I have no desire to spend the night in the cab of a truck with a coworker–male or female. But especially not male. As an HR expert, I would strongly caution companies against having men and women share overnight accommodations, even in hotels.
Having said that, I can’t condone how trucking companies are choosing to not hire women because part of the training process involves the trainer and trainee spending days and nights together in the rather cramped confines of a truck cab. According to the New York Times, these companies want men training men and women training women. The Times writes:
Trucking companies often refuse to hire women if the businesses do not have women available to train them. And because fewer than 5 percent of truck drivers in the United States are women, there are few female trainers to go around.
The fear is sexual harassment, so the solution is to separate the sexes. And it’s not illogical. As I said, I would not be interested in spending the night in the cab of a truck with a male coworker.
To keep reading, click here: Trucking Companies Could Be More Profitable by Spending Just a Little Bit of Money–and Hiring Women
I think you are overlooking the long stretches of empty interstate roads that truckers have to drive, legal limits on the number of hours they can drive, combined with the incredibly tight schedules that they have to make deliveries that often necessitates sleeping in the truck over a motel.
But there are women truck drivers, but not enough available who would be willing to train new potential women truck drivers for the long haul driving conditions. Perhaps start with training women drivers for the short haul driving routes that don’t need overnight long distances driving before they get trained for the long haul trips so that gives time for the trucking company to match potential new women long haul drivers with the few women long haul drivers who would be willing to train them. Any driver trainer should be getting compensation for doing this. Eventually if done right, the number of women truck drivers for long haul jobs will increase accordingly.
While there are women truck drivers, there is a shortage of female drivers available to train new prospects for long-haul driving conditions. To address this challenge, it might be a good idea to start by training women drivers for shorter-haul routes that don’t require overnight long-distance driving. This approach would provide an opportunity for trucking companies to pair potential new women long-haul drivers with the few experienced women who are willing to serve as trainers. Of course, these driver trainers should receive compensation for their valuable role in training new drivers. With this gradual approach, there’s a potential to increase the number of women truck drivers in long-haul jobs over time.