Investing in our People
THE NATIONAL PROVISIONER, DEC 7, 2022
Greater Omaha Packing’s workforce is a diverse, speaking more than 15 languages and representing 32 nations. Staffers total more than 1,500 people across the company and its affiliated divisions, which include:
• Greater Omaha Express (a trucking company)
• Trex Corp. (a global export company based in California)
• High Country Meats (a wholesale meat distribution company based in Colorado)
• and a rendering facility.
“People here are the foundation of our success, and because of that we are really aggressive out there in the market when it comes to trying to get the best people to come and work for us,” said Mohsine Gdid, vice president of human resources. “Our wages are some of the highest wages when it comes to our industry.”
In addition to medical, dental and vision insurance, Greater Omaha Packing’s employee benefits also include tuition reimbursement, daycare assistance and ongoing training programs.
“We offer some comprehensive benefits programs that take care of our employees and also their dependents, such as education reimbursement for them and their dependents through a local partnership with some colleges,” he said.
Greater Omaha Packing’s employee recruitment efforts extend beyond the Omaha metro area.
“We also have a lot of offerings to encourage people from surrounding states — and really anywhere in the United States — to come and join us,” Gdid said, adding that employee referrals of family members or friends play a key role in finding the company’s workers.
“We make sure that every single person that works for us — it doesn’t matter where they come from — has a voice,” he said, citing the company-provided childcare benefit that was the result of employee input.
Prioritizing employee fulfillment extends to Greater Omaha Packing’s management techniques as well, and Abell said his tenure on Greater Omaha Packing’s sales desk before moving to the company’s operational side helps him communicate to the staff about how their roles all impact customers.
“That knowledge of the customer, that knowledge of the product and the business as a whole has helped me explain things to our employees in the operations role, the maintenance role and even quality assurance roles,” he said.
