As the national labour shortage threatens to impact on supplies of meat and poultry, Soanes Poultry has invested in a training facility at its Middleton on the Wolds factory.
The training hub is one element in a series of initiatives to recruit and retain employees and is run in partnership with Hull based recruitment specialist, Sutton Recruitment.
Soanes Poultry’s MD, Nigel Upson said: “Over the last two years, we have invested £1.5 million to increase capacity due to consumer demand, and now we are having to reduce the number of chicks that we rear because we don’t have the labour to process them.
“Brexit and coronavirus have created a perfect storm that has resulted in 1.3 million EU workers returning to their own countries and this has had a significant impact on production.
“In addition to the training hub, we have introduced several initiatives to encourage new recruits, including flexible ‘school day shifts’, refer a friend incentives, a training website and guaranteed career progression for the right candidates.”
Soanes are currently recruiting full time and part time packing and processing operatives.
Yorkshire poultry business invests in training hub as labour shortage bites
By Chloe Ryan
Chloe Ryan
Editor of Poultry Business, Chloe has spent the past decade writing about the food industry from farming, through manufacturing, retail and foodservice. When not working, dog walking and reading biographies are her favourite hobbies.