Is your career going backwards due to entitlement?

You've put your time in as a driver, you have over ten years of driving experience, and you work for a good carrier. In other words your career is going very well and you have achieved levels of success that many drivers crave. Then it happens, you get comfortable in your position at the carrier, and you begin to feel you have don't have to do the little runs as you have achieved certain status. So you turn down the run and wait for another run more to your liking. You have just launched the entitlement factor.

Entitlement happens not only to those that have achieved certain success in the industry but also can happen to anyone that has a dedicated run, longevity at a carrier, or regular duties on the job. Anything steady related to the job can give a person a feeling of ownership of that duty. As many of you know I am big on "Owning your position" and doing the best you can on the job but once that ownership turns into entitlement is when it may start affecting your career. The problem is that you may not even realize that you are becoming entitled, but those around will begin to notice. I have seen entitlement a lot throughout my career.

There was the owner operator who only wanted to run out West to California and kept refusing loads to the East Coast eventually losing his truck. I have seen drivers in private fleets that only will conduct their run and as soon as they are asked to do something different complain and wine about the change even though it is within the realm of their job. Then there is the company driver that just feels that they don't have to go where they are asked and refuses runs to places they don't like to go to. Maybe it is an owner operator that only likes certain type of freight and refuses miles based on the fact they are an independent contract. All of these examples are found in every carrier and drivers feel they have put in their time in and have reached a certain status.

There are a couple of reasons why this type of behaviour can set your career in the wrong direction. The first thing is that you become known as an negative employee at the company that is hard to work with. As soon as dispatch realizes you are picky and hard to work with they will start watching the runs they give you possibly allowing you less miles. The next issue is that you will be seen as a non-team player by the carrier. A carrier is live working team model and when team members start making a stake that they only go certain places dispatch starts regulating miles. That hurts your pocket directly! Freight works in certain cycles and is often based on the economy. Many times freight may be slower in certain areas based on shipping costs. You may end up sitting when freight is slow in that area.

Once you are seen as a non-team player that gets around not only to your current employer, but also future employers. Part of being a professional driver is being a team player. When you are a team player you gain more experience due to access to varied duties. You become someone that is seen as reliable on the team and often times more opportunities are sent your way. It can also go a long way to preventing boredom on the job. Entitlement can be the death of a career for a driver and if you are not paying attention to the type of work you are accepting you may not even notice that you are going down that road. Don't let entitlement spoil the great future you have in front of you.

Bruce

Article By Bruce Outridge
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