production

production supervisor

maintenance mechanic

laborer

maintenance technician

Smithfield Foods

There's a ton to learn if you work here, I started as a mechanic and quickly moved into the electrician position.
I learned a significant amount of troubleshooting and how to figure out in depth problems.
This facility contains a massive amount of equipment so if you're new this is an excellent place to learn, albeit much of the learning will have to be self taught beyond basic troubleshooting.

They said we got some Saturdays off when I started and I think we had maybe three off in the 3.5years I worked there.
There was also a point in time where I was the only electrician for a couple months on 2nd shift, I was also stuck on several mandatory Sundays due to the lack of employees and being new.
Overtime was almost always available, you can move into a supervisor position relatively quickly due to the turnover rates, I wouldn't recommend you move up unless you're just wanting the experience.

The wages have gone up since I left and they now pay electrcicians a little more than regular maintenance which is something that should have been done long ago due to the massive work load put on the electricians as they're the final line in troubleshooting.
Supervisors tend to be incompetent when it came to electrical as many of them at the time were mechanics, the head supervisor at the time would just tell us to "get it done" because "it's your job".. meaning you were on your own for the in depth issues making it quite stressful at times.

This place isn't family friendly, you will get points for everything from short notice doctors appointments to going to your kids sports unless you have vacation to use.
I was overly honest when I messed up, they didn't like that either and because of that most of the guys would like to cover their mistakes.

Several mechanics and electricians would try to "pass the buck" on you, either claiming it's electrical because they didn't want to diagnose or outright not fixing/ignoring calls.
Supervisors did nothing to reprimand lazy employees who would pass on work, especially when it's their buddies, but would complain when you had down time once in a while.
Can't forget to mention the cameras everywhere and some of the bosses will sit and watch you every second they get, which adds a bit of micromanagment.

In the end I'm glad I worked here because I feel I became a significantly better troubleshooter, the skills I attained while working in this facility put me above the majority of maintenance I've worked with allowing me to teach others and put things into layman's terms for green employees.
This place is excellent for learning, entrylevel maintenance and if you like tons of hours or need money.

The floor employees are amazing and some of my coworkers were great people, I really miss a lot of the amazing floor employees and immediate supervisors.

I don't normally blame management but in this case the extra work due to other employees doing less than they're capable of can really put excess weight on a person.
To add their current engineer has a degree in business management and somehow moved up from the parts room without ever turning a wrench.
They need more leaders and less bosses in maintenance.

I was seriously excited to start working here, but it didn't take too long after orientation began for me to realize that this was not the job for me.

The pay set up is amazing, you get time and a half after 10 hours in a day, regardless of what your actual hour count is, Saturdays are automatically time and a half, and Sundays are double time.

Harvest runs about 10 hours, and they have Cut floor trimmed down to roughly 8 hours a day.

But that's about where the good news ends.

You have to clock out for bathroom breaks, and the attendance policy sucks. If you miss a day without an excuse, you accrue 2 attendance points (10 points leads to termination), and it takes 3 months without missing a day to earn 1 of those points back, 6 months without a missed day to earn both of those points back.

For the entire week I was there, my ID card never did work. It still wasn't working the last day I went in.

Be aware, if you work Harvest, you will have to BUY your uniform... Enough to get you through the week, and take care of the upkeep of those uniforms yourself. Plus, all the PPE you're given is extremely sup-par, but if you can always choose to upgrade to the better equipment out of your paycheck. (If you want to feel like you're working for the company store, you've come to the right place.)

The location I was at was an extremely old building, with a lot of stairs to get from one end of the building to the other - or you could always walk across the extremely busy yard (dodging trucks and such) to avoid the stairs. It was also being remodeled, and the PPE room was in the box shop on the very top floor - up yet more stairs.

This does not include the nearly mile long and exposed walk to get from the parking lot, through the turnstiles at the guard house, and to the building itself. It was winter when I was briefly working at this location, and that walk was grueling due to the cold temperatures at the time.

This location also thrived on a tattle tail culture. If you're off the clock, say at home hanging out with friends, and you say something that doesn't align with company values, make sure none of your friends also work with you because it is encouraged that your friends run to HR and tattle on you for not upholding company values while off the clock and on your own time.

If a coworker sees a post from you on social media that goes against company standards, again it is encouraged that they run to HR and tattle on you.

Sounds like an amazing place to work for, right? *heavy sarcasm*

I feel like the point system would be excellent if no matter what you will receive a point if you not working . Late from breaks and lunch that’s just irresponsible. So that’s understanding. From experience one night I was working on the line andouille of no where my stomach start turning I ran to the trash can and threw up and the supervisor made me leave the room told me to go home and I felt better I didn’t ask to go home I received a point it was out of my control. I don’t see how anybody would had the heart to give someone a point after seeing what happen another time I got dizzy was about to fall went to the nurse I was scared about what was going on with me asked them if I go straight to the hospital get checked out and bring the papers on them would I receive a point they said yes. I feel like they don’t care if you pass out dead ambulance picks you up if you still living and return to work you will have a point waiting for you. I feel points should be non emergency situations. They took a shift out that I had my life set on 3rd microwave by me being a single mother that was the best shift for me a lot of single mothers ended up with no job homeless and jobless because of a over night change no notice and gave false notices  for 4 months that they was working on bringing it back. I struggled through the 4 months trying to hold down 1st and second shift with trying to be a mom and be there for my kids. I feel the hours are not so open or flexible for single moms the hours are for people with no kids or men that they kids are with mom. It’s like Smithfield is not for full time Mother’s. I ended up having to leave because of this after close to 5 months a few days ago. Had vocation time wanted that on my check I put in hard work over my year and some change of being there I wanted that in a check while leaving the company to have something to help me with rent and kids vocation that I did earn working there. They told me I lose it by leaving . I feel hurt at how I was done when I worked for this company and did my best.

As Farmland, this company was ok to work for. They didn't require any previous experience to get into maintenance, which is a great trade to be in. But now under the ownership of Smithfield, it is the worst place I've ever worked. Mandatory 6 day work weeks for the majority of the departments. HR has no clue what their own handbook says and changes policies so quickly that in the morning it's one thing, then by noon it's completely different. Never have I seen an employer so clearly give no concern for employee well being and only care to make that extra buck, no matter who they run into the ground to do it. Great employees enter, broken people leave. Management can't keep information straight even amongst themselves and offer little to no help to employees. Many people forced to run multiple people jobs by themselves and are then punished for failing to keep up with the expectations of upper management. It's no wonder the turnover rate is so high here. I see a group of 20 new hires in orientation on monday and by wednesday maybe 6 of them are still there. Most places now pay the same if not more. All jobs are grade based pay so expect to see lazy employees making more or the same as hard working employees. The only "reward" for hard work is a bigger work load with zero compensation. To put it simply, at least the hogs in the barn are treated well because the employees certainly are not. There is hardly any time off offered and vacation scheduling is a joke, 1 week only that has to be requested a year in advance. 2 weeks vacation is offered after 5 years there and now your 3rd week (which used to be offered at 5 years) is now after 9 years there. Don't waste your life away here, because that's what this company is...a waste of your life never seeing family or friends. You're better off working multiple part time jobs than selling your life to this joke of a company.

A typical day at work for me was long I worked in a department that was twelve hour shift It will wear you out after a while I worked where it was cold but as long as your working you won't be cold when I worked there it was too much confusion as to who my own supervisor was because they seemed to be moving around I believe that if I wouldve continued to work out there my hand would be a little damaged as it looked like a cyst was forming on my hand from using the whizzard knife on the rib line the ribs (I don't know if things changed form now till then) would be literally touching each other or a few centimeters apart forcing you to put more stress on your body to cut the meat and for me that was really bothering my wrist and the supervisor knew that the job was bothering me and still had me do it. Their was someone in particular for the job and the supervisor would flat out lie and say that no one has a job title so I have to do whatever job she says but last time I checked my check stub it said trim skirt meat not whizzard knife operator even after going to HR they would believe her side and do nothing knowing what I know now I would've took it above their heads and reported them to corporate. I don't suggest people work out there long as far as making it a career because the money is fast paced but some departments you have to put up with nonsense and some departments are laid back just depends on where you work.

I worked on the hamboning line the transferred to the specialty rib line.

The work is very repetitive. If you get stuck with lazy or slow workers you’ll have to pick up their slack. Breaks are too short. By the time you get the PPE and frock off and get upstairs you’ll have about ten minutes for your body to rest. It is very cold especially if you get put on a job where you can’t walk around. Your feet will sweat and will make your feet very cold. The boots that are provided are horrible and even with insoles your feet will still hurt. The work place culture is horrible just about everyone there will talk bad about you. It is a factory job so if you’ll have to deal with lower IQ individuals. 
This place has a very high turnover rate with most of the new hires quitting within their first week or two.
The management is very bad with most of the supervisors and the floor manager talk bad about you to each other and with the line workers. 
The production line moves pretty quick so there’s not a lot of standing around and doing nothing unless a piece of machinery breaks. 
If the line stops because of equipment breaking you’ll be sent to break early making for a long shift. 
They do have vending machines upstairs but most of it is junk food and it’s over priced because of the convenience.
You do get paid time off and vacation days. The insurance is cheap and pretty good. 
Overall I would only recommend working here if you are hard up for money otherwise get a job that pays a little less but is easier on the body.

● Supervised the retention of employees through monitoring points, eradication of FMLA approved absences and employee relations.
● Maintained employee relations with Monolingual-Hispanic employees by executing and conducting disciplinary actions, employment hearings, orientations.
● Oversaw disciplinary actions as well has hand out disciplinary actions in accordance with policy.
● Handled issues of management, such as time and labor, recruiting new personnel, organizational restructuring , and hourly employees.
● Represented Smithfield in the face of Labor Unions such as UFCW, in order to appropriate hand our disciplinary actions in accordance with policy, ethics and precedence in the presence of Union officials. Oversaw internal promotions and job application processes.
● Translated and interpreted official company documents to monolingual employees and Labor Union Officials.
● Saved company financial assets through winning unemployment adjudications.
● Proficient working with SAP, Lotus, Kronos, PeopleSoft.
● Administered drug testing to employees, for purposes of random testing and post injury admissions of use.
● Terminated employees if offenses or policies deemed necessary. Common violations were attendance, positive drug testing and policy infractions.
● Administered new hire training to incoming employees during orientations, and FMLA and Ploas to current employees.

When I got an interview I showed up early and was harassed by the guard shack and never made it passed that cause I did not know the name of who I was going to interview with in the H.R. dept. I then went home and called H.R.and was rescheduled the next day. And every step after that was a struggle such as ( getting thru turn style for first 2 weeks, parking pass, uniforms, PPE ). Then my first day of employment I went to break with my partner and when we returned to  the job all my personal stuff was thrown into the garbage ( jacket, gloves, and tools ). When I think about it I do not know why or how I stuck it out so long. The first month of employment felt like 6 months.  Shift started at 5:45 am meeting in the morning followed by some stretching. So work actually started about 6:30. The only thing I learned there was that I will no longer eat the bacon, ham, brats, sausage well lets just say anything they make. Management....that,s funny, turn over rate is very high, management and maintenance jobs always available. NO ACCOUNTABILITY if you like to continually repair the same things over and over than this is the job for you. No communication and everything is a priority with  poor planning. The only plus is I did meet a few good people there. Myself after working there can not believe they actually make money and have not been shut down by OSHA and if that did happen i would not be surprised.

The pay might be decent, but working at Smithfield is frustrating and completely draining. They don’t train you — you’re expected to figure everything out on your own, and then they get mad when you make a mistake. I’ve been yelled at for doing things “wrong” when no one ever even showed me how to do them in the first place! 😤

Breaks are confusing on purpose. You’re told it’s a 15-minute break, but if you step off the line at 9:05 and come back at 9:20, you’re in trouble. Turns out they expect you back at 9:15 — so it’s really a 10-minute break. No one explains it, they just wait to punish you for it.

The red and blue hats are on a constant power trip. They talk down to workers, treat people with no respect, and act like they’re above everyone else. I’ve seen people get fired over the smallest things — no warning, no write-up, no conversation — just pulled aside and let go with no explanation.

And don’t expect a supportive team either. A lot of coworkers will say rude things about you right in front of you, assuming you can’t hear them over the loud machines. You can. The judgmental looks, the eye rolls, even the yelling — it’s nonstop. They expect perfection but offer no help at all.

If you’re just here for a paycheck, you’ll survive. But if you’re looking for respect, communication, or a decent work environment, this place will wear you down fast. 

Welcome to Smithfield! Say goodbye to any expectations of having a fair work/life balance. This is NOT a family oriented company, or one that considers the needs of their employees. 
You'll be required to work 10, 12, or more hours a day, weekends, on call, especially if you're a salaried employee. I get that it comes with the type of industry the company is in, but it wouldn't be a problem if the compensation wasn't so low! 
The Salaries they offer are a joke for the amount of work and responsibility that will be required from you. This in turn makes an employee not even want to pursue higher education or any type of industry certifications, especially if the company won't take that into consideration when it comes to raises or pay negotiations. 
Work culture morale is low. You'll have to constantly watch your back since even your team members will be against you. Don't expect anyone to give you a helping hand or any type of mentorship. 
If you're expecting a job where you'll love what you do, and enjoy the camaraderie of your fellow employees, keep searching because you won't find it here!






Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Production 1 salary reported	$17.65 per hour
Production supervisor 1 salary reported	$60,500 per year
Maintenance mechanic 1 salary reported	$29.33 per hour
Laborer 6 salaries reported	$15.75 per hour
Maintenance technician 1 salary reported	$22.50 per hour

Working at Smithfield Foods: Company Overview and Reviews

Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods Ratings

Popular jobs at Smithfield Foods

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected