How Having Respect Can Make Your Truck Driving Career Successful

I probably don’t have to ask this question, because I already know the answer, but I’m going to go ahead anyway.

What is the one thing you, the professional truck driver, want most out of your employer and your managers? I’m guessing, pretty confidently, that your answer is respect.

Respect is typically defined as a feeling of deep admiration for someone, but I don’t feel like that completely covers it. Another definition I found says that respect means “to consider worthy of high regard,” and I feel like that comes closer. But perhaps my favorite definition calls respect “a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability.”

Did you know that according to a 2015 poll of nearly 20,000 employees by the Harvard Business Review, 54 percent of employees do not feel like they are respected by their managers?

Providing Respect at ITS

But at Industrial Transport Services (ITS), we realize that all employees are worthy of feeling respected. That goes for you, and for your colleagues. One of our core value statements is on mutual respect, which we define like this: “Treat others as you wish to be treated. In doing so, this creates a positive work environment for everyone.”

Yep, that’s right. We took the famous Golden Rule and turned it into one of the values we follow to continuously improve this company and remain great. It’s really quite simple, and it works for us.

ITS is not an “us against them” company. We place a great amount of value on all employees – from management, to drivers, to mechanics and dispatchers – and I cannot stress this enough. We are unified by the simple goal of providing our customers with excellent service, and we realize that this is only possible when everyone works together by having mutually respectful relationships. Everybody matters.

Why Mutual Respect is Crucial in the Transportation Industry

This one is big, people. Actually, it’s HUGE. Mutual respect is the key to having a successful working relationship. It is something we expect all employees to have for each other from the get-go. We all have a shared set of values, objectives, or goals. We don’t focus on what can potentially divide us (like our job titles), but rather we focus on what unites us.

When there is a breakdown of mutual respect or it is never given in the first place, the objective – which in our case is service, loyalty, and responsiveness – is lost. If an employee senses that he or she isn’t being respected, they are likely to develop a resentful attitude, which is not conducive to productivity. However, when an employee feels respected, productivity generally increases, and mistakes are reduced.

When teams work together toward a shared set of values and objectives, the atmosphere is positive and centered, goals are met daily, and the reward and benefit are realized regularly. Because of this mutual respect, ITS maintains a sense of community, and we believe our workplace environment is better than that of other trucking companies. Our employees have greater focus and job satisfaction, and they often achieve goals that lead to advancement.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my years in the workforce, it’s that people want to do their best when they are being treated well. When they feel respected, they’ll put in a level of effort that nobody can deny. It’s what we aim for and achieve on a daily basis at ITS.

Looking for a Trucking Job?

Are you a driver looking for a place where you will be respected and valued? Visit our Careers page to find a truck driving job near you.