A lack of local employees has led award-winning leading UK vegetable producer and marketeer, Greyfriars UK Ltd, to look overseas for workers to pack and harvest its fresh produce.
The North Yorkshire-based company, which supplies mushrooms to Morrisons and Tesco, has opened its own Latvian recruitment office to overcome the problem of sourcing local employees caused by *low unemployment rates in its local area.
The recruitment office in Riga ensures that Greyfriars’ foreign workers have the correct legal documentation, relevant skills and support to enable them to work in the industry.
Director C John Smith said: “We would love to recruit more local workers, but it’s extremely difficult in this region owing to the low unemployment rates. In common with other employers in the area, we are forced to look further afield for our workforce. As well as providing us with valued employees, the office gives Latvian people the chance to work legally in the UK and protects them from being exploited by agencies trading in illegal foreign workers.”
The company attributes much of its success to its valued team and has arranged accommodation, health and safety tuition and English lessons for its Latvian employees.
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