Promoting Diverse Populations

You can promote diverse populations in your workplace by encouraging women and minority groups to pursue a career in the trucking industry!

Need scholarship money for trucking school? The Women in Trucking Foundation offers $1,000 scholarships to women interested in a career in the trucking industry!

Women in Trucking Association's Redefining the Road magazine published their “Top Companies for Women to Work in Transportation.” The listed companies passed a set of criteria, including:

• Gender diversity
• Competitive pay and benefits
• Flexible hours

They also provided links to each of the companies if you would like to learn more. Even if you are not interested in employment by one of these companies, make sure to look them over so you can have a better idea of what fleets are offering their drivers! For more information on these companies, visit the Women in Trucking Association website.

The Diversity Resources website provides the following ways that your workplace can promote, include, and respect diverse racial and ethnic groups, as well as gender and sexual minority groups.

• Foster Respect: Respecting and accepting differences goes a long way when building a diverse workplace.
• Be Aware of Your Jokes: Make sure to never tell a joke that could be harmful to someone else.
• Say No to Stereotypes: Stereotypes can be hurtful, even when intended as a compliment.
• Get Cultured: Try to learn and understand other individuals' cultures and backgrounds.
• Be Inclusive: When making company decisions, make sure to include team members from all backgrounds.

According to the Women in Trucking Association, women account for 13% of all professional drivers in the transportation industry. Women can be put in uncomfortable situations—or even harassed or assaulted— during on-the-road training, as this may involve sharing a cab with others for extended periods of time. If possible, try to accommodate women by allowing and prioritizing a same-gender training policy.

Be more inclusive by providing equipment that people of smaller stature can use. Shortizens lists some items that trucking companies should try to provide for individuals with shorter statures or changes that Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) could make, which include:

• Redesign the button configuration so all buttons can be reached by the driver
• Seat depth is sometimes too long
• Have an option for making the pedals closer
• Increase the size of the sun visor for shorter drivers
• Make the seatbelt height adjustable

To help create a diverse and inclusive work environment, companies should be aware of critical issues that are occurring in the trucking industry. American Transportation Research Institute, a nonprofit organization that focuses on making the trucking industry safe and efficient, recently published a research paper “Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry” that discusses the top 10 issues in the trucking industry:

• Driver Shortage
• Driver Compensation
• Truck Parking
• Compliance, Safety, Accountability
• Insurance Cost and Availability
• Driver Retention
• Tort Reform
• Economy
• Detention and Delay
• Hours-of-Service