The Federal Government’s 2023 Skills Priority List revealed that only 4.4 per cent of truck drivers in Australia are women. Women in transport was recently discussed at the Australian Trucking Association conference in Canberra with an expert panel of women in the industry led by Coralie Chapman, Vice Chair of Transport Women Australia Limited (TWAL).
Increasing the employment of women in the transport industry, as drivers and plant operators, can not only help to fill the thousands of current job vacancies, but can also improve the culture within your organisation and customer satisfaction. So, what simple steps can be taken to increase the number of women in this critical industry?
The ’Women Driving Transport Careers’ program was established in 2018 by TWAL with joint venture partners Volvo Group Australia and Wodonga TAFE. This unique female-only driver licensing program allows women to obtain their truck licence and be employed by a transport company. It ruffled some feathers though when it was initially offered because it was a ‘female-only’ initiative, with trolls on Facebook calling it ‘reverse sexism’, and the result of this was a higher engagement rate than anyone ever expected.
Of the 360 applicants who applied to Alex Fraser/Hanson to be part the initial offering of this course, seven women were selected and all but one of them completed the course. Alex Fraser/Hanson then went on to design their own Women Driving Transport Careers program and to date 60 women have graduated and more importantly two thirds of them are still working within the company, helping to push up the female participation rate from 3 per cent to 10 per cent across their workforce.
“Women seeing women in these roles leads to more women applying for them. Plus, not just having one woman, but a group of women who can support each other along the way was also important,” said Cara Spencer, Communications Manager for Alex Fraser in Australia, on one of the keys to this program’s success.
Alex Fraser/Hanson also employed an organisational psychologist as a mentor during the program and post course a volunteer employee from Hanson took over the mentor responsibilities including being a first contact for participants to discuss any issues they may have had, but felt they were unable to speak directly with their manager at that point in time.
On-the-ground practical improvements implemented by Alex Fraser/Hanson included incorporating bathroom facilities for men and women at all sites, not unisex toilets, and expanding the PPE range with clothes that were more suited to women and comfortable for them to wear.
To help promote inclusionary language and a better culture within the organisation, Alex Fraser/Hanson launched the ‘Say Again’ campaign. It’s about peers looking out for each rather than the person who may have been offended by a comment standing up for themselves. Peers ask the person who may have said something potentially offensive to ‘Say Again’ so that person can realise why their language was inappropriate.
The not so surprising upside of Alex Fraser/Hanson having more women truck drivers was improved customer service with women being more inclined to engage with customers in a friendly manner. Overall, the complimentary benefits for Alex Fraser/Hanson of increasing diversity within their workforce has been positively received by clients, customers, and the wider industry.
Also speaking was Rachel Michaud, Aftersales Manager for Knorr-Bremse, and one of the mentees involved in the TWAL ‘Creating Connections Mentoring Program’. Rachel’s mentor was Annastasia Denigan from the Toll Group and winner of the Queensland Truck Association Woman of the Year in 2021.
“The best thing I gained from the program was a becoming great friends with Annastasia and knowing that she was always there for advice or to kick me in the arse when I needed it…I’m grateful for being a part of it and encourage other women to apply if they think it would be for them,” said Rachel.
Sally-Ann Eather, co-owner of Eather Group, was a 2022 recipient of one of TWAL’s ‘Driving the Difference Scholarships.’ This program matches TWAL members who are seeking guidance with other members who have a passion for the industry and helping others. At the point that Sally applied for the scholarship she was looking at succession planning for her family trucking and earthmoving business, Eather Group. Sally-Ann appreciated the focus the scholarship gave her to look at succession planning, as it would normally get put to the side in place of the day to day running of the family business.
If your company is looking to fill transporting positions and improve company culture at the same time, check out the Transport Women Australia Limited website https://transportwomen.com.au/ for more information on these and other great initiatives.
By Fleet HV News Team.
