Industry
Transportation
Customer Since
2018
Employee Engagement
70%
“Between the team on the road and the team in the office, there can naturally be some disconnect. WorkHound is filling that void and getting real-time data and answers about what’s going on.”
When the rubber meets the road in trucking, the human element often makes the difference between success and stagnation. Logistics might be the industry’s focus, but trucking is ultimately a people business. From dispatchers to drivers to customers to mechanics, people make the industry go ‘round.
Recognizing the human dynamics at play, Storey Trucking launched WorkHound in 2018 to better support its people with a resource for feedback. Since then, the company has maintained an impressive 70% engagement rate on the platform — meaning 7 in 10 drivers in their fleet have used WorkHound to share feedback — compared to an average of 43% for a company of its size.
Storey Trucking Recruiting Coordinator Dakota Crosslin recently sat down with us to share the company’s experience with WorkHound.
Boosting Engagement and Removing Guesswork With All of WorkHound’s Tools
Recognizing that drivers may not always have access or desire to log into email or download an app, WorkHound works with simple text messaging. The company sends a text message with a short survey question to the workforce. When it’s safe to do so, drivers can easily reply to the text, making it easy for them to share important information back to the company right from their phones.
With this simplified approach, Dakota says the Storey team has been able to better engage the workforce and help everyone stay connected. They also use WorkHound to capture insights into the employee experience and crowdsource important ideas and information.
“Between the team on the road and the team in the office, there can naturally be some disconnect,” he shared. “That’s where it really helps us out. WorkHound is filling that void and getting real-time data and answers about what’s going on.”
Dakota and his team have built a robust messaging cadence with targeted surveys to get the most out of the WorkHound platform. In addition to capturing raw feedback, WorkHound has helped Storey leadership create a healthy, transparent workplace culture. With anonymous feedback, drivers feel comfortable sharing candidly, helping leaders better understand specific requests and scenarios. They also use custom WorkHound surveys to gauge the workforce’s response to new programs. Sometimes these initiatives are met with enthusiasm, but other times, the feedback is critical.
“We use WorkHound like our sounding board. In our four walls, we can sit here and think we have just a stellar rockstar idea. But sometimes we put it out there and find out we’ve completely missed the mark.”
“We use WorkHound like our sounding board,” Dakota explained. “In our four walls, we can sit here and think we have just a stellar rockstar idea. But sometimes we put it out there and find out we’ve completely missed the mark.” Of course, this candid feedback doesn’t discourage them. Instead, they use it as valuable insight to refine and improve their programs. “We’ll put it out to the fleet, get feedback, and then tailor that feedback to our original idea, build on it, and push it back out.
In addition to leveraging custom targeted feedback, Dakota and team also use WorkHound’s broadcast message feature for sending company-wide communications. Crosslin says that the Storey team uses these messages to relay important information and engage drivers around relevant issues. They’ve developed a bi-weekly schedule, and Dakota crafts the message himself, sometimes with help from their WorkHound Customer Success Manager. To make sure the messages are read, they also acquaint drivers early on with what to expect, priming them in orientation on what WorkHound is and how the company uses it. This early education is a key factor that seamlessly integrates WorkHound into Storey’s company culture. Dakota says they start by helping new hires understand why it’s important.
“Time is the one thing you’re never going to get back,” Crosslin shared. “If we have somebody’s time, we don’t want to waste it. And that’s exactly what I say in orientation. This broadcast is something I’m typing up that comes out every two weeks. And we’re not putting filler in there. You’ll never see ‘It was sunny in Chattanooga on Wednesday’ or ‘We have rain coming in on Friday.’ If it’s in here, it has some sort of relevancy to you.”
The messages have become a single source of truth for drivers, and from their first days with the company, they are encouraged to participate.
“WorkHound is where we share what’s coming down the pipeline,” he explained. “If you don’t read the messaging or you opt out of it, you’re going to be in the dark.”
Their high standard for content and regular messaging schedule has helped the company build trust between drivers and office staff. So much so that drivers now anticipate the messages.
“We’ve built that confidence,” Dakota said. “People look forward to it. If we miss one or it gets delayed, I’ll get phone calls. People will call me and say ‘Hey what’s going on? Did something happen?’ And I’ll have to explain, no, there’s no error. It’ll be coming out on Monday. So yeah, our drivers are accustomed to seeing it.”
70%
Engagement
7 in 10 of Storey Trucking drivers have shared a comment using WorkHound, outshining the industry average by almost 30%.
Getting Creative With Engagement and Driving Morale
Dakota and his team have worked hard to keep the flow of information relevant and interesting. By crafting tailored questions, prompts, and engagement opportunities, Storey Trucking encourages drivers to share their feedback on a variety of topics, from day-to-day operations to broader company policies to tips for other drivers. This method boosts engagement by showing drivers that their opinions are highly valued and directly impact company decision-making.
For example, this past winter, instead of sharing generic company tips for driving in inclement weather, WorkHound Senior Customer Success Manager Natalie Cowden suggested the Storey team solicit tips from the drivers themselves. Dakota loved the idea of drivers helping each other, and it turns out they loved it, too.
“We have people that have been in this industry 30 years, and we have people that have been in it two years,” said Crosslin. “They can both learn something from one another.” And they did. This strategy not only helped boost engagement with a higher-than-average number of replies that week, but it also gave a highlight to morale. “We took all the feedback that we got and put it in the broadcast. I had drivers saying, ‘Hey, you used my comment on the broadcast! That’s really cool.’” Seeing that their feedback was appreciated and used in the broadcast gave drivers a sense of pride and value, knowing that their voices were heard and that their opinions matter.
Sometimes, companies shy away from targeted feedback, worrying that pointed questions could lead to lower satisfaction ratings. This cautious approach aims to protect scores and keep them high, but it restricts the full scope of insight leaders could gain. WorkHound is designed to reveal honest feedback, providing a foundation for genuine improvements. Embracing this, Dakota and the team at Storey Trucking instead opt for a proactive stance to listening, ready to receive and act on all types of feedback, knowing that even the critiques are stepping stones toward improvement.
By not looking at satisfaction in a silo, Storey Trucking has been able to better understand the factors that drive worker satisfaction and how the company can positively impact it.
Leaning Into the Customer Success Manager Relationship
Since launching WorkHound, Dakota and his team have maintained a close relationship with our Customer Success team, leaning on them as trusted experts and advocates to help craft messaging, reply to feedback, and launch creative ideas like the winter driving tips campaign.
During weekly check-ins and meetings, WorkHound and Storey work closely together to refine the company’s strategy for communicating, listening, and engagement, ensuring they’re always putting their best foot forward. Leaning on the advice and expertise of the CS team, Storey leaders have used WorkHound to build strong, healthy relationships within the workforce.
Responding to Feedback
On top of leveraging targeted feedback prompts and leaning on their dedicated CSM as a resource, the Storey team keeps excellent records of their broadcast history, ensuring content remains fresh, preventing redundancy, and building a continuous dialogue.
By listening, responding, and continuously evolving based on driver feedback, Storey Trucking keeps the human side of trucking in sharp focus, setting it on a path of continuous growth that supports company culture every step of the way.
Results
Storey Trucking’s continuous feedback loop has not only promoted engagement but has also helped its team establish a culture of transparency and mutual respect, significantly improving the overall work environment.
70%
Engagement
7 in 10 of Storey Trucking drivers have shared a comment using WorkHound, outshining the industry average by almost 30%.
Boosted Morale
Thanks to deepened engagement between office staff and drivers, the Storey team is more connected than ever, boosting morale across the company.
5-15
Weekly Comments
With outbound broadcasts keeping the dialogue going, Storey office staff fields anywhere from 5 to 15 driver comments weekly.
Crowdsourcing Improvement
The Storey team uses WorkHound to capture insights into the employee experience and collect important ideas and information from drivers.
Seeing that their feedback was appreciated and used in the broadcast gave drivers a sense of pride and value, knowing that their voices were heard and that their opinions matter.
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