The transport industry has an employee retention problem, there’s no shying away from that fact. A recent NatRoad survey highlighted a current gap of 26,000 drivers in the sector, which amounts to a staggering 14.4 per cent shortfall.
This statistic is alarming in isolation but has the potential to be catastrophic when you dig deeper. Half the current crop of drivers is older than 55 and the average age in the industry is 49. Just 5.2 per cent of drivers are aged under 25, and just 6.5 per cent are women.
The industry is overstretched and already struggling to meet demand and has an aging, exclusionary demographic.
This issue is far from specific to any state, or even to Australia, but something must be done to address the impending crisis and Queensland-based logistics company Followmont Transport is working to figure out the problem.
Followmont recently celebrated its 40-year anniversary. After its humble beginnings delivering magazines to newsagents up the east coast of Queensland it has developed into a titan of Australian transport.
Now Followmont’s 1000-plus strong staff services businesses across Queensland and New South Wales. The Sunshine State remains the company’s stronghold with 20 of its 24 depots – with a large portion located in key regional hubs like Mackay, Mareeba and Mount Isa – while it continues to strengthen its presence in New South Wales following initial expansion into the state in 2018.
Mark Tobin took over as the company’s CEO in 2013 and has overseen a period of unprecedented growth for Followmont Transport and he, along with brother Ben, has taken his father’s business to new heights since the turn of the decade.
Despite its size, scope and rapid growth, Followmont is far from immune to the current issues plaguing the wider transport industry, which is why it has elected to take matters into its own hands.
“We’ve definitely got a gap in the society of the supply chain and transport logistics in that we’re not getting in the youth,” Tobin tells ATN. The federal government can talk about incentives, apprenticeships and things like that, but we’ve struggled to see any momentum off the back of that.
“It’s just words, so we said we have to run our own race as a transport industry.
“The average turnover is 33 per cent, so we have a larger issue at hand in the industry. The way I lead this business is we have to make a difference and believe in what we do.
“We do that through people, leadership, training, authentic relationships with our customer, and trying to create innovation at every level.
“It’s not about cutting corners, it’s about putting back into infrastructure for long-term success, whether that comes from property, equipment, or your people.
“We’ve got to give back to get back, and that’s the philosophy I’ve used for the past 15 years. As an industry we’ve got everything against us when it comes to people, and that needs to change.”
How, then, do you change an industry-wide employee retention problem? It’s a question that has plagued the wider transport and logistics sector for decades, but Tobin and Followmont believe genuine investment in people that enter the organisation holds the key.
“We have a whole employment lifecycle strategy,” Tobin continues. “It’s about how you onboard, educate and engage, because we have this challenge in the industry.
“We’ve got a clear training and development program for our operational stage, and we have our own internal leadership and safety leadership training.
“We’ve virtually got a classroom here that is probably working 48 weeks a year. We’ve got people in there trying to improve their awareness and education, whether that’s around traffic management, dangerous goods, health and workplace safety.
“Even how to do a delivery or how to conduct yourself on a professional phone call.
“We look at every level. Every part of our business, however broad, has a clear strategy.”
“It’s easy to micromanage, it’s hard work to build trust, but empowerment and engagement builds that trust until it’s authentic, and one thing we don’t do in order to build that is micromanage.
“It’s about setting KPIs to a task, being efficient, getting on with the job and just being good people.”
Outside of that crucial desire to invest in its own people, Followmont has been exponentially expanding its operations across Queensland and New South Wales over its 40-year journey. Now it’s one of the leading transport companies across both states and has cemented itself as a crucial cog in Australia’s regional economy.
Tobin, of course, is one of the key drivers of Followmont’s desire to become a powerhouse of regional Australia, but that desire does not stem from a need to be the biggest or only player in a market that relies on the nation’s transport and logistics industry, but it stems from a passion to become a key part of local communities.
“Both myself and my brother are very aligned here,” Tobin says.
“Our goal, our passion is regional Queensland and New South Wales, and how to build families and sustainable income in places like Mount Isa, Longreach, or Mareeba.
“It might take years to make some of these profitable, but the enjoyment we get in seeing ourselves in a regional centre where we’re part of the community is definitely a passion of ours.
“Last week I was in Mount Isa, Townsville and Mackay to give people their 25-year anniversary certificates and gifts, but to go out there and have a barbecue at Mount Isa – it doesn’t get any better than that.
“My father taught me that service is everything, and for many years I punched that down everybody’s throats – but I don’t have to say it anymore.
“The people know it’s our number one value, and know I have 1000 employees who understand what Followmont stands for without me having to get up on a perch saying, ‘service is everything’. I’m proud of that.
“Anybody can put culture on the walls, but we have it measured every year to craft. We believe in it, we talk it, we walk it. Everybody gets involved.”
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