“I just completed the diversity program which I thought was fantastic. I am passionate about diversity and inclusivity because I can see the benefit that it brings to businesses.”
So said Caitlin Barlow, the business development manager for Jatec Transport, a NSW-based carrier specialising in the transportation of empty pallets.
Barlow was speaking at this year’s Trucking Australia conference hosted by the Australian Trucking Association.
She was among a panel of recent graduates from a diversity program supported by the ATA, and its NZ counterpart Transporting New Zealand, who spoke about the benefits both personal and business for understanding and engaging in behaviours that help build diversity.
Teletrac Navman sponsor the program called driving Change Diversity Program which is an initiative designed to celebrate industry diversity and to promote a positive image of the trucking industry in order to attract people to work in it from a bigger pool.
Barlow is an active member of Transport Women of Australia and as a new diversity champion will advocate there and elsewhere for more diverse workplaces, according to an ATA post on LinkedIn.
Fellow panellist Jaspreet Singh, from Tasmania’s biggest refrigerated transport group SRT, talked about how the culture of the family-owned business he works in has embraced some practices that assist people from different backgrounds form connections and bonds that help build staff morale and smooth work flows.
He said the staff from a wide variety of places — including from India, Pakistan, and Asia — value designated food sharing events and a feedback box, which enables those from cultures less forthright than the Australian one to have a say in how to operate certain functions.
“That gives a good opportunity to guys to tell them what changes they want to make,” said Singh.
Another panellist Joel Haberfield from Victoria-based Boyles Livestock Transport Australia, which runs 20 cattle and sheep trucks and a couple of hay trucks, said the perception of the industry needs an update.
“One thing I am passionate about is trying to change our image. We’re not just truck drivers. We’re a respectable industry that strive for excellence. It’s good to see a lot of young people getting involved. It’s a big thing. Trucks are big these days, a lot longer, a lot wider, and I enjoy the conversation we’re having up here and trying to change face of our industry,” he said.
Technology advancements have taken away barriers for not only females but all other kinds of diverse minority groups.
For example, once upon a time a truck driver might have had to pull a really heavy tarp over the top of the load. And now it’s just a button that you press. So that automatically opens that position out to so many more people that may not have been able to do that position before.
Meanwhile, if you’re still wondering if diversity training is worth it, consider this: about half of employee departures are attributed to not feeling included in the workplace according to a study by international business consultancy McKinsey that was cited by the panel.
