Road-going cultural custodians or truck drivers – it’s all about perception
- Company News
Dutch shipper, HIZKIA, is one agent that hasn’t experienced recruitment challenges and attributes its success to how career opportunities are perceived. Mieke Mesker, Director of Museums Logistics at HIZKIA says, “we have found that offering positions which combine driving and art handling, rather than separating them, increases the appeal as it makes the job more varied, while also increasing our team’s versatility.” By emphasizing the specialization element and advertising the cultural custodianship responsibilities of the role, recruits see the diversity of responsibilities to be had in a job of art technician-cum-long haul driver.
Adaptation is also key to the solution. At our most recent annual Convention, the panel relating to driver recruitment agreed that it is the responsibility of all agents to deliver professionally enriching training, attractive overtime incentives and extensive well-being programs. In Australia, International Art Services’ salary offerings for drivers and experienced technicians has risen by between 30% to as much as 48% since June 2019. This is in addition to a culture of plentiful leave, overtime and a generous retirement package alongside varied experience plus personal development and opportunities for promotion. Others such as US-based Atelier 4 emphasize flexible working hours as well as consideration for personal and family needs.
According to Andrew Faintych, Chief Operating Officer of Atelier 4, the truck driver shortage is mostly down to public perception. “Long-distance driving in the United States has been painted as a bad employment choice in the media,” he says, “and we do not see many younger applicants looking to get into this field.” Yet if the opportunity was flipped on its head to focus on the trained technician side of the role and the opportunity to work with extraordinary works of art, might the reverse be true?
