Hostile Workplace?

By Sandy Long

There is some talk going around that trucking has a hostile workplace, and no, they are not talking about dealing with four wheelers! It appears that some think that trucking companies do not treat their drivers well at all, especially trainees. Could this be true or is something else going on?

Looking at the problem from a trainee’s perspective, one might understand how they may think trucking has a hostile workplace. The student or trainee, who has little or no clue as to what trucking is about beyond a couple of weeks of CDL schooling and watching Smokey and the Bandit, comes into the company with visions of being Jerry Reed and the idea that trucking is glamorous. Add to this that advertisements tout trucking as being an easy job and more like being a professional tourist than what it is; and then dump the trainee with a trainer who may or may not have more than a year’s experience and who is more than likely training for the extra money, and you have a recipe for disaster.

The trainee who perhaps previously worked in a structured environment with constant supervision, rules of company conduct and with a clear grievance structure in place, finds themselves thrown in with a total stranger in an 8x8 box 24/7 for a few weeks. Though most companies have a policy to deal with problems, few trainees know what this is as they are inundated with information during orientation and many miss hearing this part if it is talked about at all.

While there are some instances of a trainee being grossly abused by a trainer, most are personality conflicts and are understood by companies. If a problem occurs, the trainee can struggle or flounder around to find out who to talk with to resolve the issue getting more frustrated as they go. The same thing happens with experienced drivers who have not encountered problems before with any new company.

Looking at the problem from a company’s perspective is a little more involved. The company is going to be entrusting the trainee with thousands of dollars worth of equipment and payload. They have to depend on the trainee, once they go solo, to take care of the equipment and payload, and for them to do the job correctly and safely. This will not only take knowledge, but common sense and tact on the trainee’s part. The trainee, once solo, will be working mostly without constant supervision and will have to make decisions every minute on their own; there will be no one there to hold their hand.

A trainee’s training time is intense and must be so as almost every company has only so many trainers available and many students to train to keep their trucks moving. There is little if no time for fun and games that a trainee may have envisioned and definitely no time to lolly-coddle anyone. As in boot camp for the military, it is better to be hard at first and wash someone out early than to baby them and then find out later that they are unsuited to the job. Furthermore, training companies especially, have high equipment repair/replacement costs due to ‘rookie’ mistakes and high insurance costs due to the same.

Most training companies are large operations; some have multiple terminals with many office personnel. Turn over rates of drivers are usually high at the training companies as many drivers gain experience for a year or so and then move on to, in the driver’s mind, better companies and as trainees wash out. This, as it is called in trucking, “churning of drivers” costs the company thousands of dollars a year in hiring, orientation and benefit costs, and a great deal of frustration in the office personnel as drivers come in or call in complaining and raising hell before quitting for what ever reason. This frustration can lead to apathy on the part of the office personnel and a lack of the personal approach to drivers. Though this is not really a right attitude on their behalf, it is understandable.

While trucking can and does provide a good living for many drivers, along with a satisfaction that one is serving one’s country by keeping it supplied, in no way is trucking an easy job for anyone, driver or office personnel alike. Truckers face many problems both personal and professionally and expect their support staff in the office to listen to them when they have problems. Many companies have cut back on office staff and they do not have time to listen to a driver’s complaints with having to cover multiple positions themselves in today’s economy. This can lead to misunderstandings amongst the two groups and negative thinking.

Does the trucking industry have a hostile workplace? Yes, the very nature of trucking; the dangers of the road, the possibility of becoming a victim of crime any second and the loneliness and isolation of the job itself is the root cause of any sort of hostile environment found in the industry. Truckers have to have the tenacity to persevere in their chosen careers and to deal with the job itself. If one does not have tenacity, or the toughness if you will, coming into the industry, one must develop it quickly or they will not succeed.

Is this hostile workplace promoted by the companies? No, not in my opinion for all the reasons stated above. It is not to be thought that any company would consciously promote hostility towards its drivers in any fashion; it would not benefit them at all. However, at times hostility does occur towards drivers for some reason usually due to poor performance, ignorance of company policy, procedure and the job, or personality conflicts. Understanding the problem and why it occurs is the first step to correcting it.

?

?

?

?

?