by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Mar 19, 2024 | BLOG
The Canadian trucking industry currently shows over 20,000 vacant driver positions, according to a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). And 34,300 truck drivers were expected to leave the industry in 2024, according to Trucking HR Canada’s Labour Market Snapshot: November 2022. As the trucking industry struggles with how to solve the increasing driver shortage, many companies are taking a different approach to recruiting.
The demographic pool is widening as organizations focus efforts on hiring veterans and recruiting young talent out of school, but there is one key demographic the industry is ignoring. According to data from Omnitracs, women account for only nine percent of drivers. The opportunities are endless when it comes to recruiting women truck drivers, but it doesn’t stop at just filling the driver’s seat. When you do the analysis, women are a proven asset to organizations, as female drivers have lower turnover rates, fewer accidents and more miles logged.
Reasons why Trucking Companies Should Focus on Women Drivers
Women are a huge part of the economy
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women now represent 46.6% of the total workforce, yet they are still underrepresented in trucking jobs.
Women have shown they make safer truckers than men
Hiring women drivers could actually increase your safety record. According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, women are safer drivers. They’re less likely to be distracted by their phones or other devices and are more attentive to safety.
Many women lost jobs during the pandemic
The pandemic hit everyone hard, but women were hit even harder. That’s because women tend to work in industries that were disproportionately impacted by business closures. Think residential and home nursing care, childcare, food service, and the hospitality industry.
It shatters the stigma
The only way stereotypes can change is by major players in the trucking industry leading the way. Some of the most frequently cited reasons for not having more women in trucking are that driving a big rig for hundreds of miles at a time isn’t family-friendly, and the industry is male-oriented and unwelcoming to women.
Sources:
https://www.newcanadianmedia.ca/canadas-trucking-industry-needs-thousands-of-drivers/
https://kjtransmedia.com/4-reasons-to-focus-on-women-drivers/
https://www.transforce.com/carriers/carrier-resources/benefits-of-hiring-female-truck-drivers
https://wt.memberclicks.net/index.php?option=com_dailyplanetblog&view=entry&category=member-spotlight&id=80:why-women-are-the-right-answer-to-the-trucking-industry-s-driver-shortage
Opinion Piece by :
Mariah Tacanga
mariah@bigrigwraps.ca
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Feb 3, 2019 | BLOG
After 10 years in the commercial livestock industry 6 months ago I decided I was done. Done with the late nights, snow storms I had to power through, last minute dispatch, missing holidays and bailing last minute on plans. I wanted a life. With my management experience finding a new career shouldn’t be that hard, right?
You’re just a truck driver…
I started to hear this a lot, I started to really believe it. A dispatch job came up with an established but rapidly growing company. They just werent ready for me yet. Wait til the new year. I wasn’t shy about my intentions and my coworkers knew it had nothing to do with the company or the industry, I was just tired. I was at the apex of my career. My company had spent 4 years building me a near show quality kenworth that always turned heads and it was no secret how much I loved that truck. I’m sure “Kenny” was the envy of many and I smiled every Monday when I pulled the shop door open. Hell I even talked to him like he was listening! I carried on doing my job like always and waited for the new year.
And then December 17, 2018 happened and it all changed. can’t even say the date without tearing up.
You’re just a truck driver…
December 17,2018 at 10:55 am a 78 year old woman failed to look and pulled out 300’ in front of my loaded cattle liner on a 100km/h stretch of busy highway. As I dove into the oncoming lane, full on the brakes, she noticed me and dove into the oncoming lane with me. I tagged her, caught the snow in the ditch, started down a 12’ embankment hitting a major cross road hydro pole just behind my head. The pole ripped the bunk of my truck in 1/2 and stopped me almost instantly and the truck laid over. I grabbed my dog, who was amazingly unharmed, and climbed out the roof of my truck and walked sockfeet in the snow to the front of my truck. Is she ok?? She was walking down the road in a daze. Ok whew!!
4 of my coworkers that I had been running with were minutes behind me and raced to help me. Big hugs all around, “here take my jacket” and “let me get you a cup of coffee!” It’s all gonna be ok. I was never so sure that I belonged.
Maybe I’m not just a truck driver? Maybe I’m family.
My small company (about 30 trucks, only 6 company trucks) commended me the next day!
The owner shook my hand, offered me his play toy – a jacked up little flat top Pete that rarely leaves the barn. Our shop manager sat down with me. “If you’re going to stick around, I need your wish list for your next truck” Wow…. I was on the spot. Stay or go, now was the time. All I could say was…. “there will be very be another Kenny, id like a Peterbilt”
So here I am, 6 weeks later. The flood of texts and phone calls, the hugs and handshakes from customers. Guys that genuinely cared. All my plans changed in a second and I cried every day for 3 weeks. I realized I’m not just a truck driver. I’m a valued member of an amazing team of drivers with a company that’s got my back!
Don’t be just a truck driver. Be a lady, be a gentleman. Be a teammate. Let people know that they matter because it means so much. This story isn’t about me, it’s about the people around me that help
Make my job amazing.
Ps the dispatch job came up and I politely declined. My Peterbilt has been bought and is currently being customized to my specifications. It’s amazing how things change in a second.
Maggie McCaskie
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Nov 11, 2018 | BLOG
Sassy is my emotional support dog. She’s a very necessary part of relieving my general anxiety and I thought I would share her with you as well as how this is accomplished in the trucking industry.
I picked her carefully looking for a submissive personality as well as no anxiety. A support dog is to comfort an individual and they being stressed can have the opposite effect. I also allow her time to be a dog, run in the park, socialize and walk trails with me. Most people know the road is difficult to manage to eat properly never mind care for a dog but I make time work the best I can for both of our sakes. She is happy and healthy and thriving out here and I take better care of me because I make the time. The breed of dog doesn’t matter really, it’s the bond you form with your dog that centers you. She needs an hour a day and I need an hour a day to get things done and still drive the 600-700 miles I need to everyday. We get lucky a lot where we deliver and I usually unhook and take off to the nearest park to run around. I plan where I reset my hours to make sure there’s a park close by.
I have talked to a few other drivers with Emotional support dogs and it seems anxiety and depression are common factors. Social anxiety requires their dog to accompany them into truck stops and restaurants so the dogs can be taught different skills according to what your needs are. There are lots of sites that encourage you to register your dog but I know ESD’S do not require registering or cards in fact depending on the state or province, people can not even ask because of privacy laws.
I do know according to a service dog site that in Ontario you require a note from a doctor or nurse in a restaurant or shopping center. I would research though before you end up somewhere with your dog that you shouldn’t be.
Over-the-road driving is tough on a person for many reasons, lack of time to live outside of the truck and feeling like you’re a wanderer with no home can really do a number on your emotions and minds out here. Sassy provides the grounding necessary for my life and I am thankful to have her.
Carol and Sassy
Carol Pritchard is an owner operator at Pride Group Logistics . Carol is also a director of WTFC.
You can reach Carol at carolp@wtfc.ca
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Oct 17, 2018 | BLOG
I wanted to share with you about my PTSD. I am not going to go into details of my past trauma but I wanted to show what living with my brain has been like all these years. When people hear I have PTSD most do not understand which is normal actually, its hard to describe and subject to individuality.
To start I am going to describe what I remember when I realized the full scope of what I had to deal with. Imagine living in fear with a flight or fight response continually. That’s what I remember as well the panic attacks, the anxiety and feeling bad that I felt this way. I tried so many ways to cope and nothing would or could relieve me. When something traumatic happens it actually causes your brain to change, neurons are made and your brain changes to cope. It is individual because there isn’t just way one for things to change.
In 1997 I had a boyfriend who transferred vehicles, trucks for a living and I used to go with him. The garbage trucks were stinky but for the most part I enjoyed hanging out. I got in my first Peterbuilt, it was an old one and I was agog over the dash and gauges. I decided right there I was going to do everything I had to drive one. I was 27 and never even had a driver’s license when I went to get my first permit. I was terrified as usual but determined and I made a firm plan of 5 yrs and how I was going to accomplish my goals. My boyfriend enjoyed torturing me for 2 yrs teaching me to drive, he never let me drive during the day and always during the worst weather mother nature could throw at me. I panicked all the time, would stop and center myself and begin again. Over and over this cycle continued until I could cope and not panic, then he let me drive on a sunny day. I am always grateful to Bill Coates for taking on me with my issues and making sure I knew how to drive and to be able to do so without panicking. I did accomplish my goals and end result being my AZ and it was a difficult journey but not my last. I made myself work at a job driving through every license, GZ, D, A. I stepped up as I was capable and felt comfortable. I planned and executed this despite my PTSD.
In 2007 the auto industry went to Mexico and drivers were laid off. I was one of them and I decided to attend college and study accounting. School was exhausting really because dealing with people for so long in a day stressed me out considerably. Determination and hope I would get used to it kept me going and I finished with a decent average. So now I had my AZ and a college diploma and was quite happy because I started with just a damaged brain really and no education, no hope for the future. I got a job just out of school covering a maternity leave as a CSR with a trucking company. I have to say I hated the job but I needed to make money so I went and did my job. It was then that I found out about a brain retraining program for PTSD. I was excited and attend the orientations and was interviewed and accepted into the program only to have my boss say it’s the program or the job and since I needed the money I stayed with the job. I decided to research and try to change my brain myself. I discovered my limitations but slowly with self analysis I figured out what kind of triggers, what happens during a trigger and how to catch myself before my brain does what it does to shut off a lot of the panic. I learned how to ignore my impulses to react that used to frustrate me to no end.
So now I have my new challenge which is owning and I have slowly through the years become quite balanced. I still have a brain that has impulses to panic and fear but I have learned how to do what I want anyways. I still am struggling with relationships and until I figure out a way to get through that limit I am just loving, accepting myself with all my flaws, there’s really no use beating myself up over something I cannot change.
Carol and Sassy
Carol Pritchard is an owner operator at Pride Group Logistics. Carol is also a director of the Women’s Trucking Federation of Canada .
You can reach Carol at carolp@wtfc.ca
by wtfcanada2015@gmail.com | Jul 28, 2018 | BLOG
My name is Nick MacKenzie and I am based out of Cape Breton, NS. I have 20+ years involvement with the transportation and construction industries. My fascination with this industry actually began when I was 15 years old working part time with a fuel company and hasn’t left me yet. I began working part time with a local fuel company as a summer student, keeping up the connection while studying Business Administration at St FX. After graduating University, I had various jobs with financial and accounting companies, but my love of the transportation industry was always in the back of my mind.
A few years later, I was fortunate to meet up with a partner and became involved with a family business having existing start-ups in the construction and transportation industries in and around Cape Breton Island – which I helped them grow and found few additional lines of business, allowing the company to expand over to construction services, waste removal, hauling dry aggregate, liquid bulk, dangerous goods – all servicing an area throughout the Maritimes. During this time I worked with so many insightful contractors, suppliers, employees, subcontractors and owner operators.
Fast forward 15 years later and a lot of changes – children, moving to a new home, a new school, and I now have an amazing partner to remind me of how important care and support is, positively kept me focused, encourage me through all of these ups and downs and reminded me I shouldn’t give up on what I love and want to do – who I must share in turn, also has an amazing career driving truck. So its from there, I decided to found my own company Catou Consulting because I became aware there is such a need for so many diverse drivers, owner operators and individuals with so much potential that just needed that little bit of extra help/advice how to get things rolling in order to make their dreams become a reality. So I currently work on incorporation assistance, book keeping, financing proposals, Business number registrations, safety paperwork, carrier set up … top to bottom – anything you would need to get the ball rolling to accomplish a start up in the industry and if I can’t do it, I have many contacts that are glad to assist the type of projects!
M & M Truck
I am an advocate in supporting SME start-ups and support to family, small and medium businesses . I understand the challenges of running a small business as well as the availability required to supply support out of hours of regular operations as when you own your own business, it is your livelihood, and no one should be bogged down with phone calls and red tape therefore, I understand flexibility and availability are crucial and integral to the succession and growth of business.
I believe small business is the backbone of our economy and the spinoffs are directly incurred from supporting each other. My passion and bulk of my experience comes from the trucking and construction industry as well as family businesses. I help set up/support/grow many owner operators, family businesses and understand the requirements, dedication, long hours and circumstances it takes to contribute to your family, economy and trade’s well being. I have extensive work history in working with budgeting, financial reporting, staffing, human resources, compliance with all levels of government, equipment analytics, variety of specter of customer relations and operations management to a widespread operational jurisdiction on an on call basis.
I have witnessed start-ups start, fail, rebrand, grow and also restart. I have experienced families start, grow but the one thing I have witnessed is that every driver, owner operator, supplier, vendor, office administrator, employee all have one common goal – to better themselves and the well being of their families in the attempt to succeed and do what they love the most – the love of the trucks, open road, and supply a customer all at the same time.
Nick & Danielle
I myself do not hold a class 1 license but I have been there, dispatching and trying to coordinate the customer’s crazy idea of loads so everyone is happy, on the side of the road with the driver waiting for a repair in the middle of the night running out parts during a break down, that contractor from out of area that blindsides a bidding process and takes away local work, the phone call that your main contractor has decided to buy his own equipment and try it on his own, as well as that dreaded incident call in the middle of the night and every kind of audit/paperwork request you can imagine all while raising children.
But on the flip side, I have also had the opportunity to be a part of spin offs, the look of pure love the look in someone’s eye when they pick up the keys to a unit of their own, the excitement of being the main hauler to that one particular customer that everyone’s been talking about, the joy in a driver’s eyes when a customer feeds back they only want that particular operator on their job site because they’re so good, the feeling when you leave a customer site after a pickup/delivery knowing that because you arrived with their goods, they can ensure a happy customer, a finance deal for a truck that ended up happening because the unit you dreamed about fell through. The positives always outweigh the negatives if you are patient, even though you don’t always understand why you are going through the hardships.
So, here’s why I do this every single day, I have an 11-year-old daughter, Danielle and my main goal in doing what I do, not only because I love the industry but because it’s important to me that maybe one day, one of the businesses that I work with will hire someone like her and provide them with the opportunity to better themselves while doing something she loves. My only wish for her is that she has all available options open to her and she be accepted in the industry for the career choice of her choosing – whether it be in a traditional trade or a non-traditional role.
When I started as a “newbie” back in 2003, I was ready to conquer the industry head on, but quickly learned it was a male dominated industry and not every problem you encounter has a text book solution on all levels which was an eye opener for me, as this is not what we were taught in school. I do not regret having the opportunity to attend University and I did learn a lot with regards to the management aspect in school, but the bulk of my experience is hands on and direct interaction with the employees, business owners, vendors and customers – all things school does not prepare you for – real life interaction, issues and resolutions.
I feel as though my involvement and continuous persistence in wanting to work with this industry has not only helped myself grow personally and professionally but has brought awareness to much of my network that the ability of that particular individual working with should be measured and determined by their skill and ability in whole, not a gender.
Times are changing, and I have had the pleasure of dealing with so many inspirational and determined women, men and gender-neutral individuals taking on a more non-traditional roles and that is something not only to be proud of, but in my opinion to celebrate the recognition of the changing of times. Positivity can only help it to make it better and therefore, therefore I’m sharing my story – if I can inspire just one person to pursue a career in the transportation industry that they’ve always dreamt about, I will be grateful, it is an amazing industry.
You are not alone, you don’t have to do this by yourself, this is to encourage awareness that there are so many support systems, companies, groups, associations including myself that are out there wanting to assist someone in reaching their goal.
…And if you have children, you’re not alone, this industry career path in whatever aspect you are thinking about – is doable if that is what’s holding you back! Think of this – would you rather see your children watch you work at a job every single day doing something that you don’t love to do and not come home with that spark of positivity in your eye …..or would you rather inspire independent little people showing them that hard work, determination and courage pays off? Because in my opinion, those are the skills they will need to acquire to have later in life to purse and succeed in accomplishing their dreams and aspirations.
So, in conclusion, if a career of any kind in the transportation industry is what you’re thinking about and you’re on the fence – don’t wait! If it’s in your blood, don’t fight it, you can try to stay away from it, but you’ll always come back to it one way or another. It might be overwhelming to think about making that change but step up to make yourself happy and just know you’re not alone. There is much support available in so many aspects – Trucking is not only an industry, it’s a family of support in so many ways you can’t imagine. So, if you’re ever down in Cape Breton, don’t be shy to message anytime for a coffee & a chat if there’s anything I can help with or if even just want to swap a “you wouldn’t believe what happened to me on the road today” story! ????
Nick MacKenzie
Email: catouconsulting@gmail.com
Phone: 902-295-0369
