Trucking Company Revs Up Training School
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA Kansas-based logistics company has launched a training program in northwest Indiana designed to attack a nationwide truck driver shortage. YRC Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq: YRCW) expects to train as many as 165 new drivers each year through the YRC Freight CDL Training Academy in Hammond. The four-week program aims to help combat a gap that Senior Vice President of Human Resources Sean Saunders says will "get worse before it gets better."
Saunders says the industry faces a number of challenges in efforts to attract more workers, including losing potential drivers to "more sexy" career choices and high levels of turnover due to impending retirements and other factors. He says finding qualified drivers is becoming increasingly more difficult. "We decided to take matters into our own hands to some extent and create a superior curriculum that sets drivers up for long-term success with our company. Our largest demand for drivers comes from Chicagoland, so it made sense to open our first school in the area."
Students who qualify for the training will receive it at no charge. The program consists of a total of 320 hours of training, which will result in graduates receiving their commercial driver’s license. The company is particularly targeting "a different demographic than we have in the past" such as veterans, the unemployed and underemployed and people with disabilities. Saunders says current recruiting methods, including hiring current CDL holders and employees from competitors, won’t pay-off and the company needs to look at a new generation of workers that may not have considered driving as a career. He says industry estimates suggest a shortage of 900,000 drivers in the coming decade.
Saunders says a career as a truck driver pays an average of around $65,000 a year. The school in Hammond will be the company’s first, but it plans to add more throughout the country.
Senior Vice President of Human Resources Sean Saunders tells Inside INdiana Business the industry faces challenges in recruiting and retaining the next generation of drivers.