Distaff driving change in trucking sector

When Logistics Management provides readers with its 33rd annual “Salary Survey” in April the focus will again be on regional trends and generational demographics. But the role of women in logistics will also be top of mind.

Preliminary research indicates that the entire logistics industry is on a course of change due to more women entering the workforce.

“When women turn to nontraditional careers, they not only find challenges and opportunities, they find a better salary,” explains Ellen Voie, president and CEO of the Women In Trucking Association (WIT). “The Department of Labor identifies nontraditional careers for women as those that include less than 25 percent of females. However, these women earn better salaries on average than their peers in traditionally female occupations.”

The Women In Trucking Association, adds Voie, aims to change an image many people have regarding careers in transportation.

“They see a truck with a diesel engine and smokestacks and a big grill. What they don’t see is a very technologically advanced vehicle that no longer requires as much physical strength to operate, and is as comfortable inside as the family car,” she says.

Prior to founding WIT, Voie held a variety of roles in the transportation industry, most recently as manager of retention and recruiting programs at Schneider, Inc.

According to Voie, it’s about time that shippers and consumers began to realize that that the trucking industry is working hard to provide drivers with a better work life balance.

“Ordinary citizens don’t see the connection between that truck and the gallon of milk on their grocery store shelf,” says Voie. “Our challenge is to change that perception…and that’s what WIT is doing.”