GP Transco (CCJ Top 250, No. 175), an Illinois-based carrier with over 500 trucks, recently rolled out a new fuel incentive program that compensates drivers who drive efficiently and save fuel. But the program didn’t take off until the company addressed it on its new podcast: Voice GP Transco. After being featured on the internal podcast hosted by company executives, the program skyrocketed from about 30% to nearly 90% participation.
The company uses the podcast, published monthly to a private YouTube channel, to communicate internal information to its drivers and all other employees so the entire team – from fleet managers to mechanics – is on the same page, said Sergey Bort, GP Transco’s vice president of marketing and strategy.
“As we continued to grow as a company, it became evident that keeping all of our drivers on the same page regarding company policies, the reasons for those policies, changes, updates and additions is very challenging,” Bort said. “We wanted a way to reach our drivers and thought about sending out surveys for them to submit questions and answer them in an email format, but we quickly remembered that these days no one reads, so we thought that responding to their concerns and questions and addressing company policies in a video format would mean a much higher viewership compared to text, and we were right.”
About 90% of GP Transco drivers watch or listen to the podcast. Bort said that in the short time the company has been using the medium, it has received great feedback from drivers – who are able to submit questions they want answered on the podcast – primarily because they appreciate hearing from the top brass.
“According to our drivers, other companies they worked for had leadership that was invisible to the drivers, which does not feel very inclusive to them,” Bort said. “Having the executive team speak directly and exclusively to the drivers gives our drivers a sense of belonging, a sense that they have a say in what goes on at the headquarters and shows them that we are transparent as a company.”
GP Transco executives take part in the company's recently launched Voice GP Transco video podcast.GP Transco
FirstFleet (No. 49), a Tennessee-based carrier with over 3,500 employees across 140 cities, also publishes a podcast featuring its top executives – and sometimes human resources, safety and even the drivers themselves, in addition to the occasional guest. While the FirstFleet TenFour podcast isn’t limited to employees – it’s publicly available on platforms like Spotify, and subscribers also include some FirstFleet vendors and friends in the industry – it is primarily geared toward employees, especially drivers.
