Employee Satisfaction @ United Transportation

Earlier this year, we conducted our first Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) survey at United Transportation.

For those unfamiliar with eNPS, it's a series of questions that are rated and in some cases allows the employee to provide open-ended feedback. This is completely anonymous. It allows an executive team or leadership team to accurately gauge overall employee satisfaction.

I have done these surveys for the past fifteen years, because "you can't manage what you can't measure." When we launched the survey, we weren't looking for perfect scores. We were looking for honest feedback. The team has experienced quite a bit of change with new ownership, a new warehouse location, and some internal organizational adjustments. We wanted to understand how our employees truly felt about the direction of the company, the work environment, and the culture we are building together.

The results were incredibly encouraging and our team believes we are performing exceptionally well. I was delighted to see the scores, however even more impressed with the comments, ideas, and constructive feedback within the open-ended questions.

But what I have been most excited by since acquiring the company almost a year ago is that we've had zero employee turnover. In an industry where operational pressure is constant and turnover can be common, that tells us we're doing something right. It also reinforces something we believe strongly as a leadership team — when people feel valued and supported, they stay engaged and committed.

When introduced by our former owner last year to the team, I told the staff that they will always be my first priority. I simply subscribed to the idea that if employees are happy, content, motivated, and understand how they fit into the larger organization, our customers will always be delighted with our service.

For the year ahead, we're focused on enhancing skill sets, additional leadership training for supervisors, opportunities for external education and personal development, and ensuring our entire organization is paid fairly.

In the end, companies don't build great operations. People do.

Our role as leaders is to create an environment where those people can thrive.

Because the best organizations never stop listening.