Milling & Baking News - September 21, 2021 - 14

TUES | 09 21 202 1
Food manufacturers navigate
wide-ranging labor challenges
KANSAS CITY - The breadth of labor
challenges facing grain-based and other
food companies, and the degree to which
the problem has worsened with the COVID19
pandemic, became evident across numerous
presentations during the recent virtual
Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference
held Sept. 8-9 . During the conference
executives of many of the leading consumer
packaged goods companies were asked
about the steps they are taking to address
the labor issue.
In most cases, executives said they
have been able to find ways to navigate
shortages. But the challenges, they
said, are wide-ranging and extend all
across the supply chain.
" I think what's interesting about it is
that the competition for labor and the
variables that will influence our ability
to continue to succeed in attracting and
retaining labor has probably proven
to be a little different than we might
have thought going in, " said Mark A.
Clouse, president and chief executive
officer of Campbell Soup Co., Camden,
NJ. " Of course, intuitively, you tend to
go to wages right away as your primary
lever to try to increase your competitiveness.
But what's been interesting is
we've tended to have more success with
- certainly, wages play an important role.
I don't want to diminish that - but there's
a lot of other elements that are going into
our strategy for attracting labor, whether
it's work schedule, predictability, whether
it is environmental things that we're doing
to improve benefits and other experiences.
And especially as you think about younger
talent that's choosing from a variety of different
entry points and hourly labor, those
things are extremely important. "
Pressure also comes from the temporary
labor pool, which is harder to differentiate,
he said.
" And the good news, I think, for us is
that the demand that we're seeing and
the predicted demand even beyond this
period is enabling us to convert many of
those temporary roles into permanent
14
MILLING & BAKING NEWS
" I think what's interesting about
it is that the competition for labor
and the variables that will influence
our ability to continue to succeed
in attracting and retaining labor
has probably proven to be a little
different than we might have
thought going in. "
- Mark A. Clouse, Campbell Soup Co.
have faced few issues. The challenges
have surfaced with some of the company's
external supply chain partners as well as
distribution centers and the transportation
network.
" And as a result, our service levels
in (North America Retail) haven't been
where we wanted them to be, " Mr. Nudi
said. " So what we've done is really revert
back to some of the processes that we had
in place at the beginning of the pandemic.
We have a daily control tower at the working
team level really tackling the issues
that are coming and getting after those in
real time. We have a senior-level control
tower meeting once a week, where we talk
about some of the big issues and where
senior leaders can help remove hurdles.
Just yesterday, I was on the phone with
what the industry average is. We look at
our labor schedules. So we look at, obviously,
pay but we also look at benefits and
the work experience for our employees,
keeping them safe, giving them their
liability. So all of that, we look at it on an
ongoing basis. And we have to deal with it.
" And that's the same issue. It's not just
the Hostess teammates that we control. We
also work with our suppliers, making sure
they have the same policies we have relative
to treating their employees, dealing
with their employees so that it's a sustainable
value proposition for our employees.
Now certainly, there's a disruption in the
marketplace that we're dealing (with) ... in
the short term. But over the long term, if
we have the right employee proposition, I
believe, we'll manage through it well. " MBN
bakingbusiness.com
full-time roles, which gives us a dramatic
advantage in attracting talent versus
what it takes on the temp side, " he said. " I
think the reality is though none of these
are silver bullets, right? You got to do it all
well. If you're going to succeed, and I do
think in the balance of '22 is going to be a
very important variable. "
At General Mills, Inc., Minneapolis,
it has been " all hands on deck, " said Jonathon
J. Nudi, group president of North
America Retail.
He said the company's internal plants
the CEO of a major ingredient company,
talking about an ingredient that's really
constraining one of our platforms and
allowing us not to run.
" So, well, it's really all hands on deck.
We're focused on this. We're confident that
our service levels will get better as we move
through Q2 and the back half of the year. "
Andrew P. Callahan, president and CEO
of Hostess Brands, Inc., said the Kansas
City-based company realizes employees -
like consumers - have many choices. As
a result, Hostess has an employee value
proposition.
" We look at our value proposition, " he
said. " The example would be our safety
record. Our safety, our recordable incidents
are 20% - or less than one-third of
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Milling & Baking News - September 21, 2021

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