This Women’s History Month, the NTI blog has explored themes and policies that aim to answer one question:
How can we make trucking a more attractive and secure career choice for women of all ages, of all backgrounds, and of all family situations?
In our Women & The Wheel series, we examined throughout the month topics, best practices, and real strategies fleets can deploy to recruit and retain more women into their organization. We’ve featured voices of industry leaders in recruiting, HR, and other people-focused roles, as well as voices from female drivers. Conversations with real women in transportation have shed light on the importance of gender diversity in the industry, providing insight on how to best recruit and retain female talent in a quickly changing workforce.
Here’s a recap of the Women & The Wheel series and a few other resources you can utilize to evaluate policies and programs at your fleet:
➡️ Kicking off the series, NTI’s Leah Shaver in her monthly From Leah’s Desk detailed why it’s important for fleets at an individual level and for the industry at large to have this conversation. The three pillars Leah pointed to were: (1) Advancement opportunities and career development, (2) mentorship and networking, and (3) policies that promote financial and personal security.
She also cited the story of Professional driver, Candy Bass, served as an example of retention. In her fifty years and six million miles on the road, she went from noticing how few women were in the industry to how many women were finding life-long careers in trucking — a true testament to the potential for women to excel in all areas of transportation.
Read Leah’s A conversation during Women’s History Month article here.
➡️ Next up, Rachel Lovell, VP of People Operations at Ascend, talked about the power of mentorship and and how it’s a critical component of promoting trucking’s opportunities to newcomers and enriching the experience of drivers already in our ranks. Read more about Rachel’s career in trucking and her approach to establishing mentorship networks in this piece.
➡️Next, we recapped an insightful conversation about company culture and flexible polices, explored in AIM’s 2023 Women in Transportation panel. Patty Durkin, Chelsea Coleman, Angela Corpe, Lorie Miller, Jessica Deane, Marilyn Suber, Bethany Sanchez, Amanda Austin-DiMartines, Susan Lindstrom and NTI’s Leah Shaver touched on timely topics that impact women in transportation.
Keeping women in transportation requires creative solutions to problems that are unique to a variety of family dynamics. Policies like scheduling flexibility and paid family leave offer women choices and incentives that empower them to stay in transportation. During the panel, which can be viewed here, Chelsea Coleman, Senior Corporate HR Manager at Olympic Steel, detailed ways her company is supporting working mothers by adjusting their schedules to reflect daycare operating hours. Read more insights and watch the full replay of that discussion here.
A few other resources:
Last year during Women’s History Month, the NTI blog explored a variety of topics related to making trucking an attractive and secure career choice for women. Recap those articles here:
Trucking has an opportunity to lead with creative childcare benefits
Reflecting on six impactful years at Women in Trucking
Thanking women who paved the way in trucking history
It’s not complicated: Good pay, strong benefits draw women to trucking jobs and keep them there
Interested in more resources to promote gender diversity in your fleet? NTI aligns with and supports the LeadHER Alliance, Next Generation in Trucking Association, and Women in Trucking. Consider supporting and joining these organizations to utilize their resources and help them carry out their respective missions of creating robust mentorship networks, attracting younger drivers to the industry, and celebrating women in our industry and championing their advancement.
