The Road to Embracing a Smart, Performance-Based Culture

By Tiffany Hutchens Chief People Officer and General Counsel

By Camisha Dednam-Washington Director of Human Capital Operations and Payroll

In this article, we discuss Roadrunner’s ongoing culture change initiative and how it is helping to guide the way we interact with our shippers, our drivers, and each other.

It takes courage to objectively examine whether your company is truly a place where the most talented people in the industry want to work. Like That honest self-examination is exactly what has been going on at Roadrunner over the past year, as our Human Capital team has been laser-focused on accelerating the evolution of our culture to optimize performance and champion programs to attract and retain the type of top talent than can best serve our valued customers.

The culture change initiative taking place at Roadrunner extends throughout our entire organization and is happening in concert with the rollout of a comprehensive rebranding initiative undertaken by our marketing team. More than just a fresh look and feel for everything Roadrunner, the rebranding process has been strategically driven and played an integral part in developing a set of guiding principles for the company that now serve as the framework for decision-making, communication, and goal setting across the organization.

Safe, Smart and Together

Firmly grounding the Roadrunner performancebased culture via our company’s guiding principles: “We Run Safe – We Run Smart – We Run Together” has provided us as Human Capital practitioners with a framework to enable managers across our organization to deliver regular, productive feedback to their employees.

These guiding principles prioritize safety, create the smart choice for our customers, and promote respect among ourselves and others with whom we interact as both a company and individuals. Leveraging this structure has, in turn, helped us to create an atmosphere where managers and employees are now embracing the opportunity to engage in beneficial dialogue around performance, even when that dialogue may involve difficult conversations.

Development and delivery of a comprehensive set of training materials – including both facilitated and self-guided learning, as well as purposeful coaching – has been a central part of our efforts. What was the goal? To unite around defined roles and responsibilities to advance the organization overall and benefit customers through transparency, trust, and quality communications.

Undertaking the endeavor required a deep dive into more clearly articulating the factors that characterize high performers. As part of this process, our Human Capital team looked closely at a wide range of data already in Roadrunner’s system as well as certain external data on implementing performance best practices. Among other things, this helped foster a more comprehensive understanding of key cost drivers such as overtime, benefits, and head count. Our efforts have also involved training managers to undertake similar efforts across their own teams and develop key performance indicators (KPIs) calibrated for their employees. The ongoing training involves methodologies for reviewing titles and job descriptions, setting up clear career progression, and developing roadmaps with gate checks along the way so that performance can be measured regularly, properly documented, and course corrected as needed.

Getting Creative

Since most Roadrunner employees are not involved with work that has them sitting at a desk with a computer, and our driver network is comprised of entrepreneurial business owners, our team had to be creative about the delivery of these tools. For example, we installed learning stations at operations facilities across the organization where employees and drivers can efficiently access digitized onboarding training materials and complete compliance and other requirements before even stepping out onto the dock. These learning stations are now also helping deliver ongoing training designed to drive optimized performance and process improvement across the organization. In addition to these instructional installations, flat panel displays at distribution centers serve as hubs for sharing key business performance metrics, success stories, and key messages that are also serving to reinforce open communication and a culture of accountability.

Our team also developed a comprehensive bootcamp training program designed to further educate our sales force and arm them with the tools and knowledge to effectively differentiate the Roadrunner value proposition to assist existing and prospective customers. This bootcamp component, which is already proving critical in more effectively managing sales target accountability, was built and rolled-out with close collaboration between Human Capital, Operations, IT, and the Sales organization.

Part of the early success we have already achieved through these efforts can most certainly be attributed to our recognition of, and willingness to look at and address, our own shortcomings as a Human Capital team within a larger organization. One of the critical areas we identified for improvement was our own accessibility and approachability for employees across the enterprise. We addressed this by reorienting our services, our employee-facing messaging, and our way of doing business to position our department more fully as a valuable business resource across the organization. This pivot to a more internal customer-service mentality has also included the centralization of many Human Capital functions and other steps that are freeing up time for managers to focus on fostering performance and accountability within their own teams.

Attracting Top Talent in a Tough Hiring Climate

It is no secret that companies everywhere are working harder than ever before to attract and retain top talent. The Human Capital community at large is facing another year of competitive recruiting in a labor market that has remained tight despite economic pressures, and many experts believe job seekers will continue to hold onto more power than employers for the foreseeable future. So, to attract the best candidates and foster an environment in which employees can thrive to become high performers, it is important for companies to understand what matters to them. Case in point: According to the Academy to Innovate HR, the top HR trend of 2023 is, “A focus on total well-being.” Staying abreast of these and other trends is helping drive the introduction of new benefits and incentives at Roadrunner that encourage healthy behavior, such as a program we recently launched that not only rewards non-smokers but also reimburses smokers who quit.

Running Together in 2023 and Beyond

We have accomplished quite a bit over the past couple of years at Roadrunner. The next phase of our efforts will involve further training in leadership and communications, and a laser focus on effectively operationalizing the smart, performance-based culture at all levels of our organization.

Moving ahead, we will knowledgeably and creatively drive forward a culture focused on accountability and performance. In addition, our shipping clients and business partners should always expect professionalism, clear and honest communication, accessibility, and excellence from those across our organization in servicing their needs.

With 84% of business leaders in a January 2023 Deloitte Insights survey agreeing that, “Worker agency is important or very important to their organizations’ success” it is clear that meeting those expectations requires actively engaging in an open and ongoing dialogue with our people and arming them with the skills and tools needed to drive empowerment, accountability, and a high level of performance.

Roadrunner offers more direct long-haul metro-to-metro shipping than any other nationwide LTL carrier in the United States. With nationwide presence and terminals across 37 metro markets, the company’s SmartNetwork™ is the preferred choice for shippers looking to move freight quickly and reliably. With Driver Teams executing Over-the-Road (OTR) moves and no freight moving on rail, their customers enjoy industry-leading transit times. The award-winning operations platform is fueled by AI and ML technology assuring integrity of custodial controls of freight and real-time tracking and visibility. Direct routing eliminates the need for rehandles and freight handovers and hence reduces the risk of loss or damage.

More than 1,000 drivers leverage the Roadrunner SmartNetwork™ to empower their businesses and are fiscally motivated to deliver freight on time, intact, and damage free. Roadrunner was ranked Most Improved LTL Carrier by Mastio™ and recognized by Newsweek™ as one of America’s Most Trustworthy Companies.

Tiffany Hutchens

Chief People Officer and General Counsel, Roadrunner

Tiffany Hutchens

Chief People Officer and General Counsel, Roadrunner

Tiffany Hutchens is the Chief People Officer and General Counsel for Roadrunner. She is focused on accelerating the evolution of Roadrunner’s culture and championing programs to attract and retain top talent. In addition to leading the Human Capital team, Tiffany has oversight and responsibility for managing Roadrunner’s legal affairs.

Prior to Roadrunner, Tiffany worked in the private practice of law serving corporate clients with a particular focus on employment law. Tiffany holds a Juris Doctor from New England School of Law in Boston. She is a member of the Wisconsin State Bar.

Contact Tiffany at: tiffany.hutchens@rrts.com.

Camisha Dednam-Washington

Director of Human Capital Operations and Payroll , Roadrunner

Camisha Dednam-Washington

Director of Human Capital Operations and Payroll , Roadrunner

Camisha Dednam-Washington is Director of Human Capital Operations and Payroll at Roadrunner. She is a resultsfocused leader who is motivated about building a Human Capital team that delivers the best customer service to Roadrunner’s most valuable asset - its employees. Camisha collaborates with her team to build processes and programs that are beneficial to Roadrunner employees at all levels while driving the importance of communication and process improvement.

Prior to joining Roadrunner, Camisha worked in various Human Resource and Payroll capacities, with Payroll and budgeting as her primary focus. Camisha has pursued education at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Chicago State University in the field of Business Administration. She is a member of the American Payroll Association and the Society for Human Resources Management.

Contact Camisha at: camisha.washington@rrts.com.