Sargento named top place to work

As a leader in cheese for more than 50 years, Sargento Foods Inc. has been named, “Top Work Place 2010” through an employee survey sponsored by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The survey included 166 companies in southeastern Wisconsin with Sargento being honored as the top large company of 500 employees or more. In addition, special awards for specific companies were also determined based on answers to a variety of survey questions.

“We’re very humbled by this award and it means a lot to our employees at Sargento,” said Lou Gentine, chief executive officer of Sargento Foods, Inc. “Hire good people and treat them like family was the base of our culture when my father started the business in 1953 and it still stands true for us today.”

The Sargento culture that offers employees a work/life balance and a variety of opportunities such as paying for college tuition for full-time employees who pursue bachelor’s or master’s degrees, even if the degree is not directly linked to the job, is what helped the family-owned business win a top ranking.

In fact, one of the 1,400 Sargento employees who wished to remain anonymous credits becoming a better person and making his family stronger to the Gentine and Sargento Foods Inc. family.

Lou Gentine was also recognized with a leadership award as a direct result of standout responses to survey questions by Sargento employees.