Replacing a staffing vendor is an important decision for any food manufacturing operation. While pricing and fill speed often dominate vendor reviews, they don’t always explain why positions remain open, turnover stays high, or production teams continue scrambling to cover shifts.
The strongest food manufacturing staffing partners understand local labor conditions, identify the causes behind hiring challenges, and help improve workforce performance over time. Before making your next vendor decision, use these questions to evaluate whether a staffing partner is equipped to solve the problems your facility actually faces.
Ask Questions That Reveal Diagnostic Capability
A staffing vendor should be able to explain why hiring challenges exist. A meaningful evaluation goes beyond fill rates and looks at the data, market conditions, and operational realities affecting your workforce.
1. Can they explain why your positions are difficult to fill?
If the answer begins and ends with “there aren’t enough applicants,” keep asking questions.
Today’s hiring challenges are more complex than candidate volume alone. According to SHRM’s 2025 Talent Trends report, 69 percent of organizations continue to struggle recruiting full-time employees, with 51 percent citing too few applicants, and 41 percent reporting candidate ghosting.¹ A qualified food processing staffing agency should be able to explain how those labor market realities affect your facility specifically, not simply acknowledge that hiring is difficult.
They should also discuss factors such as local labor supply, competing employers, wage positioning, shift schedules, transportation access, and seasonal hiring trends. Understanding these conditions helps determine whether the issue is sourcing, market competitiveness, or something within the hiring process itself.
2. What is their plan for fill-rate recovery?
Recovering from persistent vacancies requires more than posting additional job ads.
Ask the vendor how they approach fill-rate recovery. Can they identify where candidates are dropping out? Have they recommended changes to scheduling, hiring timelines, or wage strategies for similar food manufacturing facilities? Their answer should demonstrate a structured process rather than a short-term recruiting push.
The strongest staffing partners first diagnose what’s causing hiring bottlenecks, so recommendations are based on evidence rather than assumptions.
3. How do they measure success after positions are filled?
Hiring is only one part of workforce performance.
Ask what metrics they monitor after onboarding, including attendance, early turnover, assignment completion, and retention during the first several weeks. SHRM recommends measuring onboarding success through indicators such as time-to-productivity, retention, employee engagement, and early performance rather than focusing only on whether a position was filled.² A staffing partner that tracks these outcomes is better positioned to identify problems before they become recurring vacancies.
Evaluate Your Food Manufacturing Staffing Partner Beyond Recruitng
The best staffing relationships improve day-to-day operations. During your vendor evaluation, look for evidence that the provider understands how staffing decisions affect production continuity.
1. How do they plan for shift coverage?
Food manufacturing often depends on consistent staffing across multiple shifts.
Ask how the vendor prepares for unexpected absences, seasonal demand, or production increases. Strong partners should explain how they build candidate pipelines, maintain backup coverage, and communicate staffing risks before they disrupt operations.
Rather than reacting to shortages after they occur, they should have a documented plan for maintaining coverage during peak production periods and unexpected workforce disruptions.
2. What visibility do they provide during onboarding?
Hiring managers shouldn’t wonder whether new employees are completing the onboarding process. Ask what updates you’ll receive between job acceptance and an employee’s first day. Clear communication around documentation, orientation, compliance, and readiness helps reduce avoidable no-shows and delayed starts.
This visibility matters because early retention has a direct operational impact. According to Work Institute data cited by SHRM, approximately 40 percent of employee turnover occurs during the first year, making structured onboarding and regular communication critical for improving workforce stability.³
3. How do they evaluate local wage competitiveness?
Labor markets can change quickly, especially in regions with multiple manufacturing employers.
A staffing partner should regularly review local wage trends and explain how your pay compares within your market.
Read more: Build Fair Pay Systems for Industrial Teams
When reviewing staffing providers, similar promises often sound convincing. Asking the right questions makes it easier to separate recruiting activity from true workforce expertise.
A staffing partner that understands your facility should be able to explain not only what they’ll do, but why they believe those actions will improve hiring outcomes. That level of diagnostic capability is often what separates long-term workforce improvement from another short-term staffing cycle.
Know what you’re evaluating before the conversation starts.
Changing staffing providers should create an opportunity to strengthen workforce planning.
By asking practical questions about diagnostic capability, shift coverage planning, onboarding visibility, local wage analysis, and fill-rate recovery, operations, HR, and procurement teams gain a clearer understanding of which partner can support long-term workforce performance. A vendor who can’t explain your hiring market can’t fix it.
Horizon America works with food manufacturers to evaluate local labor conditions, diagnose the causes behind persistent vacancies, and build staffing strategies around long-term workforce performance — not just fill speed. If your current vendor can’t explain your hiring market, talk to a Horizon America recruiter before your next vendor decision.
References
- “Candidate “Ghosting” and Employer Competition Are Fueling Talent Shortages, New SHRM Research Finds.” SHRM, 25 Jul. 2025, https://www.shrm.org/mena/about/press-room/candidate–ghosting–and-employer-competition-are-fueling-talent
- “Employee Onboarding Guide, Measuring Success.” SHRM, 15 May. 2024, https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/topics/onboarding/measuring-success
- Maurer, Roy. “Career Development Gaps Frequently Drive Employee Turnover.” SHRM, 27 Mar. 2025, https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/talent-acquisition/career-development-gaps-frequently-drive-employee-turnover
