Ellen Voie (Voy-a) is an internationally recognized speaker and authority on gender diversity and inclusion for women working in non-traditional careers in transportation. She has been invited to speak to audiences in Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, France, Mexico, and Canada, in addition to being a popular speaker at conferences throughout the United States. Voie founded the Women In Trucking Association in 2007, and currently serves as the nonprofit organization’s President & CEO. The Women In Trucking Association was formed to promote the employment of women in the trucking industry, to remove obstacles that might keep them from succeeding, and to celebrate the successes of its members. Voie also currently serves on the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) to provide recommendations and advice to the FMCSA on motor carrier safety programs and motor carrier safety regulations. Voie’s background in the trucking industry began as the assistant and later Traffic Manager for a steel fabricating plant in the upper Midwest. She then worked as a dispatcher for a grain hauling carrier before becoming co-owner of a small fleet. After starting a family, she used her background to become a freelance transportation consultant to carriers in Wisconsin, licensing and permitting trucks for more than 16 years. Voie also served as the Executive Director of Trucker Buddy International, Inc., a pen pal program between professional drivers and elementary students. Voie holds a Master’s in Communication degree from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, where she completed her Thesis research on the complex identities of women married to professional drivers. She also hold a degree in Traffic and Transportation Management from LaSalle Extension University. Voie has earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential from the American Society of Association Executives, the leading authority in association management.

Columnists,Education,Uncategorized |
August 14, 2014

What attracts someone to the trucking industry?  Is it the freedom of being on the road or is it the above average pay?  Maybe it’s just a last resort for many who are unable to find or keep a job elsewhere.
The Women in Trucking Association, along with University of Wisconsin-Stout graduate students wanted to know the answer to this question.  So, four students in Dr. Jeanette Kersten’s Organizational Development Class conducted research to find out what brings men and women into the trucking industry, as well as what keeps them here.
The students, Emily Kaliska, Mai Thao, Ashley Noel and Angela Skillings had no experience in the trucking industry, but they took on the task of trying to delve into the motivation to drive a big rig over the road.

A survey was sent to more than 900 Women In Trucking members, both men and women, and asked the respondents questions to find the positive job attributes that attracts and retains them as professional drivers.  They received

Ellen Voie
Ellen Voie

responses from 80 drivers.
The results were not too surprising, but the difference in the answers between the generations was a bit unexpected.  Overall, the top five positive attributes on why the respondents chose a career in trucking was:
1.     Good pay
2.     Benefits
3.     Health Insurance
4.     No touch freight
5.     Retirement benefits

For students in driver training, one hundred percent of them cited independence in their reasons for entering the industry.  They also prioritized the short-term education requirement as a benefit.
The Women in Trucking Association will be using this research to develop a recruiting guide for our corporate members.  However, we thought it would be fun to create a way for drivers to talk about their reasons for being in the industry.
We created a social networking campaign called I HEART Trucking (www.IHeartTrucking.com) for drivers to submit short videos talking about their chosen career.
The first video submission was by Elizabeth Lopez, a Houston based driver for National Truck. Elizabeth calls her job, “Awesome” and tells about the reasons she loves her job. “I get to see things that I would never see in a warehouse, and I get paid to do it, too!” she said. The goal is to get drivers, both men and women, to talk about what they love about their jobs.  The campaign will run until August 15th and the winners will be announced at the Great American Truck Show in Dallas, Texas on August 22, 2014.
I HEART Trucking – is sponsored by Internet Truckstop, a freight matching service.  “This is a great way to put a human face on the industry,” said Peter Vomocil, Internet Truckstop’s Vice President of Marketing.  “People see trucks on the road every day, but often don’t get an opportunity to know the drivers behind the wheel.  We are looking forward to giving those outside the industry a unique window into the cab,” Vomocil added.
The I HEART trucking campaign was created by the Women in Trucking Association as an image campaign, and it is powered by the efforts of All Truck Jobs.com, which supplied the expertise and is hosting the site.
If you are a driver, please check out IHeartTrucking.com and submit a short video to tell us why you love your job.  If you work for a carrier, encourage your drivers to talk about their role and their attraction to a job as a driver.  For the rest of you, visit the website and vote for your favorite video.
The trucking industry has a need for more drivers and that need is growing.  In order to reach out to the non-trucking public, we need a way to view professional drivers as real moms, dads, uncles, aunts and grandparents or cousins who chose a career in the trucking industry.
Help us get the word out about the I HEART trucking campaign.

About the Author

Ellen Voie CAE, President/CEO
Women In Trucking, Inc.
P O Box 400 Plover, WI 54467-0400
Ellen@WomenInTrucking.org
888-464-9482     920-312-1350 Direct
Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | You tube
Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.

Please follow and like us:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon

Ellen Voie (Voy-a) is an internationally recognized speaker and authority on gender diversity and inclusion for women working in non-traditional careers in transportation. She has been invited to speak to audiences in Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, France, Mexico, and Canada, in addition to being a popular speaker at conferences throughout the United States. Voie founded the Women In Trucking Association in 2007, and currently serves as the nonprofit organization’s President & CEO. The Women In Trucking Association was formed to promote the employment of women in the trucking industry, to remove obstacles that might keep them from succeeding, and to celebrate the successes of its members. Voie also currently serves on the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) to provide recommendations and advice to the FMCSA on motor carrier safety programs and motor carrier safety regulations. Voie’s background in the trucking industry began as the assistant and later Traffic Manager for a steel fabricating plant in the upper Midwest. She then worked as a dispatcher for a grain hauling carrier before becoming co-owner of a small fleet. After starting a family, she used her background to become a freelance transportation consultant to carriers in Wisconsin, licensing and permitting trucks for more than 16 years. Voie also served as the Executive Director of Trucker Buddy International, Inc., a pen pal program between professional drivers and elementary students. Voie holds a Master’s in Communication degree from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, where she completed her Thesis research on the complex identities of women married to professional drivers. She also hold a degree in Traffic and Transportation Management from LaSalle Extension University. Voie has earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential from the American Society of Association Executives, the leading authority in association management.