Lionzone

Most everyone can agree that truck driving is a normally lonely profession. While driving teams are starting to become more prevalent, they are not an everyday occurrence yet. So, for the bulk of drivers, time in the truck is spent alone. When Covid-19 hit, this issue was exacerbated when restaurants and truck stops closed; this was either voluntarily done by owners or by government order in some places. In many places, warehouses and shipping and receiving facilities barred truckers from entering due to fear of contagion. This meant that one of the loneliest jobs in the world became even more solitary.

Back pain is a regular part of life for many people, with as many as 80% of all adults saying that they have experienced back pain at some point. For truck drivers, it can be something that they experience daily. Because of long hours in the driver’s seat, 81% of truckers around the world, according to the Journal of Occupational Health, experience musculoskeletal pain, or MSP. In the U.S., these issues with pain are usually categorized in one of three ways: as RLS, or Restless Leg Syndrome, Sciatica, or Gas Pedal Knee.

January was an incredible month for job growth, coming in at 517,000 new Nonfarm payrolls. With the market estimating that that number was going to come in at 187,000, experts are blown away this morning. The U.S. is at the lowest jobless level since May of 1969, so we’re seeing record low unemployment levels. Unemployment dropped slightly to 5.7 million, coming down to 3.4% from the previous month. (December’s number were adjusted later in January to be 3.5-3.6%.) The number of jobs per person didn’t change from the just under two jobs available for unemployed December in November. Transportation and Warehouse openings rose to an impressive 23,000 in December. As the Federal Reserve continues to try and mitigate these inflationary trends with increases to the interest rates, there are still concerns that the labor market is still out of balance. A recession could still possibly be on the horizon, but today’s numbers are making many hopeful that it can be avoided.

Every business wants to recruit top talent to work at their company. The only question is how to go about it. In a market where there are still 1.5-1.7 jobs open per unemployed person, employees have the choice of where to work. By maintaining an excellent employer brand and by formulating a solid recruitment marketing strategy, you are on your way to staffing your company with the people you want and need to succeed.

“Retention” is the word on every business owner’s lips this year, and it can be overwhelming to start looking into tips on how to succeed when it comes to keeping the talent your company has already worked so hard to win. However, groups like the World Economic Forum remind business owners that money can’t buy loyalty in times like these where employees are looking for a more well-rounded career that gives more than just a paycheck.