outside of work or only 40 hours a week so you can barely pay your bills.No middle ground.
Expected to cover all other positions when people are absent. I have covered as many as 4 positions in a night and had to run frantically trying to accomplish all other jobs to get things done and probably walked 50 miles in a night to cover all those duties only to be rewarded be having my check go from over $1,000 a week down to just above $600 a week. From being able to build for my future and get ahead to I'm 7st barely getting by. And the time cuts always come at the most difficult time,just before the holiday season. They seem to be trying to cut hours to compensate for their financial shortcomings throughout the year with no thought that they are cutting paychecks in half so no safety net or plans for the employees who work so hard to get things done and keep things going. Like I said, no middle ground or concern that cutting employees paychecks by $400 to $600 all of a sudden might affect the lives of their employees.
Seems like they could have created a schedule to accommodate for their cuts and allowed some rotating shift schedules that would have allowed their employees to get hours every few weeks instead of just a huge cut to paychecks so we could have all shared the burden instead of just the company cutting back hours so that it's only the employees that seem to suffer all the loss. No consideration or concern for the employees in that sense.
They could have tightened up the ship and tried to incorporate some measures that limit the wasted time throughout the shift in all areas and worked on time management and production areas that need improvement and saved their money by becoming more efficient in all areas. But again,no thought to other measures to handle the situation except to sacrifice employees hours and pay.
They are even so bent on no overtime that once a person hits 40 hours in a work week they send that person home and expect the others to cover the vacant positions and they are again expected to cover two or three positions to ensure that no one gets overtime.


The company has great potential. There are some very good people at almost every level. They have a niche in the poultry market and several large and important customers. 

But they seem afraid of letting someone take ownership of their position. Even extremely minor issues require you to call a manager. The lack of trust or faith in subordinates is almost comical. It leads to constant failures and a lack of initiative. Supervisors are chastised for making decisions know matter what the outcome. Because of this management culture you will never feel any job satisfaction. 

Communication is 2nd or 3rd hand at best. Emails go unanswered so no one can be held accountable.  Need to know information doesn't get passed around. And communications between shifts is considered a last resort. Communication at the department level is low. Example: only one staff meeting in a 12 month period. If you want to know what days you are working extra, ask the lead man on another crew. He will know before you do.

Salary seems far at the start. But hidden "required" shifts seriously cut down on what you actually make. It is not uncommon for 12 to 20 extra hours a week to go unpaid. When "comp" time does apply it is only considered to be 8 hours. Even when covering a standard 12 hour shift. A standard comp pay day is $150. That's only $12.50 an hour and that is $2.20 per hour less then the lowest paid maintenance mechanic working for you.

Benefits are fairly standard. But medical insurance is expensive when compared to what other companies in the same industry offer. There is a retirement plan and 401k. But the retirement plan had no attractive fund options. And the funds offered had low ratings and very low returns.

I cannot in good conscience tell an individual with a family to work there. You will constantly be aggravated and stressed. Perhaps one day the owners will address these issues. Until then please beware. Get everything in writing and keep your resume updated.

Simmons was a high-pressure employer.  It was my first experience in management out of college and really taught me about managing people, time, processes and stress.  It was a very high stress job.  I was the line supervisor starting out in evis and then moved to live hang.  The entire plant was dependent on my area so it had to run smoothly.  The shift manager made sure I knew that and stayed on me pretty hard.  

There really was no work/life balance.  It was all work.  I went in at 3:00 am and got off at 2:30 pm.  Night shift schedule was even worse, especially if there was rework.  There was always the chance that something broke I could get called to help.  Saturday work was random so it was impossible to plan anything for your family on the weekends.  They required to notify the team by Thursday before if the plant was going to run on Saturday so there was only really one day notice of weekend work.

I gave management 3 stars here because I had both the worst manager I have ever worked for and one of the best managers I have ever worked for both at Simmons.  I moved from night shift (worst manager) to day shift (best manager) and the experience was completely different.  

All that being said, the culture here is GREAT.  The people were honest, hard working people.  I'm not bilingual but have some Spanish skills that came in real handy.  By the time I left there I was nearly fluent.  

If you are looking for a good job to get started in management, Simmons really teaches you a lot.  I don't know if they still do LEAN there, but those skills have translated throughout my career and employers are willing to pay for people that have experience with LEAN.  The best part about this as a first job is it teaches you to deal with stress and responsibility.

I worked at Simmons home office for 5 years. My job gave me the opportunity to work with most of the employees at one time or another. First you must remember/realize what and where you are working. It is a chicken plant and that is the point. You will be cold,wet,busy and not able to properly hear. You must doff/don equipment before you go into any production facility. This is not an environment for primadonas. I worked with Mark and Todd both and also their families. They are awesome people. It is a wonderful place to work. In the office area there is great comradery and  friendship,they are most understanding of family issues. The work is very hard but they are a small company and try to pay everyone well. My hiring benefits package was generous. One thing about the company is that if you have a real problem in your life, they will try everything they can to help before they just let you go. At least this was my experience.  There is also the company medical clinics which are available 5 days a week. Also have a very talented safety team, refrigeration poses many serious safety concerns. About the only negative thing I can say is that some of the buildings are VERY old and require lots of work.

A typical day at work involves attending to machinery making adjustments, repairs, etc. We must carry walkie-talkie type radios and have to answer many calls, some unnecessary. I would much prefer a job which doesn't have this requirement. I have learned many things from Simmons, however, including how to repair many automation type machines, replace/repair electric motors both single and 3-phase, and how to use a TIG welder.
Management is the weak link to this job in my opinion. They seem to want to make it as hard on maintenance techs as possible, though much of the time we are unable to correct problems they have because of the size of the product, or illness in the birds.
I work well with other maintenance techs and have few problems with maintenance management; mostly, my dislikes involve production management.
The hardest part of the job is listening to unending complaints, micro-managed paperwork requirements, and the early time I have to be at work (5:00 a.m.)
The most enjoyable part of the job is seeing a machine which I have repaired working properly.

Safety:  There is no effort to promote it. Most have no forklift license some folks wear no vests. Limited sight with pedestrian traffic. Someone will get hurt here sooner than later. 

Training: Absolutely no onboarding or training. 

Management: Most of the (unnecessary amount) of warehouse management/leads/supervisors were hired on from another local WH. It’s a club and they let you know you’re not in it. 

HR is virtually non existent. 

Broken/poorly implemented processes, feels like leadership is throwing the proverbial **** against the wall to see what sticks. 

Information is not shared evenly, shift C may learn of and use new processes weeks before other shifts for example. 

No incentive for performance. No yearly or performance based raises. 

If you do make a mistake it will be publicly broadcasted, and your job will be threatened. 

Leadership will openly badmouth employees/other shifts and their peers with no regard who hears or what it does for moral. 

This may be a decent place to work in a few years until then it is a weekly nightmare of what did they come up with now? 



Freezer/ Warehouse associate (LTO)

Typical day: Wear a Freezer suit, face mask and gloves. Working in a freezer that's anywhere from 7°/-10°. Pick orders, load tucks, inbounds and process tunnel. You get 1 paid 15 minute break and an unpaid 30 minute lunch and everyone takes these at the same time now, mandatory!

Management:Went through three different Warehouse managers while I was there. Hopefully they'll get another one soon.

Culture:Micromanaging, denying time off request, mandatory Saturdays and backstabbing are now part of the workplace culture. If you are a young person with no family and friends this is the job for you. It takes years to get a raise. Someone who has been there 10 years will be making the same as you on day one. 

Most enjoyable part of the job: The coworkers are great. It's kind of an us against them mentality. 

*Highly DO NOT recommend the freezer or warehouse positions. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Supervisor 3 salaries reported	$56,667 per year
Utility worker 1 salary reported	$18.00 per hour
Plc technician 1 salary reported	$38.00 per hour
Nurse 1 salary reported	$24.50 per hour
Laborer 1 salary reported	$15.50 per hour

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