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Hormel Foods COVID-19 Response

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Hormel Foods has taken prudent action to protect its global workforce of 20,000 team members and its stakeholders during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Keeping Our Inspired People Safe

At all our locations, the well-being of our team members is of the highest concern and we have been proactive in communicating often to them ensuring that they know that it is okay, and encouraged, to stay at home when feeling unwell. In addition to our high level of cleaning and sanitizing as part of routine operations, we have implemented further enhanced sanitization procedures in all high traffic and high touch areas. Under the guidance of health care professionals, we will also be taking team members’ temperatures at our facilities.

Additionally, locations have on-site nurses who are available to answer questions, consult and advise team members and we are providing information to help our team members get access to local testing for COVID-19. Social distancing has been enacted in our manufacturing plants by having staggered start times, staggered break times and spreading out team members during breaks by using areas outside of the normal cafeteria spaces. We have also provided access to masks and personal protective face covering in our plant locations, providing further protections for our teams.

For more detail about our response to the cornonavirus outbreak, visit Our Approach.

Supporting Our Team

We have been a leader in our industry during this pandemic and are proud of the fact that since the beginning of COVID-19, we created a pay protection program providing paid leave and benefits to any team member who was feeling unwell, quarantined due to close contact or who tested positive. The first 15 days of Coronavirus-related absences are covered at 100% of base pay and if needed, subsequent days of leave are covered at our regular short-term disability coverage pay percentages with no limit.

This pay program has been instrumental in our ability to keep our team members safe. We have been proactive in communicating often to ensure they know that it is okay, and encouraged, to stay at home when feeling unwell or if they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. If someone doesn’t feel well, there is no financial hardship to stay home. Our efforts exceed the CDC and OSHA guidelines.

During this crisis, Hormel Foods has paid more than $11 million in special cash bonuses to its plant production team members who continue to work tirelessly to produce food during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Supporting Our Communities

This past March, when the pandemic began affecting communities throughout the United States, the company quickly announced a pledge of $1 million in cash and product donations to assist global, national and local hunger-relief organizations. Feeding America, Convoy of Hope, Conscious Alliance and food and hunger-relief organizations in the company’s plant communities were among those organizations receiving immediate funding and donations.

The $1 million donation by Hormel Foods was just beginning of its philanthropic efforts to help those affected by the crisis. Since that time the company has continued to give back and fight hunger in multiple ways including:

  • Daily Lunch Donations

    To help restaurants and senior citizens in Austin, Minn., home to the company’s world headquarters and flagship plant, the company has been ordering 300 lunches each weekday purchased from 12 area establishments. The company’s SPAMbassadors™ deliver the meals to seniors throughout the community. In addition, several Hormel Foods plant locations throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin have also ordered daily lunches for their team members to support local restaurants in their communities.

  • SKIPPY® P.B. & Jelly Minis Donation

    In March, the company partnered with Convoy of Hope and Feeding America to donate more than 40,000 cases of SKIPPY® P. B. and Jelly minis to help with COVID-19 hunger-relief efforts. The organizations swiftly distributed the product to people in need throughout the country.

  • Giving Back In Arkansas

    To help ease the effects COVID-19 has had on residents throughout the state of Arkansas, the company’s Skippy Foods plant, located in Little Rock, Ark., donated 40,000 pounds of SKIPPY®peanut butter to the Arkansas Foodbank, the largest hunger-relief organization in the state. The foodbank serves 33 counties in central and southern Arkansas.

Keep Covid Out

Adversity, challenges, difficult times that have only made us stronger, more committed, more compassionate. As an essential business, we were one of the first industries to see the effects of the pandemic and all that was needed to keep our teams and communities safe. We are proud to share our KEEP COVID OUT! informational and educational campaign with communities around the world at https://www.keepcovidout.org/.

Find a full listing of our COVID-19 related press releases by clicking Related News. For media requests or inquiries, please contact media@hormel.com.