Sharing the Road - Part 3

Carriers need to think digital to bring women into their ranks

Technology is transforming how goods move around the world, but there’s one corner of the logistics industry that remains stubbornly analog – truck driving.

 As carriers struggle to fill driver’s seats, it’s time for them to take a hard look at their practices, both in terms of innovation and gender parity. Today, only 6 percent of drivers are female, leaving a huge untapped opportunity for carriers to solve their labor woes and shake up an outdated industry. By encouraging more women to become drivers, carriers can reap the benefits of greater workforce stability and lower recruiting and retention costs, while presenting a good face to clients who also have women on their front lines.

If carriers want women to join their ranks, however, they need to keep up with other industries by innovating digitally to offer flexibility and support to women. But where do they start?

 How going digital helps women

 To better understand where truck driving needs to improve digitally, we went straight to the source. Last fall, Women In Trucking partnered with Sawgrass Logistics, a woman-owned firm, to survey more than 200 industry respondents about women’s experiences as truck drivers.

More than 90 percent of respondents were female and came from across the industry, including truck drivers, transportation and logistics firms, private fleet owners, recruiting and staffing companies, and professional products and services. Over the past few months, we’ve shared lessons from the survey to help carriers increase their numbers of women drivers, including key barriers to driving and ways to improve recruiting.

The key takeaway? The industry is failing women in many ways, from a lack of mentors to inconvenient training options. The proof is in the numbers: Women drivers reported an average Net Promoter Score (NPS) – a measure of how likely someone is to recommend the job to a friend – of just 11. Men, on the other hand, averaged an NPS of 75 – nearly seven times higher. To connect with women more effectively, digital innovation must be part of the solution.

Mastering the digital world

To truly support women, change needs to happen across the entire driver lifecycle and industry. Main areas of focus should include:

●     Recruiting: The vast majority of people hear about truck driving through word of mouth, with only 27 percent finding opportunities on social media, newspapers or online. For women, digital targeting is even more scarce – only 12 percent of respondents said they have specific marketing campaigns for women. By creating digital campaigns aimed specifically at women, carriers can connect with potential female drivers more effectively, while also creating a more positive workplace culture by showing that they value female talent.  

●     CDL training: More than three-quarters of respondents said that no online training was available through their program. Adding this option would not only give women more professional flexibility by allowing them to study remotely, but also help them feel better prepared by providing access to training materials anytime.

●     New employee orientation: From the length to the format, carrier orientation is putting a big burden on women. About 88 percent of respondents said that they had no online option available for employee orientation, 57 percent of new hires had to travel to attend, and orientations lasted up to a year, in some cases. Additionally, 27 percent of respondents had dependents at home, which included young children as well as spouses or parents, requiring them to make arrangements for their care while they attended orientation. To ease the burden on these drivers, carriers should consider offering some or all training online and limiting the length of orientation to 30 days.

We’re living in a digital world, and if carriers don’t catch up, women will go elsewhere. Carriers that modernize how they’re reaching and training drivers will have an edge, and those who don’t will fall further behind.

Watch for the last installment in our four-part series next month, where we’ll share strategies to keep women in the driver’s seat by improving workplace culture.

Sponsored by Women In Trucking and Sawgrass Logistics

Created by SmithBrown Marketing