There’s a labor shortage in many light industrial fields today—with food packaging and processing being one of them. Aside from the physically demanding work and shifting schedules, the growing skills gap leads to high turnover and makes hiring difficult.
In this article, we’ll talk about the best strategies to fill critical roles without sacrificing quality through a comprehensive hiring process, offering a holistic candidate experience, and building a strong workforce.
Why Does the Food Packaging Industry Struggle to Find Skilled Workers?
From afar, food packaging might seem repetitive and easy. Behind the scenes, this does not fully represent the industry. The food packaging industry is also responsible for food quality and safety—and this can only be achieved through dedicated teams who work tirelessly to ensure fresh products and convenient service.
The role of the workforce is vital in the industry, and any shortage of workers can be detrimental to the field. But why do companies have a hard time finding skilled workers?
1. Physically Demanding Work
Similar to other light industrial fields, food packaging can be tough and strenuous. It often requires workers to lift heavy equipment and products, repeat the process multiple times, and stay in the production line for hours on end. This not only takes a toll on one’s body, it could cause injuries. If not managed properly, it can also lead to burnout and job dissatisfaction.
According to Reuters, a USDA-funded study of 11 highly productive poultry plants found that while they indeed processed foods faster, 81% of their employees were at risk of musculoskeletal disorders.¹ This is highly alarming since productivity is crucial to business success, yet it may not fully support workers’ health and well-being.
2. Continuous Shifts and Round-the-Clock Operations
Food production is often an ongoing process, with multiple shifts to ensure maximum output. Aside from working at night, workers may also need to clock in during weekends. This can affect both a worker’s health and quality of life, making this job unattractive to potential candidates and younger workers.
Shifting schedules also have negative effects on sleeping patterns, which can lead to health risks. While most companies use this strategy, it’s not an ideal work setup. Eventually, this could decrease job performance and even lead workers to find other job opportunities with less grueling requirements.
3. Widening Skills Gap
The growing skills gap is not just happening in food processing; it’s a problem that many industries are dealing with. Formerly, jobs like food processing and packaging relied heavily on technical skills and physical effort. Today, most jobs are becoming more efficient thanks to automation tools, robotics, maintenance platforms, and other technologies.
However, it’s becoming harder to find candidates with both technical expertise and experience with modern tools. According to Deloitte, almost 2 million jobs in manufacturing, including food packaging and processing, will remain unfilled if employers aren’t able to address the widening skills gap.²
Read more: Bridging the Gap: How Companies Can Train Workers for the Age of Automation
4. High Turnover Rates
With physical demands, rotating shifts, and increasing skill requirements, the food industry is experiencing high turnover rates. Companies need to constantly recruit, onboard, and train new employees. According to Gitnux, the food processing industry has a high 20 percent turnover rate every year.³ Sixty percent of HR managers even stated that this is their biggest challenge.
Overall, managers, leaders, and team leads should focus on retention to ensure their teams are strong right from the start. This includes providing a productive yet healthy environment where employees can thrive in their jobs without affecting their health.
Read more: The Cost of Losing Workers: Why High Turnover Is Wrecking Light Industry Profits
How You Can Fill Critical Roles Without Sacrificing Quality
Quality doesn’t just mean exceptional products and services. It should also translate to the working environment, employees’ perks and benefits, and the overall culture of the organization. Your workers make up the majority of your company, so to ensure quality output, focus on your employees. Here’s how you can enhance both your business and your workforce’s situation.
1. Establish a good foundation for your employer brand.
All companies try to be in good standing with investors and partners. However, this should also mirror how employees perceive you as an employer. After all, your reputation will significantly impact talent acquisition, helping you find qualified candidates.
Employees today no longer find employers just for a paycheck. They want to pursue a career built on trust and founded on your company’s values and practices. For example, instead of solely positioning your brand as a poultry or commodity provider, strive to provide quality products. This can be seen through the practices you implement to ensure food products are clean, such as:
- Protocols and regulations
- Sourcing transparency
- Commitment to quality control
- Continuous investment in employee training
Read more: From Paychecks to Pathways: How Employers Can Win Talent with Career Growth, Not Just Salaries
2. Explore various avenues for candidate sourcing.
Since technology has improved over the last decades, sourcing candidates has become significantly more efficient. So why restrict your search to traditional spaces? Make sure to encourage your hiring managers and HR staff to look for candidates in different spaces. This includes:
- Social media like LinkedIn, Facebook, and even TikTok.
- Industry-specific communities and forums.
- Employee referral programs.
- Partnerships with trade schools or training programs.
- Job fairs and hiring events.
- Staffing firms like Horizon America.
The key is to access a wider talent pool, regardless of the source. This ensures that you reach more candidates and makes it easier for your hiring team to locate qualified individuals.
3. Use process automation and collaboration tools.
The recruitment process can be tedious, but these steps are also crucial in finding the best candidate. Automation helps your HR staff save time. It can also improve processes like candidate screening through accurate analysis and evaluation. Leveraging recruitment technology, like an applicant tracking system (ATS) or candidate relationship management software, also helps provide a better experience. Here’s how:
- Review resumes by finding relevant keywords, skills, and qualifications.
- Automate emails to ensure candidates are kept in the loop without needing staff to constantly send updates.
- Schedule interviews through calendar optimization, ensuring recruiters and hiring managers are available.
- Use chatbots to respond to frequently asked questions.
- Minimize document printing by using digital paperwork, making the entire process easier.
However, technology and automation shouldn’t stop with your recruitment and interview process. Consider utilizing modern technologies to improve collaboration and knowledge sharing across the company. You can also automate repetitive tasks like data entry or inventory management to boost production. Depending on your business, technology can assist your operations in many ways.
4. Maintain a strong relationship with your past candidates and employees.
Instead of relying solely on sourcing new candidates, consider your past applicants or even former employees. Not only do they have the required knowledge about your company, they also have already expressed interest in the role. If they weren’t given an offer the first time, they may still qualify for a different role that suits their skills better.
Many candidates are also sitting on the fence. You don’t always have to target active applicants! Some might be looking for a change of environment or a different role. Make sure to keep a database of your past engagements so you can tap them when you need to.
5. Analyze your hiring metrics.
Speed matters in recruitment, which is why you need to constantly adjust your approach and strategies to maximize output. While adopting the best practices can significantly improve your operations, achieving high retention is not an overnight success. Make sure to track KPIs like:
- Time-to-hire
- Quality of hire
- Offer acceptance rate
- Source of hire
- Candidate experience and satisfaction
- First-year turnover rate
Monitoring these KPIs ensures that you identify any bottleneck in your process and address challenges proactively. You can use tools like ATS, HR analytics, or recruitment dashboards to turn raw data into actionable insights. This can help your organization make faster and smarter hiring decisions.
Hire qualified workers in the food industry with a staffing agency.
Slow hiring can be detrimental to your success. Staffing agencies are experts in matching the right candidate to a specific role and organization. At Horizon America, we don’t just help reduce the time needed to fill roles—we also ensure that our candidate placements help your organization grow and succeed!
If you’re looking for workers in food packaging or other light industrial fields like warehousing or sanitation, contact us today to gain access to our skilled talent pipeline.
References
- Polansek, Tom. “US chicken, pork plant workers face higher health risks, USDA studies confirm.” Reuters, 11 Jan. 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-chicken-pork-plant-workers-face-higher-health-risks-usda-studies-confirm-2025-01-10/
- “Skills, applicant gaps threaten US manufacturing growth.” Deloitte, 24 Apr. 2024, https://action.deloitte.com/insight/3896/skills-applicant-gaps-threaten-us-manufacturing-growth
- Linder, Jannik. “Hr In The Food Processing Industry Statistics.” Gitnux, 2025, https://gitnux.org/hr-in-the-food-processing-industry-statistics/
