2021 Produce Industry Compensation report offers insight on pandemic pay

Revealing wage trends during the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Fresh Produce Association has published the sixth edition of its Produce Industry Compensation & Benefits Report.

For 2021, the report includes a section of pandemic-related data covering a variety of topics including changes in compensation, staffing, company policies, and more, according to a news release.

For example, the survey asked employers if their overall company-wide pay been had impacted by their response to COVID-19.  About 10% of those polled said that pay was increased as a response to the pandemic, while 8% said their firm decreased salaries in response to COVID-19.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses of all sizes throughout the fresh produce industry to readdress how they manage and compensate their workforce,” United Fresh’s Finance & Business Management Council chairman Mike McGee, vice president of finance for L&M Companies, said in the release. “It has never been more critical to utilize data for informed decisions on effective hiring, compensation, and operations.”

Developed with input from the United Fresh Finance & Business Management Council, the report includes compensation and benefits data from fresh produce companies for more than 30 full-time positions in the areas of: Sales & Marketing; Production/Operations; Food Safety & Quality; Administrative; Finance & Accounting; and Executives. The survey informing the report was open to any U.S. or Canadian-based produce employer, including grower-shippers, brokers, wholesaler-distributors, importers, exporters, and fresh-cut processors, according to the report.

The survey reports the weighted average salary increase in the industry for the current fiscal year and the expected increase for the next fiscal year. For executives, the survey reported an average increase of 1.3% for the current fiscal year, but 2.1% planned for the next fiscal year. The survey also reports on salary increases for management, vice presidents, and all other employees.

All companies who purchase the report will have access to a secure and searchable online portal, which will allow users to drill deeper into the data and better tailor criteria to match individual corporate needs, according to the release.  Data is reported by ownership type (family, private, public); type of business; produce sales volume; number of full-time employees; and geography. Custom reports can then be downloaded as an Excel or a PDF document. Data from the report originated from a survey administered by expert research firm Industry Insights.

Companies that submitted data for the survey are eligible to receive a fully customized report and portal access for their company at the special rate of $195. Non-survey participants can order the final report and portal access for $495 for United Fresh members, and $695 for non-members on the United Fresh Website. For questions, contact Miriam Wolk, United Fresh’s Vice President of Member Services at mwolk@unitedfresh.org or 202-303-3410.