Representative associations should band together to promote the trucking industry to potential entrants, Transport Women Australia says
April 16, 2013
Transport Women Australia (TWAL) is calling on transport leaders to work together to promote the industry and improve its image to attract workers.
TWAL Director and Lindsay Transport Human Resources Manager Melissa Strong believes a “concerted” campaign to recover the image of the industry will help address retention issues.
Strong says the transport industry is facing stiff competition from the mining sector for labour.
“The major transport associations and the peak body, the Australian Trucking Association (ATA), and of course TWAL need to work together and plan a campaign to promote the industry, improve its image and show its career potential,” she says.
“I have no doubt that if the associations demonstrated a willingness to take action and promote the industry, all of the big transport companies would get behind them and push but it needs to happen sooner rather than later.”
Strong says people rarely leave the transport industry once they enter it because it delivers a tremendous amount of job satisfaction.
She points to a personalised approach a key tool to promote the trucking industry.
“If you remind people that the milk or their Weet-Bix got there on a truck they can see that their personal relationship with the industry is a lot closer than they realised,” Strong says.
