Attraction and Retention Strategies for the Meat Retailing Industry

Executive SummaryTable of Contents• Grass- and grain-fed product• Organics• Nutrition• Side dishes• Matching wines.This knowledge was evident in the majority of mid to high-end stores with training occurring bothinternally and externally. Training for these stores is a major investment, with staff members excellingin customer service due to the confidence they have gained from training in both sales skills andproduct knowledge.Due to the dominance of these fresh food supermarkets there is a very large wholesale sector for themeat industry in both Canada and America. These wholesalers supply both supermarkets and thefood service sectors.Workers in the wholesale sector are highly skilled in boning, slicing, trimming, bandsaw work, breakingcarcass, mincing, smallgoods making, value-adding, portion control and packaging. These wholesaleplants are usually very specialised with workers trained on the job in specific skill sets.The majority of these wholesale plants in North America are established in low socio-economic areaswith high unemployment rates so there is no shortage of staff to do these labour intensive low paidjobs. In Canada where there are skills shortages in the meat industry due to a resource boom in the oilsector, employers have had to come up with a number of strategies to attract and retain staff.Meat cutters and process workers can either be trained on the job or at colleges that offer full-timecourses in the industry. The only course that offers training in both processing and cutting is at OldsCollege, Alberta, Canada, with graduates from this program being highly sought after from all areas ofthe meat industry.The main themes around the success of attraction and retention in the industry are:• Communication and engagement• Training• Mentoring• Assimilation (immigrant labour force)• Career pathways• Flexibility of rosters• Stability.Pay rates are also a major factor when dealing with the issues of attraction and retention.From these findings the Fellow believes that there will be a significant skills shift in the labour intensiveskills that are currently present in the meat retail sector, and that these labour intensive skills will shiftback to the processing and wholesale sectors. The processing and wholesale sectors will need tobuild on their skills in relation to value-adding, slicing, trimming, smallgoods and packaging. It will alsomean that meat retailers will need to enhance their skills in relation to product knowledge and customerservice. This being said, independent Australian meat retailers are still far superior in their ability tovalue-add product and provide a point of difference to the consumer.i Abbreviations/Acronymsiii Definitions1 Acknowledgements1 Awarding Body – International Specialised Skills Institute (ISS Institute)2 Fellowship Sponsor2 Supporters2 Employer Support2 Organisations Impacted by the Fellowship3 About the Fellow5 Aims of the Fellowship Program7 The Australian Context7 SWOT Analysis8 SWOT Analysis11 Identifying the Skills Deficiencies13 The International Experience13 Visit 1: Olds College13 Visit 2: Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT)14 Visit 3: University of Alberta – Meat Science Unit15 Visit 4: YB Quality Meats16 Visit 5: Sunterra Meats16 Visit 6: Costco17 Visit 7: Cargill17 Visit 8: Safeway Head Office18 Visit 9: Calgary Co-op18 Visit 10: Beef Information Centre (BIC)19 Visit 11: Choices Markets20 Visit 12: Walmart21 Visit 13: Superior Farms21 Visit 14: Pete’s Fresh Market Chain22 Visit 15: Fox & Obel23 Visit 16: Whole Foods Market23 Visit 17: Wegmans24 Visit 18: National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show 201124 Visit 19: Hunts Point25 Visit 20: Lobel’s of New York26 Visit 21: Citarella