On-Boarding Done Right at Armour Eckrich!

The on-boarding of our new drivers is critical to our success.  This process starts prior to
them ever getting to a JB Hunt Orientation.  When we see potential new hires names come up on our orientation lists in Spider we should be reaching out immediately.  We should always call our new employees prior to them going into orientation.  This first touch base call will allow you to introduce yourself and ease some of the concerns that they may have.  It will also allow you to give them a realistic view of what the account actually entails.  If you have the ability and the driver lives local to the account, I recommend having them stop by to meet you in person and see the account.  Once they are in orientation, you need to make sure you are touching base regularly.  For those of you who haven't seen a JB Hunt Orientation, drivers can sometimes get overwhelmed with all the other drivers from other divisions, etc.  It is our job to ease them through this week as best we can.  Our formal Tuesday touch base calls also go a long way.  We need to make sure we take these serious and come prepared to share with the drivers what the remainder of their week looks like as well as their training the following week once they get to the account.  Please put yourself in our new drivers shoes.  I would think most of us would want regular communication and to know that we are wanted and needed by our new company.

Recently, our Armour Eckrich startup team took this process to the next level.  Account Manager Connie Fruchey, along with ARM Jeff Holle, and OM Scott Tully took all new drivers out to dinner at Wings, etc.  This not only welcomed our new employees to the company, but also served as a great team building exercise for the account.  While this is not possible at all accounts, I encourage you to put as much effort as you can into the on-boarding of our new employees.  This will go a long ways toward the retention of our drivers.

The people in the photos (L to R) - John Simmons, Dennis Fields, Steven Dudley, Patrick Statom, Connie Fruchey, Dewey Gibson, and Jeff Holle.