Employees

"A company in and of itself is little more than buildings, machinery, and product, but it gets its life, its dynamic qualities from its most important and vital assets, its people!"
- Arthur Wolcott, Founder

Seneca's highly qualified and dedicated employees are key to our leadership position in the industry. We strive to attract and maintain a workforce that enriches our team and supports our commitment to customers and the community.

We employ more than 3,000 year-round and up to 7,000 seasonally in diverse growing regions, supporting our business at many levels. We have employees involved with agricultural research, seed production, and growing relationships with farmers in the field. Our employees on the plant floor are dedicated individuals, working in areas such as quality assurance, maintenance, distribution, and operations management. Our corporate employees also have many different roles that strategically support the business.

At Seneca, we invest in our employees at every step in their careers, with the goal of maximizing their potential and ensuring they remain focused on the long term. We provide apprenticeships and internships that broaden skills and offer practical work experience. We also strive to continually reinforce our fundamental beliefs and help contribute positively to the greater community. 

Employee Training and Development

Because we hold everyone to high standards, we do our best to support and inspire through our educational programming. We have developed programs to empower everyone with the skills to make a difference.

Two key programs are GROWS (Get Rid of Waste Systematically) and SAVES (Seneca Adding Value Employee System):

GROWS is a nomination-based development training program designed to expand each participant’s knowledge and view of Seneca and foster a culture where employees think openly about problems. 

Training includes the application of a methodical process for problem and solution analysis. This program strives to promote a deeper understanding of the value and impact of leadership, teamwork, communication, and continuous improvement.  

The selected employees are encouraged to embrace life-long learning as a means of overcoming a natural resistance to change and as a gateway to reaching their full potential. 

SAVES supports Seneca's "Process Excellence" roadmap by providing an action oriented process improvement plan founded on systematic lean problem solving, disciplined waste elimination, superior cost management and iterative continuous improvements across the organization. 

SAVES is committed to supporting the professional development and personal growth of Seneca's employees by providing education, training and direct coaching on the application of lean tools and methodologies. SAVES fosters Seneca as a learning organization by promoting reflection, self-assessment and learning from our experiences. 

Employee Spotlight: Learn more about our people who embody the Seneca Difference

Wellness

Seneca always maintains the highest standards for protecting the worker and the environment. We offer a variety of programs to our employees and provide opportunities to improve their health and wellness. A few examples include:

• LifeBalance - helping employees manage personal and work issues
• Biometric Screenings - helping employees identify health risks
• On site Flu shots

Safety

We strive to maintain the safest workplace possible for our employees, visitors, and contractors. We believe that the success of a good sound safety environment begins with our employees. We promote and encourage safety involvement at all levels of the company where employees can come together to help identify and resolve hazards. We provide the necessary safety knowledge through in-depth training and enactment of Seneca's HERO (Health Environment Risk Observation) where we achieve close to 100% participation.

We conduct annual safety audits at all locations to ensure compliance with Seneca and OSHA safety standards. Reports are written on the findings that identify the strengths and weaknesses of our safety program. In addition, Seneca is partnered with outside risk management services to achieve optimal compliance and management of a safe working environment. As a result, we continuously outperform national averages for recordable and lost time injuries.

Transparency in Coverage Rule

As part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), new Transparency in Coverage rules have been established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), including a multi-year initiative that requires health plans to share contracted prices for all health care items and services.

To comply with the Transparency in Coverage rule, as a self-funded employer group , Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS)  will provide the following information on their website:

• In-network provider contracted rates for items and services
• Out-of-network allowed amounts and billed charges for items and services

The rates are for commercial products only and for plan/policy years beginning on or after January 1, 2022. At this time, rates are for medical items and services only and will not include pharmacy costs.

To access contracted prices for all health care items please visit:  https://www.excellusbcbs.com/transparency-coverage-mrf.com

The best user experience for Excellus BCBS members will be to login to their online account to access our cost estimation tool.