Stat of the Week: Why Women Leave Trucking Jobs
Cheryl and George both drive trucks for the same company, and both have major gripes about their job. One driver wants more time at home to spend with their kids. The other wishes the cab was more comfortable during long trips.
Which complaints belong to which drivers?
If you assumed Cheryl was the one who misses her family, and that George needs more back support, I’m sorry to break it to you, but you guessed wrong. A new survey conducted by American Trucker and Stay Metrics reveals that men and women leave trucking jobs for very different reasons—and not necessarily the reasons you might think.
If your fleet is one of the many organizations in the transportation industry currently facing mounting pressures in terms of driver recruitment and retention, make sure to read American Trucker’s rundown of the survey. And if you’re wondering why women are generally more dissatisfied with equipment than they are with lack of time at home, here’s a choice quote from Ellen Voie, President and CEO of Women in Trucking:
“The fact that equipment is an irritant for female drivers doesn’t surprise me, because we’ve been working with the OEMs on ergonomics and truck cab design to make sure that women are as comfortable in the cab of a truck as men, especially when it comes to teams. A lot of women run in a team configuration, so the truck needs to be comfortable for both of them. In the past, trucks were designed for men. … If women don’t feel safe in their equipment, if they feel that the truck is going to break down or something isn’t working right, that would also be a factor to would make them leave [the carrier] much faster.”
