How Good is Your Company?

You’ve probably ready them in the trade magazines, you know the ones, the ones that report on how good a company is to work for. I’ve read them many times and know of many of the companies that they talk about. Business is hard and hats off to any company that gets a mentioned in those reports, you must be doing something right and it is a long hard battle to reach the top. Many times though the reporting structure is based on a variety of positions and people in the company and information received in ballots and so on. So you can take all of those factors into account before weighing the truth or you can work from your own criteria. Often you will find that the fleets mentioned have different types of operations and are really not competing against anyone but themselves. Now I am not judging the facts or asking for recounts or any such things. I just bring this up to ask you one simple question and the only answer that matters is yours. What do you think of your company as far as a place of employment?

Why did I ask you this? I asked you this to get your thought process going about your career. The only person that can answer that is you and you should be the only person that matters from your career standpoint. So how do you like where you work? First remember this is not a perfect world, and how people rate where they are will be different for everyone. For me a good company to drive for is a place where they give you steady miles with little wait time, good quality customers that understand the importance of a quality carrier, clean well maintained equipment, operational staff that has been in the driver’s seat and understands the frustrations and importance of the position. Finally you want a carrier that cares about their employees and their families. If there was a death in your family and you had to get home from a location 1000 miles away, how would they do that, would they expect you to return home on your own in due time, or would they put you on the first plane back home and take care of the truck later? If you can answer positively to these questions then you probably work for a good carrier and should be happy they treat you well. Every driver should do their own driver evaluation every couple of years to make sure the carrier you work for is meeting the career goals you have set for yourself. This will help keep yourself working towards your own goals and not be swallowed up by day to day operations of a normal truck driver.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a business and leadership consultant for the transportation industry.For more information visit his website at www.outridgeenterprises.ca