At Iowa Select Farms, we are wholeheartedly committed to the care of our people—our nearly 1,200 employees who tend to our animals and work in departments that provide service and support to our 800 farms. We owe all of our success to their care and dedication and pledge to be a good employer and continue to get even better.
We believe people care is not about one thing, it’s about everything. There’s a reason the Des Moines Register has designated Iowa Select Farms as a Top Workplace. Top Workplace awards are based solely on the results of employee-survey feedback administered by Workplace Dynamics, a research firm specializing in organizational health and workplace improvement. The survey measured several aspects of each workplace including organizational health and individual job satisfaction such as employee confidence in employer management and business strategy, company culture and appreciation of employee contributions to company success.
To earn this distinction, we start with providing our employees with competitive compensation and an excellent benefits package that provides family coverage for health, dental and vision, a 401(k) retirement program and paid holidays, vacation days and sick days.
And while we take our job as food producers very seriously, we also believe in having fun! Employees and their immediate families look forward to our spring and summer Adventureland and Iowa State Fair Family Fun Days where employees don’t even need to take a vacation day to treat their families to a full day of fun—on us.
It’s no surprise we love pork, and which is why we get even more excited to share it with our employees. Periodically throughout the year we give free pork loins and ribs to employees while also offering discounted pork buys.
Encouraging Growth and Opportunity
We believe in not only providing opportunities for advancement but also helping employees through the journey. Every employee experiences an in-depth orientation experience, followed by continued on-the-job training and development to fully understand their responsibilities and continually grow their job skills.
Employees receive all necessary certifications, including Pork Quality Assurance (PQA) and Transport Quality Assurance (TQA), and all managers receive ongoing Managing Employee Performance training to develop valuable management and leadership traits to help them succeed and progress upwards.
Production Leadership Program
We believe in developing employees and providing them with the tools, resources and training needed to grow and be successful. In fact, over 75 percent of our farm managers began as technicians and worked hard to develop their skills to advance their careers and take on bigger challenges.
It’s not uncommon to meet a manager of a 4,200 sow farm leading a 12-person crew who began her career as a part-time technician, or a finishing supervisor managing 75,000 pig spaces who began his career as an intern with Iowa Select Farms. This is part of the Iowa Select Farms’ culture—we help employees get the training and development they need, establish a pathway for growth and celebrate their success. Read more about Iowa Select Farms’ Production Leadership Program here.
Select Pride Program for Production Employees
Friendly comradery and competition between farms is part of our culture, and farm teams enjoy seeing their hard work and efforts turn into measurable results. Employees at the farms receive weekly reports that provide a dashboard of their production results, along with a ranking of where they stand against other farms in the system. At the end of each quarter, the top ten farms and supervisors are recognized as part of the distinguished Select Pride Program—the highest honor recognized by Iowa Select Farms. The top farm of the quarter receives the coveted “Winners Wish List” where they can select clothing for the entire farm, sign up for a special event or organize a group dinner to celebrate their achievements as a team.
Find our current job openings here, or request that a recruiter contact you to talk more about our career opportunities.
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