Weathering the Storm

Wisconsin reefer WEL Companies experiences two months of record hiring growth during challenging times
 
By Al Muskewitz
 
The nation has just come through its two most challenging months in a generation, 61 days that tested every aspect of American life, but one Midwest trucking company has weathered the storm to experience unprecedented growth.

The WEL Companies of DePere, Wis., a family-owned reefer in the shadow of the famous frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, has experienced two record months of attracting new drivers to its fleet.
 
The company hired 95 drivers in March and April at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic with a net gain of 60 seats to its 438 seated trucks. And the gains show no signs of slowing.
 
“Over this past year we’ve made a really big push to dial in our entire process from the moment we’re getting them in as a lead all the way through til they’ve gone on the road with us,” WEL marketing manager Andrew Ziemke said. “We’ve gotten everybody in the company on the same page and I think that’s just paying us dividends over these last couple months, now that everybody’s dialed in and everybody has a clear picture of the direction we’re going.”
 
WEL, shortened from the Wisconsin Express Lines name founder Wally Tielens and sons gave their family business in 1975, has long come in well below the industry turnover average through its competitive pay, respectful customer network, family approach and open-door policy, but its recent commitment to standardizing its message across all segments of the company has taken it over the top. In April alone it brought on 50 drivers with a net gain of 39. 
 
It had one month last summer similarly successful, but it’s never had a run quite like the one it’s on currently.
 
“The stars all aligned,” vice president Dalton Tielens said. “It takes everybody to make this happen so it’s been a team effort. We’ve always had, everyone says, a family oriented (philosophy), but we have an honest up-front approach towards recruiting and what we tell you on the phone is what happens.
 
“At the end of the day we don’t have this corporate mentality where it’s all about the bottom line. My dad’s still involved and the one word he preaches every day, it’s written on every wall, is respect. Like he says, if you don’t respect the fact these guys have families, too, that they’re out here trying to make a living, that they’re making a sacrifice … and you can’t help these people, they’ll find somewhere else to go that will. It’s respect all around.”
 
WEL hauls refrigerated food and drink from the nation’s dairyland throughout the Lower 48 year-round out of five terminals and warehouses strategically located in DePere; Joliet, Ill,; McDonough, Ga.; Winter Haven, Fla; and Allentown, Pa.
 
Its top drivers average 63 cents a mile and new experienced drivers go through a streamlined virtual orientation that gets them on the road in a matter of hours of coming into one of its facilities instead of days. For drivers who have just gotten their CDL still considering where to go with it, WEL offers what it calls a finishing school, an eight-week program that takes them from the basics to shuttle work to six weeks of OTR training. More than 75 drivers who have come through that program are still with the company.
 
Furthering its commitment to its drivers, the company has during the coronavirus emergency provided weekly stipends for cleaning supplies and parking.
 
“What brings people in and what they hear through the grapevine goes back to that whole process,” Ziemke said. “It’s kind of all come to fruition here the last couple months, all the work we’ve put in on the back end to help this process become as smooth and really true to our word as possible.”
 
Al Muskewitz is Editor of Wright Media. He can be reached at musky@wrightmediacorp.com

Click here for available truck driving jobs with WEL Companies.