order picker

operator

SunOpta

I had to leave a job I really loved because it wasn't offering the salary I required for my needs.  I found this company at a job fair and they invited me to apply.  When I applied, I made it clear I didn't have much experience in a warehouse environment, and they acted like they didn't have a problem with that.  In fact, they seemed all too eager to have me join their staff right away.  One thing that attracted me to this job was the fact that it was daytime hours and that I was only required to work 4 days a week, giving me time to pursue my dreams outside of work.

During orientation, they made it a point to say that getting used to performing physical tasks at this job takes time and that if you weren't physically fit starting out (which I wasn't), that was okay.  But I was in the warehouse for less than one week - ONE WEEK - before managers were jumping all over me and telling me I was going too slow.  

I didn't have anyone telling me I was doing the job wrong, just that I wasn't fast enough.  So much for them being so understanding when I told them I was new to this type of environment, or their eagerness to have me be a part of their team.  I told them again that I needed time to get used to it, but they care more about money and "numbers" than they do their employees and their progress.  This put a great deal of more stress on me because I needed the money badly and I really did want to be a great employee, and they let me go not because I did anything wrong, but because they weren't interested in letting someone new get used to a job they hadn't much experience in but were willing to learn.

It was losing this job that began a huge downward in my personal life and so many things went wrong, and they were outside of my control.  It had been the first time in 9 years that I became unemployed, and I lost so many things because of it.  I'm still having trouble recovering from what SunOpta did - again, I left a job I loved and wanted to stay at for many years for this job that let me down in so many ways.  All I have to say to the managers of SunOpta is I hope karma comes back to bite you.  You do not deserve to be rich or successful.

I would not recommend working for this company. There are a lot of office politics and heavy favoritism which means that even if you have a strong work ethic and do your job successfully, it will likely go unnoticed. There is very little room for advancement with little to no work-life balance. The management team is unprofessional (e.g. publicly reprimanding employees), manipulative (e.g. withholding opportunities from certain employees) and expects exceptionally long working hours (It is expected that work will be done on nights/weekends and 6am-6pm is average working hours). There was nearly no employee appreciation and morale was very low among employees. In the  time that I worked with this company, the atmosphere went from bad to worse and there was a lot of turnover (~2 employees/month). Workloads have continued to increase given the large amount of turnover and expectations are unrealistically high (especially if you care to maintain any sort of work-life balance). It has become exceptionally strict, micro-managed, and unpleasant , and breaks are timed even for exempt employees). Though the compensation/benefits were decent, they are not worth the invidious and strict work environment.The worst place I have ever worked.
Food and worker safety came second to production.

I would not recommend working for this company. There are a lot of office politics and heavy favoritism which means that even if you have a strong work ethic and do your job successfully, it will likely go unnoticed. There is very little room for advancement with little to no work-life balance. The management team is unprofessional (e.g. publicly reprimanding employees), manipulative (e.g. withholding opportunities from certain employees) and expects exceptionally long working hours (It is expected that work will be done on nights/weekends and 8am-6pm is average working hours). There was nearly no employee appreciation and morale was very low among employees. In the short time that I worked with this company, the atmosphere went from bad to worse and there was a lot of turnover (~2 employees/month). Workloads have continued to increase given the large amount of turnover and expectations are unrealistically high (especially if you care to maintain any sort of work-life balance). It has become exceptionally strict, micro-managed, and unpleasant (e.g. music is not permitted, and breaks are timed even for exempt employees). Though the compensation/benefits were decent, they are not worth the invidious and strict work environment.

SunOpta suffers from a top heavy situation where management tends to micro manage how the work gets done often changing procedure and not telling the workers that procedure has changed. Often times you are expected to succeed with a minimum of resources and sometimes with none.
The current issue with SunOpta is that training is being held to little to none where its desperately needed and the shoe gets thrown on the long term employees who are desperately trying to keep up with production demands as it is and they get told "you have to train these new guys" which would be fine if we weren't so critically short handed to begin with.
The latest (as of this review) issue is the large number of non-English speaking employees which management expects us English speaking employees to train mean while the things we are supposed to teach them keep getting changed not to mention that our work schedules get changed so we end up with random extra days we didn't ask nor volunteer for.
In general SunOpta is a frustrating and tiring place to work where the nice paycheck just barely balances out the high end tomfoolery.

For payroll your the only person that will physically be there and the person that is supposed to be there does not help or seem to do nothing the two seasons I worked there she/he didnt really help. The HR/HR Assistants always say they're going to the other plant when in reality they leave their job and come back later they are useless getting paid to do NOTHING! No wonder they have such a bad reputation with the employees. Too bad if your trying to really stand out in your job and help because you'll only work seasonal and will probably never have an actual permanent position.(and the lazy HR people just sit and take all the credit) As for HR assistants the two ladies that work the front area they are really cool/ fun to work with. But if you're in the look out for an easy day good pay for a few months go ahead take the job its really easy. The company lacks structure in the HR Dept. most if not all should be replaced. IS REALLY TOO BAD THE HIGHER END PEOPLE DO NOT REALIZE THE(LAZY LAZY)PEOPLE IN THAT DEPT.

A typical day at work is you work your location to the best of your training. Supervisors and Operation Leads are present to help you when they are needed to assist.

What I have learned is the process of Aseptic Packaging.

Management that I have worked with has always looked out for my best interest and safety has always been the focus.

Workplace culture, as in most places has its issues with communication. Operators at the base level have a tunnel vision while upper management has a disconnect and doesn't really see what goes on. Middle management plays the bridge between as best as they can.

The hardest part of the job is being that above mentioned bridge.

The most enjoyable part of the job is seeing the growth of the plant as a whole. 

After working with the infrastructure group with SunOpta for nearly seven years, I have been exposed to a vast array of learning experiences. The infrastructure team is very lean, and that leads to the opportunity to gain lots of hands on experience combined with on-the-job training. The position that I am in has also allowed me to have quite a bit of travel, including five trips to Europe. The lean aspect of our department can also lead to the need to work many long hours which can make a work/personal life balance rather difficult.

I have had the pleasure of working with some of the best managers of my career in this position which, at times, can make the long hours seem worth it.

They hire only managers relative It's understandable to be concerned about fairness and transparency in hiring practices. When positions are filled based solely on personal connections, it can raise concerns about equal opportunities.  A company's strength lies in its diverse and skilled workforce.  Prioritizing qualifications and experience ensures that the most qualified individuals are considered for positions.  This approach fosters a culture of meritocracy and professionalism.  Ultimately, objective hiring practices benefit both the company and potential candidates.  By focusing on skills and qualifications, companies can build strong and capable teams. This approach ensures a fair and competitive job market for everyone. 


A very toxic place to work, would not recommend this place- only work here if this was your last resort. The QA Manager plays favoritism and devalues good workers versus workers that only know how to sweet talk out of a situation. Coworkers would tattle tell on you in order to gain favoritism from the manager and look at your screen to see what you're doing even though you are doing work which proves that this place is even toxic than it needs to be. Everyone gossips at this site; workers are insecure about their positions which makes it hard to grow and develop to become better workers. There is no onboarding process- you are expected to perform without proper training which makes it extremely difficult. To make matters worse coworkers will complain to upper management if you can't be up to bar with them.

Good organization to work with. Typical day working with the people on the factory floor to learn the processes, people and conduct a long term assessment and assemble an annual plan for Continuous Improvement.

Learned many new processes and a totally different manufacturing environment than I was accustomed to.

Management was very fair to myself (a fellow manager) but there seems to be a large wall between management and the people on the floor.

Little acceptance by other managers to improve processes and help the people and organization grow. Very much the feeling of "if it was not invented here, it cannot work"

The people on the factory floor.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Order picker 9 salaries reported	$17.50 per hour
Operator 1 salary reported	$50,000 per year

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