The COVID-19 pandemic led to problems with staffing shortages and worker absenteeism for Pilgrim’s Pride for much of 2020 and the early weeks of 2021. However, Fabio Sandri, president and CEO of the company, says he does not expect to have such staffing challenges during the second quarter of fiscal year 2021.
During a call on February 11, in which Sandri and other Pilgrim’s leaders discussed the financial results of the 2020 fiscal year, which concluded on December 27, the CEO was asked if the company was still experiencing absenteeism. Sandri confirmed that it was, but he added that he believed that would not be a problem much longer.
“We saw in November and December as a consequence of the increase in number of cases in the United States, that the plants (were) starting to have more staffing issues,” Sandri said.
“We were seeing some staffing challenges, especially during Q4. They are improving now. … We are seeing a reduction on that and we expect all of our plants to be fully staffed during Q2.”
Sandri said the company is seeing its workers get COVID-19 vaccinations, which are expected to lead to a workforce that is healthier and less at-risk.
In January, Pilgrim’s Pride and its affiliated company, JBS USA, announced that they would provide a $100 incentive bonus to any U.S. team member who voluntarily chooses to receive a COVID-19 vaccination.
With nearly 66,000 U.S. team members, JBS USA and Pilgrim’s pride had in place a policy of voluntary removal of vulnerable populations from its workforce with full pay and benefits. The policy resulted in the removal of approximately 11% of the U.S. workforce.
Financial results
Pilgrim’s Pride reported a net income of $95.07 million for the full 2020 fiscal year, down from the $456.54 million for the previous fiscal year. It’s net income for the fourth quarter was $330,000, down from the $92.2 million from the fourth quarter of the 2019 fiscal year.
The company saw its net sales increase to $12.09 billion for fiscal year 2020 after reporting net sales of $11.41 billion in FY 2019. Fourth quarter net sales for Pilgrim’s Pride were also up in 2020, improving from $3.06 billion to $3.12 billion.
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