Working in a processing facility is cold, fast-paced, physically demanding and repetitive — which makes it a difficult sell in a competitive labor market. That reality has become more challenging given current immigration policy enforcement.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis projections suggest the labor market outlook for 2026 points to a cooling but stable US job market, with job growth receding from post-pandemic highs and unemployment ticking up to around 4.5%.

American Association of Meat Processors Executive Director Chris Young said one of the biggest challenges facing small processors remains the lack of labor.

“Trying to find people that want to work in the industry is hard, then finding people who already have some skill is even harder,” Young said. Running short-staffed slows line speeds, creating a ripple effect across the entire processing operation, ultimately impacting yield.

He said AAMP is looking at ways to offer meat processing training and schooling back to the high school level.

“What we keep hearing from meat processors is that the labor problem hasn’t just stuck around — it’s actually gotten worse,” said Mike Burica, chief commercial officer at WorkForge. “Plants are still struggling to attract enough people willing to do the work, and once they get them in the door, keeping them past the first 30 to 60 days is incredibly difficult.”

New-hire skills gaps processors point to are in the fundamentals: operator onboarding, equipment operation, sanitation and basic food-safety practices.

“Many plants still rely heavily on institutional knowledge,” Burica said. “Whoever happens to be nearby trains the new hire, regardless of their ability or competency to do the job, and that creates tremendous variation from shift to shift. That is why processors often see dramatic differences in key metrics between first shift and second, and third, as your most experienced and well-trained workers tend to work the first shift. Processors also highlight the need for stronger training around health and safety, changeovers and semi-automated equipment.”

Investments in training and employee development can help address worker retention, Burica said. For supervisors, it reduces the churn that forces them to retrain constantly and run short-staffed.

“From our perspective in learning and development, a lot of early turnover isn’t about the job being too hard — it’s about employees feeling unprepared and unsupported,” he said. “When people receive structured, consistent training that aligns with how today’s worker learns, they become more confident, more capable, and significantly more likely to stay. Better training helps stabilize the workforce and gives frontline supervisors a fighting chance to run their lines without constant turnover.”

Consistent training over an employee's career provides a stable workforce foundation, less turnover, lower recruiting costs and a workforce that feels supported from day one, Burica said.

“A poultry processor shared that packaging changeovers were taking nearly an hour every time because no two teams followed the same steps,” he said. “Another beef plant told us a large share of their early production issues stem directly from sanitation tasks that were never clearly taught. These are everyday operational headaches, and they’re largely solvable with standardized and sustained training.”

Standardizing how skills are taught ensures every worker starts with the same foundation.

“In margin-sensitive businesses like protein processing, that level of consistency can be a major competitive advantage,” Burica said. “When training becomes intentional instead of ad hoc, both employees and supervisors see immediate benefits,” Burica said. ”When operators know what they’re doing, you see fewer miscuts, mislabels, equipment jams, and quality holds, all the little things that negatively impact operational efficiencies. Well-trained employees handle changeovers more efficiently, keep equipment running within spec, and identify small problems before they become major issues.”

www.provisoneronline.com   |  january 2026