Pros
The team in North East is great! Pay for hourly is competitive.
Cons
There is a noticeable disconnect between senior leadership and the teams on-site at NEDC. New executives made little effort to engage with staff or understand day-to-day operations. Instead, they chose to insult the entire leadership staff by comparing them to dogs, setting a tone that felt dismissive and disconnected. Feedback provided during recent organizational changes was largely ignored, even when it directly related to how staffing cuts would impact key business functions. Unsurprisingly, those concerns have since become reality—operational efficiency has suffered, and basic workflows are now strained. Post-restructuring, the lack of follow-through and visible leadership has continued. Leadership visits to the site are rare and typically transactional, with very little (if any) time spent connecting with frontline managers or teams. Promises to engage more directly with NEDC leadership and staff were made but ultimately not kept. This kind of surface-level involvement sends a clear message about priorities, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by staff. There’s a growing sense of frustration among both leadership and hourly employees. Key people are leaving, and morale is dropping. Hourly staff are particularly discouraged due to limited PTO, lack of development opportunities, and the removal of previously available benefits. In a competitive job market, there’s little reason for hourly employees to choose or stay with Smithfield when other companies offer more attractive and supportive environments. Work-life balance for most leaders is non-existent. While some managers have a manageable workload due to inconsistent expectations, others are expected to be available around the clock (though they have around the clock counterparts), creating unnecessary stress and burnout. Communication and role clarity are also issues—teams often find themselves handling responsibilities outside of their scope without clear rationale or support.