Driving Safety & Leadership: Jaime Hamm’s Road to Success
From driver recruitment to policy reform, Jaime Hamm is shaping the future of trucking through leadership, innovation, a passion for safety, and rolling with change.
Jaime Hamm, Senior Vice President of Safety and Recruiting, Werner
While growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, the corporate headquarters of Werner Enterprises, Jaime Hamm, senior vice president of safety and recruiting, often saw the company’s trucks on the road. When a friend who worked at Werner had an opening, Hamm applied. The original opening had closed, but another had opened in the safety division.
Hamm wanted a career helping others or improving peoples’ lives. “Working in safety, we always try to limit accidents and prevent injuries,” she says. “Plus, there’s always something new happening. It’s a rewarding career.”
Currently, Hamm oversees about 250 associates in Werner’s safety, recruiting, terminal management and risk management teams. She shared her thoughts on leadership, the trucking industry, and the Green Bay Packers with Inbound Logistics.
IL: How do you instill an appreciation for safety?
We talk about safety from the moment new associates and professional drivers join the company. It’s at the top of our core values and everyone has to get on board, because it’s simply who we are. Derek Leathers, our chairman and CEO, always says, “Nothing we do is worth getting hurt or hurting others.”
We do all we can to loop safety into other processes, so nobody needs to go out of their way to keep up with training. For example, our drivers can complete their monthly safety training right from their tablets, when it’s convenient for them.
IL: How are you addressing the truck driver shortage?
We take only about 10% of professional driver applicants, because the other applicants’ driving records aren’t suitable or they don’t fit into Werner’s safety culture. It’s a struggle.
But we have great resources to help us target areas where we need drivers, and then to identify quality applicants and bring them into Werner. Because Werner owns Roadmaster Drivers School, we can vet students and find those who meet our safety culture and standards. We encourage them to apply at Werner once they successfully complete school and obtain their commercial driver’s license.
IL: How does your leadership in professional organizations help in your role at Werner?
As chair of the American Trucking Associations’ Safety Policy Committee, I work with others in the industry to improve safety. It’s a great platform that lets me work with my peers to improve our nation’s roadways. The beauty of safety is it’s not a secret sauce—people are willing to share their experiences, because the impacts are so widespread.
IL: What characteristics shape effective leadership?
Effective leadership requires adaptability and the ability to roll with change. This industry is constantly evolving, with new regulations, technology and more always on the horizon. We have to constantly look beyond the status quo, learn and look for the next best solution, and work to stay ahead of the game.
The ability to problem-solve is another component of effective leadership. There are always challenges ahead, and we need to make the best decisions we can and move on. Breaking big concepts into small wins is key, especially as technology evolves and systems change.
IL: What challenges keep you up at night?
Our litigation landscape and nuclear verdicts. The trucking industry has been the target of high-stakes lawsuits that require our entire team to remain diligent and ensure nothing is overlooked.
We constantly review and update our policies and procedures, and benchmark best practices with our peers. In addition, we go above and beyond testing for drugs and making sure drivers are well rested, healthy, operating safely and endorsed properly. Despite our efforts, we often face an uphill battle whenever a lawsuit is filed. It’s unfortunate and a major concern.
We’re also engaged in tort reform efforts throughout the country at the state level, and even on a federal level with the new administration.
IL: How do you help employees and drivers adapt to change?
Being transparent from the beginning and communicating the ‘why’ behind the change and how it will help make processes easier or faster can help alleviate concerns of associates and professional drivers.
We also make sure people have a voice in the change. When it comes to changes in equipment or technology affecting professional drivers, we have a group test the equipment and give us their feedback. Someone sitting behind a desk telling a professional driver, ‘This camera will help you’ is not as effective as a peer telling them.
IL: Any lessons learned throughout your career?
I’ve learned it’s okay to speak up and go against the grain. By asking questions, you can prompt others to have a higher discussion.
Several years ago, we were changing our ELD (electronic logging device) platform. We’d need to keep eight days of logs from the prior system when switching to the new one. We were trying to determine the best way to comply with this as we made the shift. Some team members suggested going down a paper path. I said, ‘It’s a computer system. Can’t we transmit from the old system to the new, without having to print eight days of logs for 9,000-plus drivers?’ I had to ask the question, even if people thought I was crazy. And it worked out.
IL: What qualities do you look for when hiring?
Especially with our leadership team, I don’t want to hire somebody who has the same skills or mindset I have. I want somebody who will challenge us and bring unique experiences to the team, ultimately making us more well-rounded.
IL: Who would you trade places with for a day?
My family comes from Wisconsin and I’m a big Green Bay Packers fan. I’d choose Brett Favre at the 1997 Super Bowl, when he holds up the Lombardi trophy. I’m thinking of the stress before the game, the 81-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Freeman, and how it felt as the game came together and they won.
Leading Anti-trafficking Efforts
At a conference about 10 years ago, Jaime Hamm saw a video on trafficking and found it very moving. She came back to Werner and asked how they could implement training to make sure their professional drivers know trafficking is a problem, and ensure that if they see something, they know how to report it.
Today, Werner drivers and even many office and maintenance associates complete human trafficking training and receive annual refresher training. Among other tools is a trafficking hotline drivers can use to report any red flags. This might be, for instance, a young person at a truck stop who’s dressed for warm weather when it’s winter.
Through its Pathways to Freedom initiative, Werner provides resources to customers, partner carriers, and vendors. “The company is getting more people involved and spreading the word that this modern-day slavery still exists, and that we are part of the solution,” Hamm says.