Shipper’s Guide: Getting Logistics a Seat at the Table.
Ask anyone at Evans Transportation why they stay, and the answer rarely starts with technology or process. While technology, process, and growth are extremely important to Evans, the core of what we do is in the character of our people. Our systems matter, but it’s our people who build the Evans Experience – for each other and for the customers we serve.
Our values – integrity, positivity, passion, communication and trust – aren’t something we simply slap on a poster and move on from. They’re the foundation for how we work together, and they only mean something if they show up in the small moments. It’s in how someone new to our Evans family is welcomed during their first week on the job. It’s whether a good idea gets recognized among the broader team. It’s in how a team talks to each other through a hard stretch.
Culture isn’t built by one program or one event. It’s built in those everyday moments that leave a lasting impression of the company on the people who engage with it every day.
As the Manager of the Evans Experience, my role is to help create intentional opportunities for connection, recognition, appreciation and belonging. These are the kinds of moments that reinforce the culture we want to have rather than just describe it.
Retention often gets reduced to a number, but we think about it differently at Evans. Getting someone to stay isn’t the goal on its own. We want people who feel connected to their team, who contribute ideas, who take ownership of their work, and who can see a future for themselves here. People who feel that way don’t need much convincing to stick around.
Recognition plays a big part in that, too. It does more than make someone feel appreciated in the moment. When we celebrate people who demonstrate our core values, we reinforce what actually matters at Evans. Culture stops being an idea and becomes something people can point to. We do life together here, and that shows up in how people support each other, show up for causes that matter to us as a collective through Evans Makes a Difference, and connect with one another both at work and outside of it.
The same goes for connection – it matters just as much. When people build relationships across teams, they’re more comfortable reaching out, collaborating and solving problems together. Events, celebrations and shared experiences can look like the fun stuff from the outside, but they’re doing real work underneath. They build the relationships that carry an organization through the moments that matter most.
The combination of these efforts helps sustain the environment we have within our internal culture at Evans, but it also extends externally. If our team is satisfied, our customers reap those benefits, too.
There’s a ripple effect running through the business: employee experience shapes employee behavior, and employee behavior shapes customer experience. Customers remember how our people respond when something doesn’t go according to plan. Culture is what determines whether someone communicates clearly under pressure, takes ownership of a problem, and works toward a solution instead of looking for someone to blame.
Innovation fits into this, too, even though it often gets treated like a pure technology conversation. The best technology we’ve built doesn’t replace our people. It gives our team more time to focus on relationships, judgment, creativity and complex problem-solving. Being people-first doesn’t come at the expense of performance. Trust, strong relationships and open communication help people collaborate faster, catch problems earlier, and take greater ownership of outcomes.
One of the biggest opportunities in front of Evans right now is making sure our culture grows at the same pace we do. We can’t assume the culture that got us here will automatically scale with us. It means understanding what’s core to who we are while continuing to evolve how we create connections and a strong employee experience as our team gets bigger.
Culture is everyone’s responsibility at Evans. It takes every person choosing to show up for each other to make it real. As Evans continues to grow and innovate, our opportunity is to stay intentional about building a place where people feel connected, valued and empowered to do their best work.