Q&A: Swift’s New Driver Engagement VP
Scott Barker has moved from vice president of safety, driver recruiting, and driver development at Swift to a new post dedicated to driver engagement. Photo: Swift
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Scott Barker has moved from vice president of safety, driver recruiting, and driver development at Swift to a new post dedicated to driver engagement. Photo: Swift
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Swift Transportation recently created a new position – vice president of driver engagement – and named Scott Barker to the role. With nearly 40 years of experience ranging from spotting yard tractors and being a UPS delivery driver to safety, training and development, Barker is practically giddy about the chance to really make a difference for Swift’s 20,000 drivers.
HDT talked to Barker about the new role. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
HDT: What led to the creation of this new role?
Barker: We have been talking about this for about a year, and in that process we just believe that we needed somebody whose sole focus was on the driver, and the relationship of the driver with the driver support team. It was important to us that we build that position and fill it with somebody who had a relationship with a lot of the drivers already and could either learn or already know about how the driver support teams work.
HDT: So how DO driver support teams work? What is that?
Barker: [Swift founder] Jerry Moyes used to say there are really only two types of people at swift — drivers and those who support drivers. So by definition our driver support teams are all the back office employees, the functions in the shops, and anybody whose job is to help support drivers, whether it’s driver payroll or driver training or driver recruiting teams or HR, any of the teams that do not actually drive the truck are by definition driver support.
HDT: So that’s a lot of people. How many drivers does Swift have?
Barker: We have around 20,000 drivers.
HDT: How do …Read the rest of this story
