Nature's Bounty, seeing surge in demand for vitamins, is set to hire 250
A Nature's Bounty employee works in the production area making vitamins and nutritional supplements. Credit: The Nature’s Bounty Co.
Nature’s Bounty Co. plans to add more than 250 jobs at its Suffolk County factories to meet increased demand for vitamins because of the coronavirus, officials said.
The Ronkonkoma company wants to fill the positions immediately.
“A majority are part-time and temporary openings” with a base pay of $14 per hour, said spokeswoman Nicole Hayes. “Demand for our products is up with the pandemic.”
The hiring spree by Nature’s Bounty comes as Long Island lost more than 262,000 jobs in April with the economy largely shut down to reduce the virus’ spread. It was the biggest one-month decline in employment since 1990 and equates to nearly 20% of the local job market, according to the state Department of Labor.
Nature’s Bounty, with 2,100 workers, is among the region’s largest employers. Its hiring plan is in sharp contrast with Altice USA Inc., Canon U.S.A. Inc., Macy’s, Suffolk Transportation Service Inc., Zwanger-Pesiri Radiology Group and others that have laid off or furloughed employees since the coronavirus struck.
Nature’s Bounty has been classified as an “essential” business because it makes vitamins and nutritional supplements. It requires social distancing in its 11 Suffolk facilities, has increased cleaning, and provides masks, gloves and other personal protection equipment to employees. Office staff are working from home, Hayes said.
Many of the new jobs are in production and distribution: managers, shift supervisors, maintenance mechanic, fork lift operator, porters, spreaders, bulk material handlers, line runners and label room attendants. Descriptions can be found at jobs.naturesbountyco.com.
“These open roles are a combination of existing positions and new openings as we do all we can to meet increased demand for our products,” Hayes said.
A year ago, Nature’s Bounty announced plans to add at least 100 jobs here as it moved work from Florida to Bohemia and began round-the-clock operations in Holbrook. The company’s products are sold under brand names that include Balance, Body Fortress, Ester-C, MET-Rx, Nature’s Bounty, Osteo Bi-Flex, Pure Protein, Solgar and Sundown.
James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.
