Hire Truckers Podcast

00:00 - 00:18
Aaron Craddock: Welcome to the Hire Truckers podcast, where we interview experts in driver recruiting. We provide industry insights, marketing trends, and motivation to help you level up your recruiting game. Welcome to the Hire Truckers podcast. I'm your host, Aaron Craddock. And today, I'm super excited we have Dawn Erickson with Waste Management on.

00:18 - 00:19
Aaron Craddock: Welcome, Dawn.

00:19 - 00:20
Dawn Erickson: Thank you. Glad to be here.

00:21 - 00:46
Aaron Craddock: And so Dawn has been in the human resources industry for over 3 decades, and most recently at waste management for the last 7 years. We met in a frenzy. I don't even think she really emerged meeting me, because it was so crazy. But at the Mid America Truck Show, a little over 3 years ago, or right around 3 years ago, right as we had launched Trucking Clicks, and we're getting back into the industry. So, just yeah.

00:46 - 00:59
Aaron Craddock: Super excited to have her on. When Ginger said she's like, hey. I have Dawn Erickson with Waste Management. I was like, I actually met her, like, in passing, years ago. So it's fun fun to reconnect 3 years later on a on a podcast.

00:59 - 01:09
Aaron Craddock: So so, Dawn, what got you into, human resources, and then and then what got you into the industry you're in now?

01:10 - 01:41
Dawn Erickson: Two different answers. The first one is a fluke for HR. I was a finance manager at Ohio State, and I kept taking those HR classes as electives because they just seemed so easy. And I didn't realize it would be a real career. And, you know, here I am all these years later, and it has been a phenomenal career and incredibly rewarding and and enriching.

01:41 - 02:12
Dawn Erickson: So I was I was really lucky just to kind of stumble in and and took over, and HR became a passion, and I'm much better at it than finance. So it seemed like it was the right career move. As for transportation, you know, I in HR, you have the benefit of going to some different industries and taking your core skills from industry to industry. And I worked in the footwear industry for quite a while, worked for restaurants for a

02:12 - 02:46
Dawn Erickson: bit. And interestingly enough, I started out as an intern years ago with environmental consulting company, had some logistics. And then when I was leaving my last company, wanted to come back home here to the Midwest, and there was a position open at WM. And, honestly, I I just fell in love with the the people and the industry, and it was just a a great transition. I just think that this is an industry.

02:46 - 03:10
Dawn Erickson: 1st of all, I mean, it's a it is a mainstay of our economy. None of us can, survive without transportation. You know, it's it's literally what makes us run-in the United States. But also, you know, it's the it's the people. It's incredibly genuine, caring group of, you know, individuals in the industry.

03:11 - 03:23
Dawn Erickson: And that's a little unusual. Like, I I don't see a lot of egos and just a lot of really genuine people. And and that I think is what makes the transportation industry really special.

03:24 - 03:49
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. That's awesome. One of the one of the quotes you had when you're talking speaking with Ginger on our pre call is there's so much more that goes into the transportation and sustainability industry, like, so much more to it than we could even imagine or that most people could imagine. So can you kinda elaborate on that, just how big of an industry and segment, like, both sustainability and the transportation industry are?

03:50 - 04:11
Dawn Erickson: Absolutely. I mean, when I talk about, like, WM, I'll I mean, we are one of the largest transportation companies in the United States and Canada. But, you know, we have almost 3,000 employees just in the 3 states that I work in. And if you think about the scale of that, that doesn't that we're just in the waste industry. There's also over the road truckers.

04:11 - 04:27
Dawn Erickson: There's distribution companies. There's concrete companies. There's the amount of CDLs and drivers that need to be out there. And you don't think of those things when you're driving down the highway. You just see that all of these trucks are on the road.

04:27 - 05:27
Dawn Erickson: Well, each of those behind the scenes has different background checks, different department of transportation regulations. But there's even you know, there's things like drug testing that goes on behind the scenes and all of that, finding somebody, making sure that their CDL is up to date, running motor vehicle reports. And I know that those are logistical things, but you don't you don't understand everything that goes into becoming, you know, a driver on the road and what it takes also to keep those trucks up, all of the mechanics, the different, the different skills that they have, all of the moving pieces. If you think about a concrete truck or a a garbage truck, all of the automatic arm that comes out and the mechanics that goes with that and the computers, and there's a lot of certifications that they have to have. And, there's just there is so much more to building around that, the logistics that goes with it, making sure that your customers and communities are served.

05:27 - 06:00
Dawn Erickson: So that's what I mean that there's there's more than what meets the eye, and, it didn't it allows opportunities for so many people, for logistical experts to, come in, for creative solutions to serve our communities for recycling, for transfer stations, for whatever it may be to make things, you know, even more environmentally friendly. So there's just a lot of layers that go into it.

06:01 - 06:34
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. Yeah. I remember I got in the industry a little over a decade ago, and I drove my wife crazy because we'd be going on the interstate, and I'd be like, I've worked with that company and that company and that company. Like, but I feel like before that, I was kinda blind to just how massive the industry too. And then also the previous company I worked for, they, you know, we we focused on parts and the truck parts and the trailers and the fenders and, like, any ancillary like, the marketing of any products related to the truck, not only marketing of driver jobs.

06:35 - 06:47
Aaron Craddock: And that I mean, yeah. It's just more than so so it's not just looking at the truck, but it's all the companies that represent that truck and the compliance and the marketing. And, I mean, it's just

06:48 - 06:59
Dawn Erickson: And all of the safety features, the you know, all of that. Just all of the expertise that goes into it is really amazing and more than meets the eye. Mhmm. Yeah.

06:59 - 07:17
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. And it yeah. And I it just I don't know how to explain it to you that, like, I didn't even see the trucks. Like, as weird as it is, like, didn't realize the volume of they're everywhere around you on the interstate, but it was just kinda, like, in my own little world. And then the moment you're a part of transportation, it was like, wow.

07:17 - 07:18
Aaron Craddock: Everywhere.

07:18 - 07:47
Dawn Erickson: Right. And and even things like how much fuel they use or, like, we use compressed natural gas for our vehicles, you know, where we have a very large sustainability, push at WM, and we take that very, you know, very seriously. But even taking a look at the logistics of all of that, how do you have a CNG plant that you can fuel your trucks? And how about the wells on the landfill? And how far is it to go to that landfill?

07:47 - 08:00
Dawn Erickson: Is it better to go to a transfer station because maybe it's more environmentally friendly? You know, all of those go in and you you drive down the road, you don't see any you don't see any of that. There's a there's a whole world behind that transportation.

08:01 - 08:10
Aaron Craddock: What is it about the HR industry and or transportation industry that makes you say, like, you found your forever home? Like, what is it about it that you really like?

08:11 - 08:33
Dawn Erickson: Okay. I like I really like being able to do the right thing and make sure that I'm taking care of our employees. Sometimes that right thing is not the comfortable thing. In HR, you have to make those decisions. You have to sit there and say, I would do this for my best employee, and I would I would do this for my most questionable employee.

08:34 - 09:29
Dawn Erickson: And that's that's really what brings the integrity to HR. And in the transportation industry, specifically and specifically at WM, you know, I have that ability to make that judgment of, you know, consistency and care that in some or other industries that I've been part of, you don't have as much of that option. I mean, I've worked for some great companies, but it's not as open or or blatantly obvious what you can do to make sure you do the right thing all the time. So I think that that's one of the benefits of being in HR specifically at WM is that I can make sure that I'm taking care of our people in the best way possible.

09:30 - 09:36
Aaron Craddock: Is that a core value, or does that just come from top level leadership? Like, what what brings about that?

09:36 - 10:01
Dawn Erickson: Both. I mean, we have at at WM, we have 2 commitments. 1 is success with integrity, and one is people first, which okay. So both of our commitments have to do with everything I I need in HR to to be successful. And then our values are taking care of our customers, our environment, doing things safely, and, you know, being inclusive.

10:01 - 10:25
Dawn Erickson: So, you know, again, those all go back to our first two commitments of being a people first culture, whether those people are our customers or our employees or the communities that we serve, whatever it is, and and how we treat them fairly and with an integrity. And those guiding values really make it easy to do your job here. So it really is refreshing.

10:26 - 10:44
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. Yeah. I even see that, like, as the way because I was coming to you as a vendor, like, 3 years ago in the conversation at Mid America Truck Show. And just to yeah. Just how you treated just even us, like, as, you know, peers in the industry as a vendor just, you know, just with respect and enthusiasm.

10:44 - 10:49
Aaron Craddock: And yeah, and just honestly, everybody at your booth at Matt's was just so kind and

10:50 - 10:50
Dawn Erickson: Thank you.

10:50 - 11:09
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. You can just, you can just tell because that's not, you know, that's not the case across every booth you go to or every vendor you interact with. Like, you can, a lot of times, tell people don't wanna be there. But just that makes sense because of your people first culture and then the do the was it do the right thing? What was the second one?

11:09 - 11:11
Dawn Erickson: Yeah. Do the right thing the right way.

11:11 - 11:11
Aaron Craddock: With integrity.

11:11 - 11:50
Dawn Erickson: You know, success with integrity. So I, you know, and I just think that's a little bit of a shame. So there's you know, listen, every every company has a diverse set of personalities and baggage that they bring with them. But the one common thread that you can have with all of that is the dignity and respect in which you treat people and, you know, the the care and kindness. So it doesn't mean you get walked over or you don't hold people accountable, but, you know, to treat people with respect and and dignity, I think, is important for everybody no matter who they are.

11:51 - 11:52
Aaron Craddock: So And I think I

11:52 - 11:55
Dawn Erickson: serve, you know, what stakeholder they are.

11:55 - 12:13
Aaron Craddock: And I think that is one thing, just to get back to what you initially said about the industry. Like, just people really are nice and genuinely in care. Like, it is such a cool, yeah, industry that that I kinda stumbled into as well. And, and I'm like, I don't wanna leave now. Like, it's just it's just kinda it's awesome.

12:14 - 12:29
Dawn Erickson: Right. There's not a lot of ego. It it's kind of interesting. You know? It's not it's an industry that doesn't have much ego, and, and most people are just very genuine, you know, genuinely themselves, which is so nice.

12:30 - 12:42
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. They say, yeah, and just really diverse, like, in terms of Oh, yeah. Yeah. Culture, background, gender, and, I mean, just it's getting and that yeah. That's just even increased the last decade that I've been in it.

12:42 - 12:44
Aaron Craddock: And Yeah. Yeah. It's just cool.

12:45 - 13:15
Dawn Erickson: Yeah. And it provides opportunities to to people that may not want to go the the traditional college route or that may want to work with their hands or, you know, not everybody has to go to college. Not everybody should go to college. But it, you know, it it provides opportunities to this wide breadth of people, whether you go to college or you don't go to college, and, you know, however you wanna work. You You know, do you wanna work with people?

13:15 - 13:46
Dawn Erickson: Do you wanna be solitary? Do you wanna you know, it's just it provides different opportunities to a diverse group of employees, not not necessarily diverse by color or gender or anything like that, but diverse by needs. And, you know, all the other things apply to the gender and ethnicity and whatever you wanna have it. But really, the the diversity of what you need in your career, you can find in the transportation industry.

13:46 - 14:09
Aaron Craddock: So kind of deviating from our initial questions because I like this track. Perfect. Is what is like, why should people join whether it's the sustainability industry or the transportation industry in general? Like, you mentioned the education piece, but why should why should people consider that? You know, let's say, coming out of high school just to pick a specific demographic.

14:09 - 14:12
Aaron Craddock: Like, why should people consider getting into this industry?

14:13 - 14:38
Dawn Erickson: I think that there's a variety of opportunities. You know, I think that you can make your own path. I look at my area vice president. He started throwing trash on the back of his grandfather's truck and, that owned and he made his way through. You know, he graduated college, became a district manager.

14:38 - 14:59
Dawn Erickson: Now he's my area vice president. You know, he's 15 years younger than me and incredibly smart and caring. And, you know, I I kinda, you know, die on the sword for him. He's wonderful. And he's he's done everything in the industry, and he's a great example of what you can do.

14:59 - 15:17
Dawn Erickson: You can you can be anything you want. You can stay on a truck. You can stay under a truck. You can keep doing routing logistics or helping our customers and customer service or and you can you can switch all around. I have, one of our managers today.

15:18 - 15:48
Dawn Erickson: She just took a position. She was one of our district managers, and now she's becoming one of, like, our consultant coaches that goes in and helps, and helps districts get better. So you can you can go in different directions. You can go sideways up wherever, wherever you want to go. And there's just so many opportunities that if I'm a high school student, it's it's allowing me to explore different opportunities to find the pathway that's right for me.

15:48 - 16:05
Dawn Erickson: And I think that that's what the transportation industry as a whole offers. So there's just a wide variety. I mean, heck, you can go into HR if you want. Go to marketing, communications, you know, or you can work at a a transfer station at a you can be an operator at a landfill. Like, what whatever suits you.

16:05 - 16:35
Dawn Erickson: I think there's, like, this intersection of what you're good at and what you like to do and where that comes together is probably where you should be. But it's just finding where is that intersection. And if you work in an industry and if you work for a company that's willing to allow you to explore those different opportunities, then you have the chance to find that perfect home for yourself. Mhmm.

16:35 - 16:48
Aaron Craddock: So how does that look with a waste management employee? Like, how would they find out about that other opportunity? Would it be talking with their manager? Would it be talking with HR? Like, I'm kinda just curious how that jump jump around is facilitated.

16:49 - 17:06
Dawn Erickson: We have I mean, all of our jobs that are posted, we have an app that is internal to our employees. They can set up alerts. So if they're interested in something, they can get in. It'll send them an alert. They can also go in and take a, you know, search if they would like.

17:06 - 17:28
Dawn Erickson: We have 16 areas. We have almost 50,000 employees at WM. So if they wanna move out to Colorado to live next to their sister or live in Maine with their parents, you know, you can you can move all around if you want. You can take a look at all of those opportunities. We also have a number of development programs.

17:28 - 17:53
Dawn Erickson: We have a phenomenal learning and development and talent management group, and they provide opportunities for our employees to develop. If you wanna become a manager and you're a driver, we have a course for that. We have courses for new managers that are just coming into it, new frontline managers. There's just there's just a ton of courses. Some of them are online.

17:53 - 18:12
Dawn Erickson: Some of them are in person. And then they can always reach out to their manager. We try to have development discussions, especially with our networked employees. And and we do ask our frontline, you know, if they would like to explore other opportunities, they're always welcome to, and they've got it at their fingertips. They can do it at night.

18:12 - 18:25
Dawn Erickson: Their spouse can do it, whatever they want. So if they're not handy on the phone, they can, you know, have have somebody in their family do it for them. So we don't wanna limit them. We want them to find where their happy place is.

18:26 - 18:52
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. 2 of those stuck out to me, like, the as I'm like, I wanna I wanna join waste management. Like, there's people in my generation because, like, we, you know, we moved to Austin, Texas, like, from Alabama a couple years ago, just like a a really short decision process. We're like, hey, let's just go. And then there's just a whole bunch there's a lot of that now, and and, you know, I was able to just move our company headquarters, and most of our team was remote, so it worked.

18:52 - 18:59
Aaron Craddock: But, you know, not everything in transportation allows you that that mobility. So that that's pretty cool Yeah. With your network.

18:59 - 19:21
Dawn Erickson: We also have education benefit, which is just outstanding for our employees where, you know, they they get up to a certain amount every year to take different college courses. They can get up to their masters. And it's not just them. It's also their spouse and their children between 18/26. They also have an allowance to go.

19:21 - 19:39
Dawn Erickson: There's a program called Ed Assist that we use. It's got over 230 colleges that they can go to. Some are in person, some are online. But we pay for their their spouse and their and their children that are college age as well. And that's just one of our benefits.

19:39 - 20:06
Dawn Erickson: There's no repayment. There's no any part of it. We just, they applied to the college, and then we help them pay. And that's been a great benefit for us to especially to help our employees get, where they might not have been able to afford to go to college or, or even to have their children go to college. I mean, that's it's a holistic view of putting the people first is to also take care of their families.

20:07 - 20:09
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. That's cool.

20:09 - 20:22
Aaron Craddock: I didn't really realize how much it would shift until I had my own kids of just like it's like all priorities are just like Right. Kids will do anything for them, and I'm like, now I understand. Yeah. Now I understand. Yeah.

20:22 - 20:34
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. Because we did because we just made a transition, like, for my wife to be able to be home most of the time. Oh, that's wild. And, and switched to, like, a private school that kind of aligns with our values. And yeah.

20:34 - 20:38
Aaron Craddock: So it was a big financial switch, but, like, we're just like, whatever. We'll figure it out.

20:38 - 20:50
Dawn Erickson: Kids are worth it. Listen. There's no time that you're ever gonna make that you know, it's now. Like, it's not like you can tell your child, like, please don't grow up right now and wait. You know?

20:50 - 20:57
Dawn Erickson: You you it now is the time, and you kinda you'll always figure it out. So yeah.

20:57 - 21:07
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. It was like even when we committed to the new school, we're like, okay. Like, I think we can afford it for 1 year, then we might have to go back to our old strategy. But that's okay. We'll just try it.

21:07 - 21:12
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. And just take it will. And then as we add kids until next year. Yeah. Yeah.

21:12 - 21:16
Aaron Craddock: I'm, like, baby 3 coming in March. It's like, figure it out again.

21:17 - 21:17
Dawn Erickson: That's so exciting.

21:19 - 21:19
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. But when are

21:19 - 21:25
Dawn Erickson: you gonna put that on hold? You can't put that on hold. Mm-mm. You know? So now's now's the time.

21:26 - 21:34
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. And we and Lauren and I, we're kinda unique. We were married for 9 years before our first, like, so we waited a while too.

21:34 - 21:39
Aaron Craddock: Like, we went and got our got our masters and traveled and did different stuff. So

21:39 - 21:41
Dawn Erickson: Good for you. Enjoys like people.

21:42 - 21:48
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. It's kiddo time now. So Yeah. It's a lot of fun. Now let's take a minute to thank today's sponsor.

21:48 - 22:16
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22:16 - 22:32
Aaron Craddock: One of the things you mentioned is, like, leadership development, and and different things that you offer to your employees. What are the characteristics of exceptional like, an exceptional leader and some of those characteristics that have helped you that'll help our audience?

22:34 - 23:06
Dawn Erickson: I think that it's important that especially looking at generational differences, I mean, right now we have this kind of unique blend of generations in our workforce. So we've got baby boomers that are getting ready to exit. We've got the millennials and the Gen Z's coming in. Then then you got the Gen Xers like me that, you know, there's not too many of us, and we're gonna be out of the way soon enough. But we've got to take a look at how do you manage all of those generations at once.

23:06 - 24:10
Dawn Erickson: So really having those people leadership skills of, you know, it I wouldn't say it's empathy, but maybe understanding that people have a diversity of thought or different ways that they've been brought up or that they not to generationalize them, but perhaps they've grown up a little bit differently because of the generations that they've lived through. And so taking a look and how do you manage all of those different generations? And there are some common themes that, you know, personally, I see in there. Number 1 is goes back to the respect and dignity, no matter who it is, always treating them with that, making sure that you follow-up, communicate and always having that integrity so that, you know, you're not questioned. People will follow you if you have integrity and care and respect for them.

24:10 - 24:59
Dawn Erickson: They know that you're gonna treat people fairly. So when we're hiring for leaders, we're looking for those those common themes of making sure that they're doing the right thing, making sure that they're caring for their people, having that, you know, that outward mindset that they're putting themselves in other shoes, that they're not jumping to conclusions, and that they're genuinely caring about the people that work for and and with them too. It's not just the ones that work for you. You have to care for those that are in that 3 60 bubble around you. And for me, I think that that also includes our customers and the communities in which we serve.

24:59 - 25:26
Dawn Erickson: We take that really seriously at WM. You know, it doesn't mean that we don't miss a pickup here and there, but we really try hard not to. And we'll go back and make sure that that customer is taken care of and that those communities are taken care of and that we're good partners with them, too. That's really important for us. So finding somebody that has that holistic view of that care and integrity is an important part, I think, of our success.

25:28 - 25:28
Aaron Craddock: It's awesome.

25:29 - 25:33
Dawn Erickson: Yeah. It's exciting finding those people too. So Mhmm.

25:33 - 25:46
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. Yeah. I have, like, a whole other line of questioning. We won't go into it, but I'm, like, I'm, like, excited. I'm like excited, like, how do you even screen for that in, like, asking questions?

25:47 - 25:48
Aaron Craddock: Like, if, like, the

25:48 - 25:49
Dawn Erickson: Open ended questions.

25:50 - 26:06
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. What type what type of open ended so my question is, what type of open ended question would you ask, like, would an employer ask to kinda find out if someone is more other centric rather than themselves centric or or has that Okay. Empathy?

26:07 - 26:43
Dawn Erickson: I will give you my unpatented question that now will be sent to all WM interviewees that come before me. So I ask this question every single time, and that is tell me about a situation personal professional doesn't matter. Kind of went down in flames for you. That went really bad and what did you do and, you know, who did it involve? And by asking that, I'm finding out a variety of things.

26:43 - 27:15
Dawn Erickson: I'm finding out, a, what what do they think going down in flames means? Because sometimes their definition is not what I would say is going down in flames. It's it's also letting me know how do they problem solve, who did they involve, what resources did they invoke, you know, how did they communicate, how did they take care of the people, the customers, all of that? So I'm finding out, did they work with integrity? Are they caring?

27:15 - 27:34
Dawn Erickson: Do they have good communication skills? And what is their sense of what down in flames is? So, I mean, you get the craziest answers, but it's really for me that that is usually a good indicator that leads leads to a lot of really good answers about them as a person. Mhmm.

27:34 - 27:43
Aaron Craddock: I love that. I'm gonna add that to our repertoire. I was, like, trying to, like, take notes really quickly. So if you're interviewing with us, that is a likely question as well. Yeah.

27:43 - 27:58
Aaron Craddock: Very cool. The, yeah, I love it. And and, like, the thing that I like the most about that is, like, who did it involve? Right. Because I could also see where the applicant would be they'll they'll mention the people, but then, like, what assertions are they making about the people?

27:59 - 28:05
Aaron Craddock: And, like, is there empathy towards they're like, well, this person, this was their I understand where they were coming from. Right.

28:05 - 28:16
Dawn Erickson: Yeah. That's cool. But that person got in my way, so I just let them go. And you're like, oh, okay. That's that may not be the the way we do things, so maybe that's not a good indicator for us.

28:17 - 28:18
Dawn Erickson: So yeah.

28:19 - 29:01
Aaron Craddock: That early in my career, I really didn't value the empathy and the people part. Like, I thought it was more just about execution, and I was kinda thrust into leadership and, like, grew, like, really quickly in my career and, and had large teams. And, yeah, and then started running into some real problems, like I think around the 75 employee mark and just where I didn't handle things properly and didn't value the communication piece and other people's perspectives. And I had had a leader pull me aside and have a hard talk, and he's like, like, you like, you're gonna undermine yourself anywhere you go, like, if you don't, like, get better at x, y, and z. And Mhmm.

29:02 - 29:30
Aaron Craddock: And I'm just so glad that he pulled me aside and, like, challenged me to read different books on emotional intelligence and and he has to just spend time on that. And because that's, like, the I mean, the most important thing I do today. And even back then, it was in hindsight. But I, you know, I just was so metric driven, like why are we not talking about the solution and the tactical thing when it's so much more complex with that? Like it's the lens with which Yeah.

29:31 - 29:34
Aaron Craddock: People receive what you say, it's not what you say.

29:34 - 30:08
Dawn Erickson: Well, and if you think about, like, the driver okay. So if you're if you're focused on the metrics, are they gonna go through the wall? I think is the saying for you, where if they know that you genuinely care about them, that it's not just, you know, just talk, but you walk the talk, they're gonna be helping you out, which then gets to the metrics. So, you know, the but the reverse is not true. If you're just going to the metrics, it doesn't mean that they're going to that they're going to help you get there.

30:08 - 30:38
Dawn Erickson: So I remember reading an article. It was I mean, it was years ago. I have no idea what to quote, where it came from, but it was about it was talking about 70% of the people leave because of their managers. And that that has stuck with me, you know, like, for the last 10, 15 years that I read that. And I don't even know if that number is still accurate, but I think it is because when we see that we have better managers, we see our turnover go down.

30:39 - 31:13
Dawn Erickson: And I know in in my area in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, we've done we've tried to do a concentrated effort on making sure we get the right people in to lead our teams because we know that that's gonna have the best result, not only for the employees, but for our customers and and communities too. So I think that that's really that's really important. You want those those leaders that people admire and that they want to work for, and I think that that's what can make an organization great.

31:13 - 31:26
Aaron Craddock: So what's different about that leader, like, in most cases that that they want to work with them versus the one that's more of a challenge that has lower lower employee satisfaction?

31:26 - 31:55
Dawn Erickson: Yep. I'll give you I'll give you an example. So if you have an employee that comes in and they are 10 minutes late every day, and you keep you know, you write them up, or maybe you're not so good at writing them up. But, you know, they come in, you give them attendance points or whatever it might be. You write them up depending on what your organization has, and then the person quits.

31:56 - 32:22
Dawn Erickson: Or the person comes in 10 minutes every day. Maybe you write them up or you don't, but the manager asks them, is everything okay? I've noticed that you keep coming in 10 minutes late. Is there something that, you know, is there something wrong, something that we can help you with? And then the person tells them that my wife switched to the 3rd shift, and she can't get home in time.

32:22 - 32:47
Dawn Erickson: I'm trying to get here as quick as I do. And so you make an adjustment, and maybe they go out with the second launch of the day, which gives them even more time for their wife to get there, and they do the hand off, and then they come into work. What what have you lost? Like, you I mean, you have to consider what the route is. Can they get in and out of the alleys?

32:47 - 33:15
Dawn Erickson: Again, going back to everything that's behind the transportation industry and what you don't see. But how can you make that adjustment? Or maybe they switch their different to a different line of business and you train them on that so that they can have time with their wife switching. And now you've saved a great employee and not terminated them. And that is dependent upon the manager asking the question of, are you okay?

33:15 - 33:17
Dawn Erickson: Is there anything that we can do? So now

33:18 - 33:18
Aaron Craddock: I love that.

33:18 - 33:44
Dawn Erickson: That if the guy sits there and says, I just can't get up in the morning, then then maybe you offer to help him set 3 more alarms on his iPhone or whatever. And then and then if it continues from there, well, I, you know, we just can't control that. But there are situations that we've run into that caring managers will try to find solutions for, and that is a great leader.

33:45 - 34:31
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. Yeah. And I would think even if it is the alarm clock thing, like still that approach of assuming positive intent just builds that relationship where they won't wanna go somewhere else where they're not. Because that's the main way that and all the fleets that we talk to all the time that they lose talent is, through leadership and, like, or which leadership isn't just the title, like, sometimes it's the dispatcher or the know, it could be a ton of different roles. It's not just their direct boss, but anything someone else in the organization that interacts with them doesn't lead with lead with thinking about their perspective and assuming positive intent.

34:31 - 34:32
Dawn Erickson: Right.

34:33 - 34:48
Aaron Craddock: So I could see how that's that's super powerful. Yeah. So what what are you you mentioned, like, reading, like, reading an article a while back. And one of the questions we try to ask all of our guests before we get off is what are you reading or have you recently read that you really enjoyed?

34:50 - 34:57
Dawn Erickson: I read a book called Smart Brevity, and I wish I could tell you who it is from.

34:58 - 35:00
Aaron Craddock: We'll put it in the note we'll put it in the show notes.

35:00 - 35:38
Dawn Erickson: Oh, good. Thank you. But, the ironic part is I thought it could be a bit more brief than it was. So, just a little FYI, but it actually was a small book, but it was really about how do you put things together for impact in a way that, captures attention and doesn't have your audience turn off. And we know that when we're reaching out to our employees, I mean, I think it's, you know, something like you have 10 seconds in the email before they lose interest.

35:38 - 35:50
Dawn Erickson: You know, what can you read in 10 seconds? So I I've been enjoying reading that because I can be a little chatty, and, so trying to get a little bit better at that.

35:51 - 35:58
Aaron Craddock: Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. That's good for me too. That's, like, almost a 100% of the time when I get myself into trouble it's because I talk too much.

35:59 - 36:06
Dawn Erickson: Yeah. My mom calls it Midwest nice. Mhmm. You're Midwest nice. I'm like, what does that mean?

36:06 - 36:09
Dawn Erickson: She goes, we just like to make sure everybody understands.

36:11 - 36:13
Aaron Craddock: It's a very polite way of saying it. Okay.

36:13 - 36:16
Dawn Erickson: No. Yeah. Well, she's my mom, so she's nice.

36:18 - 36:24
Aaron Craddock: Well, so good. Yeah. Was was there anything else, Dawn, that I should have asked today that I did not?

36:26 - 37:07
Dawn Erickson: You know, the only the only thing that I think about sometimes is, you know, going back to that managing employees in different generations. And I think if I have one message that would go out to people is to just remember where people have come from, to remember, you know, that they had another boss that they worked with that treated them a certain way, good or bad. They had, you know, they've got things that are going on at their home and that may affect them here at work. It may be how they grew up. Maybe both of their parents worked.

37:07 - 37:39
Dawn Erickson: Maybe they worked where their mother stayed home or their father stayed home. Maybe, you know, and that affected things. Maybe their parents made them work at a younger age or maybe this is their first job. You know, you don't you don't know what that is because we don't see that. And so being a leader or being a manager means thinking that you don't know everything about all of your employees and asking the questions.

37:41 - 38:23
Dawn Erickson: And like you said, Erin, assuming that positive intent, those really help manage. And at the end of the day, for the transportation industry as a whole, we need to we need to keep people in the transportation industry and not become plumbers or electricians or work in the health care field or go outside of the transportation industry. We have a finite number and we're all competing against each other. We don't need to compete against other industries too. So the better we become as an industry, as an employer, helps us keep all those people within our industry and helps us as a whole.

38:23 - 38:34
Dawn Erickson: So I would just put that out there of, you know, it's it's, it's beneficial for the whole industry for us to up our game on on managing people well.

38:36 - 39:06
Aaron Craddock: Yeah. I love that. And and it it's kind of good timing, because like this episode will be either ending up the year or starting next year. And our first episode in 2024, back in January, was with a well known labor economist that came on and he was talking about the upcoming labor shortages projected that are just astronomical. Like over the next like he's written a few articles and has been published in every major publication.

39:06 - 39:44
Aaron Craddock: But like coming up in the next 5 to 10 years, like, we're we're gonna see some stuff that we've never seen before in terms of just challenges and shortages. And so I think the more we can serve and help each other in the industry as, you know, HR leaders and business leaders and and share the ideas of, like like, everything you talked about today, the assuming positive intent and looking out for the people in our industry, making their jobs easier, I mean, that's gonna benefit all of us. Yeah. And, so I love it. So I really appreciate you your time today and your your thoughtful answers.

39:44 - 39:54
Aaron Craddock: And, yeah, I learned a lot. Like, I wish I could I'm gonna have to go back and take more notes, specifically that interview question. That was golden.

39:55 - 39:58
Dawn Erickson: So well, I gave away my trade secret here. So

39:58 - 39:59
Aaron Craddock: I know.

39:59 - 40:01
Dawn Erickson: We'll see who's got good answers.

40:01 - 40:12
Aaron Craddock: We somehow have that effect on people on the show. So That's good. I I really appreciate it. So thank you, Dawn, for your time today, and, I'll I'll be in touch. Thanks.

40:12 - 40:14
Dawn Erickson: That sounds good. Thanks so much, Erin.

40:14 - 40:26
Aaron Craddock: Thank you for joining us today. Our goal with the Hire Truckers podcast is to provide industry insights, marketing trends, and motivation to level up your recruiting game. If we added value, take a few seconds to share this with your network. Have a great week.