Fostering Careers — Not Just Jobs — in Fresh Foods

By: Rick Stein, Vice President, Fresh Foods, FMI 

Job descriptions rarely make for compelling reading.

A big opportunity is to reset how we communicate about jobs to instead emphasize the potential for highly fulfilling careers.

This prospect is especially strong for fresh foods departments at retail. Let me explain a bit more about what I mean and bring in a few insights from FMI’s recent research to support my points.

Employee Engagement is Crucial in Fresh

I believe fresh foods is perhaps the most important part of the store for enhancing associate recruitment, retention and engagement. That’s because fresh is so important to the business of food retail. Last year FMI’s The State of Fresh Foods research found that fresh is driving many of the key retailer differentiation strategies for shoppers. This includes operating departments for fresh prepared/foodservice, meat, seafood and produce.

Moreover, the research found that food retailers were actively looking to expand space for various fresh or perimeter departments. Likewise, some food retailers expected to increase their labor allocation in foodservice and specialty fresh — think in-store butchers, “produce butchers,” and cheese mongers. I’m not surprised about these growth plans, because fresh is a key customer magnet.

How to Communicate Better about Careers

The importance of messaging about fresh careers rather than just jobs is paramount. Instead of saying that you’re hiring produce clerks or stockers, why not describe and promote what a career in produce might look like? Create an appealing vision that shows candidates possible career pathways. Explain that an associate may have the opportunity to run a produce department, become a buyer or director, evolve into a sourcing expert, and enjoy a fulfilling career.

Training Associates to Solve Customer Problems

Fresh-focused training is essential to supporting the success of fresh employees. Associates need to understand how to help customers meet their needs — which often involves providing support for identifying meal solutions. Retailers should help associates better understand consumer behavior and make it easy to overcome internal silos to enable merchandising that brings together components from fresh and other departments across the store.

The Supportive Role of Technology

Technology is playing bigger roles in helping to support fresh employees and drive their job satisfaction. Emerging technology such as artificial intelligence can assist in training and handle mundane tasks such as order management or dealing with paperwork. This enables associates to spend more time with higher-level activities like engaging customers and enhancing product presentation. I believe technology provides important tools that ultimately help increase employee retention.

Spotlighting Workforce at FreshForward

FMI’s upcoming FreshForward conference, August 11-13 in San Diego, will help further amplify the labor and workforce topic in fresh. The conference focuses on how to advance the fresh industry community, featuring opportunities for networking and collaborative breakout groups of attendees. FreshForward is FMI’s annual gathering of senior-level retailers and suppliers in the fresh sector. In addition to focusing on labor, this year’s conference will also spotlight opportunities for capturing meal occasions and supporting health and well-being.

I hope you’ll take the opportunity to register now for FreshForward.

Register Today