laborer

accountant

spécialiste en soutien technique

journalier de production

gestionnaire retraite

West Fraser

The employee turnover rate is HIGH for a reason... the actual work is easy to grasp and menial and mostly automated, though it does still require the ability to stand/walk for long periods of time, lifting/carrying up to 50lbs.

Depending on the shift you get two 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch.

Repetitive tasks that you only need half a braincell to do... you should have drive and the ability to do your work quickly though. Not at a snails pace. And follow instructions well.

Benefits, vacation, and pay are good, if you can look past the awful beurocratic nonsense, favoritism and gossipy coworkers.

Management though is an entirely different story, and creates discontent for the production workers, and severely decreases staff morale. They pile on the workload because they don't bring on enough people, and then blame and hound you when things go sideways or you aren't meeting production goals and standards. Nothing is EVER the supervisors fault...

You are constantly short staffed and there is little empathy for things outside your control that affect work...

Shift schedule that rotates unless you work graveyards, or are lucky enough to be an office grunt. Extremely difficult to change shifts, or branch into another area, even if your record is spotless.

They WILL try to keep you in your current position as long as humanly possible if you do your job too well.

Most coworkers are two faced and WILL gossip behind your back or Sabatage your safety record in some way.

Women get stuck in the planer mill or administrative positions, even though 95% of the work is automated, and men in the sawmill, yard or maintenance positions.
Definately a "boys club" with perks and preferences given to people who value working extreme amounts of overtime.

If you have a chronic illness, children or family you prioritize, you won't have a good time on this site and will be discriminated against and prevented from moving up.

If you are a minority or immigrant your chance of being hired is vastly higher, but you WILL face backlash from coworkers if your English isn't spotless. You MUST be able to clearly speak and understand/follow instructions otherwise coworkers will complain about you constantly, and yell at you.

Overall the environment is extremely toxic and has led MANY workers to go on disability, or flat out quit because they don't feel safe or valued.

The pay and benefits are good. But not worth it in the end when management can't get their act together. 

Due to poor management and no root cause fixes being allotted for machinery (instead it’s only patch work) production and maintenance crews will constantly be at ends trying to do their respective jobs. This will then be blamed on operators or maintenance personnel before recognizing that it’s the machine and it requires genuine work. If you don’t know someone expect to get scrutinized against at any little inconvenience whether it’s something you’re actually at fault for or not. Fully expect management to talk out of their rear to push whatever agenda they have. Intimidation is also not beneath certain management including harassment to the extent of workplace bullying. Some supervisor’s/Chargehands are honestly really awesome and have years behind them with good knowledge that will often go ignored by higher ups which is sadly just the culture here. Lots of decent coworkers but lot’s of airheads who somehow still have a job. Hours are pretty decent but the stress and expectation for west Fraser to be above all else in your life including your own health or family members is not worth it. Pay is good for what you do. Keep your head down and hope they don’t choose to target you.

I work for multiple manufacturing facilities in third world before Canada and staff treated much better and had more rights then what happen to us at West Fraser High Level. They work you until mind breakage here and then curious why hourly staff so anger often.  We work sometimes 90 hour week because not enough staff to cover vacation and sickness at High Level location, management does mentally overwhelm you with overtime as they don't hire enough staff to function mill. No good life outside work is possible because such poor staffing system, only 1.5 pay for extra time not enough for such large sacrifice to life.  Production boss's push all time for high numbers but no fix rotting decay equipment, just yell at poor staff to saden them.  Boss's make life so stress for team leaders then leaders pass stress down to us workers. Management is known notorious for nepotism activity.  Managers frequent brag about how big bonus will be for themselves, but hourly peoples be do all the work while large managers hide in AC office, but no bonus for workers, shame West Fraser try again better. Considering better employers for near future. 

The High Level mill has been spiraling downhill over the last few years, it was an ok place to work before West Fraser bought it from Norbord. The current level of nepotism at play within management is astonishing, it allows key players to act without accountability, conflict of interest is a major ongoing problem. There is some great team leads and middle managers however most departments are held back from reaching their potential as production management does not understand the process of producing OSB or managing people, this costs the mill allot of money and contributes heavily to staff turnover, today's workforce doesn't respond well to the unorganized, chaotic, hot tempered and emotional production management style. There are no leaders in upper management only bosses to report to. I do not recommend working for West Fraser especially the High Level location. Other lumber companies offer a better work/life balance, flexible scheduling, profit sharing, educational opportunities and more vacation time, consider your options. 

West Fraser was an awesome place to work. 
We would usually start out by locking out the veneer line, blowing down the dirt, dust, and debris with an air hose. Afterward we would break up into groups and go to clean up the hog, sawmill, bucking line and bucking line basement, and anything else that needed some work done on it. 
It was a very team oriented place to work, while still allowing people to work on their own. An example would be that we would break up into groups of 2 or 3 to clean out the veneer line. So, we would all be working on the same line, but each of us would have a separate task and usually be quite far away from each other.
Some of the West Fraser mills had blown up, because the small sawdust is just as flammable as gasoline, so we had to use air hoses that got a water hose hooked up to them. Altogether those hoses weighed about 50-60 lbs, so holding them up for long amounts of time turned out to be quite the challenge.

I spent many years in the military, I have lost good friends in conflict, I have lived with the fear of death 24/7 for months on end. I have gone more then a year at a time without seeing my family. I will say this, dealing with the production management at West Fraser High Level was significantly more stressful than anything I have ever experienced in the army. The lack of knowledge, professionalism and common sense is outstanding, almost every single conversation is confrontational, this isn't normal in a workplace in 2024. West Fraser needs to make a change asap or this site will end up losing every quality production employee they have. Management will try to get you to work almost every day, the OT is overwhelming, they don't feel production workers deserve days off, they are short staffed in every production role, West Fraser did not include human needs into their staffing calculations. 

I was on the sales side in the U.S. and thoroughly enjoyed working there.  The employee review was based on performance, with very little micro-management from the VP level.  As long as the job was done well, that's all that mattered.  Because of the industry, the money isn't exceptional, but the culture is very professional and respectful.  Benefits are in line with other companies in the U.S.  There are few women in the industry, and Norbord isn't exceptional in that area, though they were amongst the first to have a female President.  Those who are ambitious and prove themselves are generally given a chance to move up.  Hostile workplace behavior is not tolerated, at least in the white collar corporate positions.  I can't speak to the factory cultures, which can vary based on location and loval management.

Great people to work with, not so great to work for. The management has been there so long that they "know" how long every job should take, and will give you a real hard time if it takes any longer. It's difficult to get holidays, even if you ask for them many months in advance. Some of the machines are a little newer and not too bad to work with, while others have been there for a lifetime and seen a lot of neglect. Morale is very low due to how all the workers are treated, suspensions are handed out like candy. They don't have enough employees because people often quit, and not many people want to do overtime because they aren't happy. They have taken away entire positions just to save cost, ie)there were some knifechangers who had that title for many years, who were then demoted to clean-up and the job of changing knives was delegated to sawfilers and maintenance, who are already under staffed and over worked.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It was the incredible support and confidence building provided by all levels of management plus the great positive people that I was lucky enough to work with on a daily basis.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Dealing with a malfunctioning machine was not a fun time but learning how the piece of equipment works from another perspective( ie :a millwright's  view) was very informative and quite interesting for me.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
simply beautiful...I felt like I was part of a big family while at West Fraser. I was welcomed and treated with respect from day one. My opinions mattered and were heard and when I made a mistake it was handled with supportive and encouraging words. My supervisors were truly a great part of a well rounded and positive experience.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people where great to work for and to be around 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I was responsible for the weekend shut down and start ups of the mill and to make sure all the work was completed and verified prior to start up. In that making sure everyone was working safely. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It was good got a long with everyone. People were professional in there attitude both management and employees. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
There I would come in on Friday go over all the work request for that weekend and arranged parts, schedule and manpower to complete the tasks. Then set down with operations to make sure they were a where of the work that was being done and to set priorities.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Laborer 7 salaries reported	$30.05 per hour
Accountant 3 salaries reported	$55,863 per year
Spécialiste en soutien technique 2 salaries reported	$38.22 per hour
Journalier de production 1 salary reported	$25.50 per hour
Gestionnaire retraite 2 salaries reported	$32.00 per hour

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