28 Kentucky Trucker The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) published a report in July 2022 written by two research analysts, Alex Leslie and Danielle Crownover. The report is about successfully helping people between 18 and 25 into long-term trucking careers. According to the report, there are efforts on a national level to address shortages. Congress changed the rules for interstate truck driving in November 2022; the new rules went into effect Feb. 7, 2022. The goal is to increase the number of young drivers who can enter the industry. For example, a new national field test allows drivers aged 18-20 to enter a driver apprentice program. Although there are rules to ensure safety, these young drivers can now participate in interstate freight commerce. The program should encourage more potential drivers to consider a trucking career since they are no longer limited to intrastate trips during their first years after high school graduation. ATRI published a report called Predicting Truck Crash Involvement in 2018 to examine how age affects crash risk. A customized Young Driver Assessment Tool is currently being tested; its purpose is to identify young drivers with the same characteristics as safe veteran drivers. The report also found that diversification efforts are having an effect. Approximately 42.3% of trucking industry drivers are part of a racial minority. That is a 30% increase over the last decade. If you want to find a largely untapped resource, there is still plenty of room for hiring more women, who make up only 7.8% of truck driving jobs. Additionally if you want to hire more young people, it helps to know what they generally consider to be important. Diversity matters to millennials (1981-1996) and Gen Zs (1997-2012). All employees want to contribute to a successful company, be paid well and be valued for their work. However, younger employees differ on specifics. Millennials are beginning to enter leadership roles. They remember the time before Sept. 11, 2001, and before the internet was available almost everywhere. Although they want work to be engaging and challenging, millennials and Gen Z have greater job loyalty than Gen X (1965-1980), because when they feel committed to their work, it becomes more meaningful. Also, management quality matters to them. But there’s a downside: if they don’t think work is meaningful, they are likely to leave. That might be fine if someone doesn’t fit within a company, but it’s a problem when there are so many open jobs for so few people. Gen Z experienced the War on Terror, the Great Recession and the pandemic. They want their employers to share their values. However, they only started entering the workforce after 2010, so it’s a little early to understand them. Millennials and Gen Z employees value flexible, adaptable, creative and tech-savvy businesses. They think work and life are connected, want equality in the workplace, and appreciate mentoring and immediate feedback about their performance throughout the year. Since they want their work to be meaningful, they can be unengaged without that. Millennials, especially, want to learn, grow and advance. Where 69% of older generations thought growth and development were critically important, 87% of millennials do. One of 2021’s top priorities for the American Transport Research Institute’s Research Advisory Committee was identifying recruitment strategies and industry “best practices” to train and retain younger employees and drivers (ages 18-25). For example, one suggestion was to develop high school trucking clubs. Another was to recruit drivers internally from nondriving jobs. Fortunately, most of the research analysis would also apply to employees who are 26-30. Each company must decide how to frame their work in a meaningful way for their employees. They will also need to focus on recruiting younger drivers. The ATRI report offers a good starting point in the conclusions INTEGRATING YOUNGER ADULTS INTO TRUCKING CAREERS
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