Diversity, equity, and inclusion: A guide for change

Introduction

To create a resilient and sustainable workforce that drives business success, trucking and logistics companies need to attract the best available talent. An effective diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy can give your company a competitive edge and help attract star players to your team.

In trucking and logistics, DEI should be grounded in the realities of work that happens on the road, in terminals, in yards, in shops, in warehouses, in dispatch, and in office environments. Practical approaches should recognize that employees may work different shifts, spend limited time with managers in person, or have different levels of access to company communications and training.

The information in this guide can help you integrate DEI approaches into your HR processes to fit your organization’s size and capacity—no matter where you’re starting from. You can read the guide sequentially or use the table of contents to skip ahead to topics that are most relevant to you. You’ll also find links to downloadable tools and templates throughout that will help you take action.

Purpose of this guide

This guide is designed to help fleet employers keep up with ongoing developments and best practices in DEI. It includes the following:

• Information about the benefits of DEI

• Tips to support successful implementation of DEI practices

• Caution areas for potential discrimination

• Key considerations for ongoing success

Creating a sustainable workforce

The success of our industry depends on the dedicated and highly skilled people who work in it, but maintaining a workforce isn’t always easy. For example, the trucking workforce is aging, and younger people aren’t always drawn to the industry, prioritizing flexibility and work-life balance over the adventure and independence that once drew previous generations to careers behind the wheel. For employers, this means it’s harder to find and retain the talent that keeps businesses moving. Robust DEI practices can be part of the solution, positioning you to create and sustain a skilled team.

For small and medium-size fleets and logistics providers, DEI can begin with practical changes such as clearer job postings, broader outreach, more accessible training, respectful communication expectations, and consistent promotion practices across driving and non-driving roles.

In particular, inclusive practices can help attract demographics that aren’t always well-represented in the industry, such as women, youth, and people with disabilities. Trucking HR Canada research has shown, as an example, the following:

• While most of the warm leads (individuals who would consider being employed in an occupation) for long-haul drivers are male, women account for 33% of them. Career-seeking women often lack information about the industry, but when they learn about the range of job opportunities it has to offer, their interest and openness to working in the industry increases significantly. Employers that break down barriers, promote awareness, and actively recruit job candidates from underrepresented groups are more insulated from labour market volatility. Think of DEI as a versatile set of tools and strategies that can help you navigate fluctuations in the labour market to build a resilient and successful team, no matter what’s happening in the broader economy.

DEI’s importance beyond labour market trends

Understanding DEI

Organizations must have all three factors—diversity, equity, and inclusion—in order to truly realize the benefits that employing individuals from a wide array of backgrounds can offer them.

What is diversity?

Diversity is about building a workplace that reflects the communities in which we work and live. Often, people think of diversity as it applies to visible differences, like race, gender, ethnicity, or age, but differences can be non-visible as well, encompassing sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and ability.

Diverse workplaces allow for enhanced perspectives for innovation, collaboration, and ideation—all resulting in measurable improvements to business success.

In this sector, diversity also means recognizing the range of roles that keep freight moving, including drivers, dispatchers, technicians, warehouse and dock workers, safety and compliance personnel, supervisors, administrative staff, and leaders.

What is equity?

Equity is about recognizing and responding to the diversity of needs within a workplace and ensuring each individual has access to the resources they need to succeed in their role. Not everyone needs the same things, which is why treating everyone equally may not be enough to get the most out of your team. An equitable approach goes beyond equality by actively dismantling barriers and providing appropriate support so everyone can excel. Equitable workplaces maximize the potential of diverse teams by enabling each contributor to achieve their best performance.

Equity may require different supports depending on the job, schedule, work location, and safety requirements. A driver on the road, a technician in the shop, a dispatcher managing urgent calls, and an office employee may need different tools, communication methods, or scheduling supports to succeed.

What is inclusion?

Inclusion is creating an environment in which diversity can flourish. An inclusive workplace is one where every employee can feel a sense of belonging. This improves team cohesion and commitment and enables individual employees to bring their best selves—and their best ideas—to work each day.

Inclusion should be felt in everyday interactions, including cab-to-dispatch communication, team meetings, training, safety conversations, customer-site interactions, and decisions about routes, shifts, equipment, and advancement opportunities

The four designated groups

Federally regulated employers with 100 or more employees have specific obligations under the Employment Equity Act. These include the following:

1. Identifying and eliminating employment barriers against persons in designated groups that result from the employer’s employment systems, policies, and practices that are not authorized by law
2. Instituting such positive policies and practices and making such reasonable accommodations as will ensure persons in designated groups achieve a degree of representation in each occupational group in the employer’s workforce that reflects their representation in the following:

• the Canadian workforce
• those segments of the Canadian workforce that are identifiable by qualification, eligibility, or geography, and from which the employer may reasonably be expected to draw employees

These obligations may require specific and focused efforts to ensure you have specific strategies to attract, retain, and promote people within the designated groups to achieve the goal outlined in b) above.

Employment equity planning should also consider where people are represented within the operation. A company may appear diverse overall while still having gaps in driving, maintenance, dispatch, warehouse, supervisory, safety, or leadership roles. Looking at representation by role, location, and career stage can help employers identify more targeted actions.

The designated groups are as follows:

Indigenous peoples

As of the 2021 Canadian Census, there were 1.8 million Indigenous peoples in Canada comprising three groups: Inuit, Métis, and First Nations. They are the fastest-growing demographic in Canada. The Indigenous population is younger than the non-Indigenous population, and nearly two-thirds of Indigenous people in Canada are working age.

People with disabilities

According to Statistics Canada (2022), eight million Canadians over the age of 15 have one or more disabilities that limit them in their daily activities. Approximately one-quarter of the working-age population (ages 25–64) has a disability. Although the employment gap is closing, Canadians with a disability still experience barriers to employment, with 62% of that population employed compared to 78% of persons without disabilities. As the population ages, the number of people with disabilities is also expected to grow.

Additionally, according to Toronto Metropolitan University[1], in the Canadian transportation and warehousing sector—which includes trucking and logistics—people with disabilities make up approximately 3.7% to 5.0% of the workforce. This lags significantly behind the broader Canadian labour market average of 9.1%, identifying this demographic as an underrepresented talent pool in the industry.

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[1] Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Transportation Sector, www.torontomu.ca/content/dam/diversity/reports/worbe-reports/EDI%20in%20the%20Transportation%20Sector.pdf. Accessed July 9, 2026.

Women

While women represent approximately half of employed Canadians, they represent only 16% of the labour force in the trucking and logistics industry and 4% of truck drivers.*

*Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (A Trucking HR Canada special request from Statistics Canada)

Visible minorities (also referred to as racialized individuals)

As of the 2021 Census, there were more than 9.6 million people identifying as a visible minority in Canada—about 26.5% of the population. Visible minorities comprise roughly 30% of the trucking and logistics workforce.

Benefits of DEI

There are many reasons why companies may want to be involved in DEI work.

In this sector, strong DEI practices can also support safety, retention, customer service, and workforce resilience. Employees are more likely to raise concerns, ask for support, participate in training, and stay with an employer when they believe decisions are fair and respectful.

Winning the war for talent

At its most basic level, winning the war for talent is a numbers game. How large is your pool of potential applicants, and how many from that pool actually apply? Inclusive workplaces benefit on both fronts. Committing to employ a diverse workforce naturally increases the pool of potential applicants, and that commitment will make your company more attractive to potential talent.

Maximizing employee potential

In addition to broadening the talent pools you hire from, DEI practices can help unlock the full potential of the people you employ. Embracing diversity means you benefit from the full range of perspectives and skills present in your team. Equity creates a framework in which there are no structural impediments preventing the talented individuals from excelling in their roles; inclusion creates an environment that encourages this to happen. Together, these factors can enhance employee engagement, leading to improved productivity and innovation and reducing absenteeism and voluntary turnover.

DEI and the bottom line

A truly inclusive workplace offers diversity of thought and skill sets; develops equitable policies and procedures; and fosters a culture of open-mindedness. These organizations are perceived more positively by external stakeholders and enjoy greater loyalty from customers and employees. This all has an impact on the bottom line. According to a McKinsey study, companies with more gender and ethnic diversity on their executive teams outperformed less-diverse companies in the same industry. Companies with gender-diverse executive teams were 25% more likely than less-diverse competitors to achieve above-average profitability, and those with ethnically diverse executive teams, 36% more likely.

Understanding your company’s current state

To get to any destination, you need to know where you’re starting. Whether your organization is new to DEI or well along the path, there’s always room for exploration and growth. Clarifying the current reality for your company is a critical first step that can pave the way for further improvement. Start by asking the following tough questions:

• Do we embrace diversity in our company?

• Who do our policies and practices benefit most, and why?

• Are we intentionally creating opportunities for underrepresented groups?

Bring leadership to the table for a thorough, solutions-oriented discussion of these important issues.

You may also want to conduct a formal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. This approach can help expose overlooked areas and maximize existing strengths.

Finally, gather input and information from employees to establish a baseline so you can measure changes in important metrics, such as equity group representation and employee engagement or belonging. Consider conducting surveys to assess employees’ perceptions of diversity and equity, and probe their level of trust in the company’s commitment to DEI.

For employers with multiple terminals, mixed shifts, or mobile employees, gather baseline data in ways that are easy to access and trusted by employees. Options may include anonymous surveys, short pulse checks, facilitated team discussions, toolbox talks, text-based feedback, and interviews with employees across different roles and locations.

For trucking and logistics employers, gather employee input through more than one channel so that mobile employees, shift-based workers, employees in shops or warehouses, and employees without regular computer access can participate meaningfully.

Employee demographics

Employers subject to the Legislated Employment Equity Program (LEEP) need to collect and analyze workforce data and submit reports to the Labour Program. Your employment equity reports can help you understand where underrepresentation is present in your workforce. You can use this information to set goals and implement strategies to close representation gaps.

Additional statistics may be required to measure progress around specific organizational goals. If your company has a Human Resources Information System (HRIS), determine what information you can extract from it. If your company does not have an HRIS, or information stored in the HRIS is limited, you may need to implement an employee census to gather the information you need.

When you review demographic information, look for patterns across job groups and locations, where appropriate, such as driving, dispatch, maintenance, warehouse, administration, supervision, and leadership. This can help identify where representation, advancement, or employee experience may differ within the operation.

Making the commitment

Successful DEI initiatives require commitment and understanding from leadership. Meaningful change doesn’t happen overnight; it takes time, education, collaboration, and vigilance. Every step in the DEI process can present new lessons that necessitate change or challenge the way things were done in the past. This can be uncomfortable, but a committed leadership team will guide the organization through periods of change so that everyone can experience the benefits of a more inclusive workplace.

Leadership commitment should be visible in operational decisions, not only in formal statements. Employees will look for consistency in how schedules are assigned, complaints are handled, accommodations are discussed, training is offered, and promotion opportunities are communicated across the company.

Companies can outline their commitments in a DEI strategy document, or they can incorporate them into an overarching business strategy. It’s useful to have this information readily available so staff can see the commitment and the journey the organization is willing to take.

In trucking and logistics, translate your commitments into day-to-day operating practices. This includes how people are recruited, assigned work, trained, supervised, accommodated, promoted, recognized, and supported when concerns are raised.

Short- vs. long-term commitments

Be sure to set reasonable expectations for DEI initiatives. Progress takes time, but setting clear goals to strive for will help you identify and prioritize concrete actions, communicate those actions and your commitment to them, and measure your success.

Long-term objectives

Long-term objectives take at least three years to complete. These aspirational goals provide direction for the organization. They can be expressed as a statement or a group of statements that articulate what the company wants to achieve. Goal setting for DEI can become integrated into larger organizational planning and goal-setting initiatives. Below are examples of long-term objectives for DEI:

• Become an industry leader influencing DEI best practices within five years

• Become the go-to trucking company for diverse candidates within three years

• Outperform industry benchmarks for DEI by [DATE]

• Integrate DEI into our organization’s strategy and daily practices

• Attract and retain a workforce that represents the places we serve and the communities in which we operate by [DATE]

Short-term objectives

Short-term goals help define what needs to be done to achieve the longer-term objectives. These can be defined as specific actions or measurable targets that can generally be achieved within one to two years. Short-term objectives should be assessed frequently and updated if they’re not garnering the desired results.

For trucking and logistics companies, short-term objectives may also include reviewing job ads for unnecessary barriers, improving access to training for mobile employees, creating clearer career pathways from entry-level or driving roles, and ensuring managers receive practical guidance on respectful communication and accommodation. Below are some examples of short-term objectives for DEI:

• Create a DEI committee

• Conduct a DEI process review

• Provide training to managers on DEI best practices

• Track and measure diversity stats for hiring, promotions, and terminations

• Create diversity partnerships

• Include commitment to diversity in job ads

• Identify outreach opportunities to help attract diverse candidates to the organization

Measurable targets might include the following:

• Increase diversity in new hires by 10% for women, 15% for Indigenous peoples, 15% for visible minorities, 15% for persons with disabilities, and 20% for youth

• Achieve 40% minority representation in management positions

• Host quarterly diversity initiatives

Best practices to ensure organization-wide commitment

Gain leadership buy-in

Leadership buy-in is key to success. DEI initiatives may have budgetary implications, and leadership input and sign-off will be needed for short- and long-term objectives. Some work may need to be done at the executive and management levels to achieve this commitment before launching company-wide initiatives.

Define your core beliefs

Defining a set of core beliefs for your organization will help to create a supportive culture for DEI initiatives. Core beliefs help define expectations for employee conduct and guide efforts to achieve DEI objectives. Following are some examples of core belief statements or guiding principles:

• DEI is about more than numbers; it’s about people

• Inclusiveness is everyone’s responsibility

• DEI concerns will always be addressed

• We don’t accept only differences; we embrace the uniqueness of everyone

Seek input from employees about what’s important and meaningful to them. These can be reassessed and reevaluated as DEI initiatives become more ingrained in your organization’s practices.

Let employees know

Once commitment is made at the executive level, organizational goals and objectives established, and core beliefs defined, communicate this information to employees. Remember, employees will have their own impressions on DEI—why it’s important or even why it’s not. With any communication, providing context can be helpful to people when describing why decisions are made.

Communication may need to reach employees through multiple channels, including email, payroll inserts, driver apps, posters in terminals and lunchrooms, dispatch updates, toolbox talks, pre-shift meetings, and supervisor conversations.

Establish a committee

Consider engaging employees in the company’s DEI efforts. Giving employees the opportunity to participate can have many benefits, including increased buy-in, differing perspectives, and speed of execution.

A DEI committee should include perspectives from across the operation where possible. Representation from drivers, dispatch, maintenance, warehouse, safety, HR, administration, and management can help to ensure recommendations are practical and relevant to different work environments.

Review current practices

Discrimination—either overt or systemic—may be present within long-standing organizational practices. Carefully reviewing your current practices will help you identify and address potential discrimination. Policy and process audits should be as neutral as possible. Consider hiring an impartial, third-party consultant trained in DEI sensitivities. Alternatively, you can train internal employees on potential biases and areas of caution and then conduct cross-functional process reviews using this trained team. If taking the second approach, be sure to include members of diverse groups in the process review, and ask for their observations and feedback.

When reviewing current practices, map the employee experience across the full employment cycle—from recruitment and onboarding, to dispatch communication, training access, accommodation, performance management, promotion, and termination.

Federally regulated employers are governed by the Canadian Human Rights Act. The intention behind the act is to ensure all employees are protected from discrimination based on the prohibited grounds, which include race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, genetic characteristics, disability, or conviction for an offence for which a pardon has been granted or in respect of which a record suspension has been ordered. Provincially/territorially regulated employers are governed by similar human rights guidelines.

Human rights legislation is a great starting point, but employers that want to create truly inclusive workplaces can be intentional in their efforts beyond legal requirements. Below are some of the areas where discrimination can exist at key decision-making points with employees, along with what you can do to mitigate risk.

Recruitment and selection

The recruitment process is a hot zone for potential discrimination, even when it’s not intentional. Recruitment is also the best opportunity to address diversity gaps and to demonstrate your organization’s commitment to equitable and inclusive practices.

Recruitment practices should show that the sector offers more than one pathway into meaningful work. Employers can highlight roles in driving, dispatch, maintenance, warehousing, safety, customer service, administration, and leadership so candidates can see where their skills may fit and how they can grow.

Recruitment materials should reflect both driving and non-driving careers and should avoid unnecessary requirements that may discourage qualified applicants. Review whether schedules, physical requirements, licensing expectations, language expectations, and technology requirements are clearly connected to the actual duties of the role.

Unconscious biases can unintentionally impact the recruitment and selection process. For example, people may believe that men are better suited for certain roles or that people with certain backgrounds are better/worse at certain positions. Understanding and addressing our personal biases and introducing checks and balances within our recruitment process are necessary steps to overcoming discrimination. Below are some of the ways you can create a more equitable and inclusive recruitment and selection process:

• Review the job requirements to determine if they’re truly necessary for the job. Requirements that seem important but that—on closer inspection—aren’t strictly required for the job could be expressions of unconscious bias (e.g., English proficiency, hours of work requirements)

• Review the demographics of your current team. Do they mirror the community in which you operate?

• Identify any focused outreach opportunities by partnering with diversity associations (e.g., new immigrant employment associations or Indigenous support groups) or through active engagement with diverse communities (e.g., religious institutions or women leadership organizations) to ensure you’re proactively engaging diverse candidates

• Remove any gendered language from job postings and interview questions

• Use technology to screen candidates, and/or create neutralized résumés—removing names, locations of past work experience, employment gaps, hobbies, or other non-required information that might provide insight into race, gender, or age

• Use a candidate selection committee made up of diverse participants

• Mitigate up-front barriers by scheduling interviews in accessible rooms or providing test materials in multiple languages or formats

• Understand how company “fit” and “culture” questions may have inherent bias. Avoid assessing candidates on personality traits that are unrelated to the job functions. Use the same culture and fit questions for all candidates and relate them back to the organization’s predefined values and core competencies

• Stick to the script and predetermined interview questions

• Have multiple people involved in the process and decision

• Use a hiring rubric. This is a scorecard that helps define, in advance, what a successful candidate looks like by outlining the expectations against which a candidate will be evaluated. A rubric allows for multiple people’s equal input in the assessment process

• Hire an independent person or company to review the process for potential bias

• Train hiring managers and committee participants on unconscious bias above

Promotions

We’ve all heard of the “glass ceiling”—the idea that women can see the top but can’t quite get there. This glass ceiling exists for other diversity groups as well, and without the full understanding and realization that opportunities are not created equally, there can be no real equity or inclusion.

Finding ways to address the real barriers that prevent some qualified individuals from attaining promotions may be difficult. Recognizing that these barriers are there, though, is a great first step. To identify solutions, be open to new perspectives. Ask your teams what has stood in the way of their own growth and development. Their responses may help you identify systemic barriers that are preventing certain groups or individuals from advancing.

Career pathways can include progression from driver to trainer, mentor, dispatcher, safety role, supervisor, fleet manager, or operations leader, as well as advancement opportunities in maintenance, warehouse, administration, and customer service functions.

For example, when interviewing your employees, you may hear parents—and particularly women—say that they won’t consider management roles because the hours conflict with family responsibilities. You may find out from other employees that there have never been discussions about their advancement or that opportunities for growth aren’t clear to them. Is that more prevalent in responses from minority groups? Understanding what the barriers are can help you to identify ways to break them down.

Promotion practices should account for employees who may have less informal visibility because they work on the road, on nights, on weekends, in the shop, or at customer sites. Clear criteria, accessible postings, documented development discussions, and consistent manager follow-up can help reduce reliance on informal networks. Below are examples of how you can make your promotion practices more inclusive and equitable for all employees:

 • Keep stats on the demographics of people who apply for internal promotions

• Keep stats on the demographics of people who are promoted

• Create standardized career paths for key roles within the company. Publish them so everyone can access and understand what’s required to move up

• Make career development discussions the norm—for everyone

• Use gender-inclusive language when referencing senior positions

• Address systemic barriers that may prevent certain individuals from obtaining promotions—such as offering more widely accessible training and development opportunities, removing unnecessary qualifications, and implementing flexible work practices for senior roles

• Ensure compensation structures and practices, including promotions, are applied consistently

Performance management

Some of the most emotionally charged and sensitive interactions with employees take place when there’s a conflict, a performance violation, or an event that requires performance management. Ensuring equitable and fair treatment for all employees throughout the performance management process is important.

For mobile and shift-based employees, performance discussions should account for dispatch records, route conditions, customer-site requirements, equipment availability, and training access, and whether expectations were communicated clearly and consistently.

Just as bias can exist within the recruitment process, it may be present when dealing with an employee performance management issue. For example, we may believe that people of certain ages or cultural backgrounds behave a certain way and, therefore, either instigated a performance issue or “let it happen.”

In trucking and logistics workplaces, performance discussions should separate conduct or performance concerns from assumptions about age, disability, culture, gender, language, family status, or mental health. Managers should review the facts, the job requirements, the employee’s context, and any accommodation obligations before deciding next steps. Ways to help prevent bias and discrimination when dealing with a difficult employee situation are outlined below:

• Allow the employee to provide context and information around what happened

• Follow all company policies and documented procedures when investigating any serious performance issue

• Pause and reflect on whether any bias is present

• Develop and then follow a progressive performance management policy

• Provide training to managers on how to have difficult conversations

• Gain perspective by involving HR or another leader in decisions on performance management actions

 • Ensure any performance management actions are consistent with relevant past situations

Terminations

Termination decisions are always difficult. They can be emotional, not just for the employee being let go, but also for the person delivering the message. Even when the decision to terminate is sound and justified, it’s often challenging for managers to conclude that termination is necessary. In some situations, the manager may feel personally offended or disappointed in the employee, causing an emotionally charged reaction and decision.

Having strong practices on how terminations are decided and delivered will help ensure the decisions are based on business need and no other, potentially discriminatory, factors. For example, if a manager is frustrated because an older worker isn’t properly using the new technology, it may not be an incompetence issue. The worker may simply need additional training.

Ensure you consider the following practices to avoid potential discrimination, and potential legal action, when terminating an employee:

• Keep stats on employee demographics for involuntary terminations

• Document any progressive discussions and attempts to correct poor performance

• Assess whether the punishment fits the crime. Is this the same decision that would be made for all employees? Is this outcome consistent when compared to relevant previous situations?

• Consider opportunities to provide additional training or accommodations to prevent the termination

• Follow company policies

• Pause and reflect on whether bias is present

• Discuss the decision with a neutral party and ask them to challenge you to confirm it is sound

• Develop severance guidelines to ensure consistency in what’s offered

• Follow a script when conducting the termination meeting

Employee involvement

DEI practices must involve everyone within your organization. One negative interaction or experience can destroy confidence in the company’s commitment. Ensure involvement through employee training and affinity groups.

Employee training

Everyone has bias. People have different understandings around what’s acceptable and what’s not when it comes to interacting with other employees. It’s up to the company to set the standard on tolerance. Employee training is an ideal way to both communicate standards and expectations and challenge traditional perceptions and norms. Employers can achieve greater gains toward their DEI goals by taking a comprehensive and intentional approach to employee development. Training programs can be as simple as a 15-minute prerecorded video, or a self-reflection exercise and discussion guide that can be used to open a team meeting. The important part is to tie the training efforts to the company goals, and not only focus on what DEI means but also help demonstrate and encourage positive DEI practices.

Training should be accessible to employees who do not work at a desk or who have limited time online. Employers may use short videos, toolbox talks, translated materials, recorded sessions, mobile-friendly modules, and supervisor-led discussions to reinforce DEI expectations.

Affinity groups

Affinity groups are groups of employees with a shared background. Some leaders may hesitate to introduce these types of groups into workforce settings for fear of creating silos, or concern that these groups may demand more than the employer can realistically achieve or fix when it comes to diversity practices. However, Affinity groups can be a huge help in providing support and creating community within a company. They can also help to foster a sense of belonging and understanding within the larger company through the promotion of ideas for inclusivity, sharing experiences, and the respectful expression of concerns to leadership and other employees. Affinity groups can be a great resource for the DEI committee. They can also be a great resource for marketing teams looking to create a more diverse representation of the company.

Affinity groups and employee networks can be adapted for trucking and logistics workplaces by offering virtual participation, rotating meeting times, regional or terminal-based groups, and clear ways for employees on the road or across shifts to contribute.

Ongoing success

Inclusion isn’t a tick-the-box exercise. It requires continued commitment and ongoing investment.

Communication strategy

A comprehensive communication strategy for DEI should include the organization’s commitment to inclusion, actions and progress against those actions, updates on key performance measures, and employee stories and experiences. Celebrate and share accomplishments. Increased communication can demonstrate importance and, in turn, will garner higher engagement levels from your teams.

Communication should be repeated often enough to reach employees who are not present at the same time or place. A practical strategy may combine leadership messages, supervisor talking points, dispatch reminders, terminal posters, digital channels, onboarding materials, and short updates built into existing safety or operations meetings.

A DEI communication strategy should reflect how information moves through the business. Messages should be easy to access for people behind the wheel, on the shop floor, in the warehouse, in dispatch, at customer sites, and in the office.

Surveys and pulse checks

An organization should ask employees about its inclusion practices at least annually. Questions can be added to an engagement survey that’s already in place, or it can be a stand-alone practice.

Measuring progress

To ensure the effort your company is putting into its inclusion practices is working, regularly measure progress against the predetermined baseline measures. In addition, provide frequent updates and reviews against the short-term commitments. A simple scale indicating progress, no progress, or unexpected change will allow you to quickly evaluate if you require additional action or refocused effort.

Progress measures may include representation, hiring, promotion, turnover, accommodation requests, complaints, training completion, employee survey results, and participation rates (reviewed by role, location, and work group) where appropriate and privacy compliant.

Ongoing review

Inclusion can be present in everything a company does. Continually evaluating, adapting, and reevaluating your processes and practices through an inclusion lens is an ongoing requirement. Include your teams, customers, and other key stakeholders in this process to gain a thorough perspective.

In trucking and logistics, technology and equipment will always evolve, so an ongoing review process should consider how business changes, technology, new equipment, customer expectations, and workforce demographics may create new barriers or require updated inclusion practices.