JBHunt is a big company that can sell any position within its organization and make it sound like you’re a vital part of the company’s success. Just because JBHunt makes billions in revenue per year doesn’t mean that you as an employee will see the same financial gratitude.
I worked at JBHunt from 2010 – 2016 in the Intermodal division. I started off as a Fleet Manager, Logistic Coordinator, then a Ramp Manager. I recently moved on and honestly regretted my decision to work for this company and if I could do it all over again I would have chosen a different path. I currently work for a NON Fortune 500 company, with a much higher salary, less stress, more home time and better benefits.
JBHunt Recruiters – LIE!. Both to drivers and Managers. There’s an ad advertising for Local Intermodal Drivers @ $1000/Week Gross. When I last did the average, driver’s in this particular market were making $750 during peak season. That number drops drastically during the slow period. How hard is it to run a simple query on pay and be honest? I would say only 4-5 drivers out of 100+ consistently gross over a $1000/Week. Driver trainers are on a half decent flat rate which means they won’t speak up about the reality of the company. Managers are told 9/10 hour shifts but I was salaried at 12hours working rotating weekends and a few holidays per year. Trucking never stops and you’ll be required to work a lot of extra time with no compensation.
Pay. The pay sucks all around. Driver pay sucks, manager pay sucks, raises suck, bonuses suck and promotional pay sucks. There’s a few drivers that get special exception pay, special runs, or service special accounts that let them gross over a $1000/Week. If you’re a new driver, don’t count on it. Managers on the West Coast will be offered $48,000-$50,000 a Year. You can only earn a max 2.5% raise per year and that likely won’t happen. The average raise is between a 1%-2% increase (Which is less than $1000 per year). Bonuses are hit or miss but the company has such high expectations that the bonuses aren’t made out what there hyped to be. For an example, Quarter 3 of 2016, there was no bonus yet the company is breaking records in revenue, stops, loads delivered, ETC. Promotional pay comes at a flat 5% and a bump up on the bonus plan. I received two promotions and each was at 5%. The difference between level 1, level 2, and level 3 of the bonus plan isn’t worth anything. Since I’ve been on level 3, I’ve probably made $600 more over four years then someone on level 1. But again, it’s hyped up in your promotion to prevent negations in a base salary increase.
The culture here sucks. Turnover is through the roof. New driver orientation is EVERY single Monday. It’s like herding sheep through the system. Most driver’s figure out it’s like working for minimum wage and quit. I can’t tell you how many times driver’s work 10,11, 12+ hours and only make $120-$140 a day. In 2010 they started hiring fresh from college rather than candidates with experience. This pretty much flushed out all the old timers in stagnate positions and management across the board is young. Out of the 15 managers at my terminal only two had more than 5 years with the company when I left. Turnover for the managers is just as bad. Your basically taught how to dispatch, answer 60-80 phone calls per day, answer 100+ driver messages, and do data entry (payroll). You are expected to power through the little issues, even if it’s the same issues every single day. Upper management won’t address anything until it gains the attention of their managers. It’s mindless, dull and uninvolving work that JBHunt couldn’t make an automated process for. Usually most new managers will last a year or two then move on. Other divisions are very similar with the exaggeration of job titles. A Fleet Manager is a dispatcher, Operations Supervisor is a dispatcher, a Carrier Sales Coordinator is a broker doing cold calling. All these positions won’t teach job skills that can benefit you in the long run. To simply put it, you don’t need a college degree to work at JBHunt. But again, JBHunt can sell any position and hires top college graduates, but they see the reality of the job after a year and move on.
I was lucky to promote three times as I was one of the first college grads to get hired. Now, you may earn one promotion but after that you won’t unless you’re willing to relocate. There was no more opportunities for me, the writing was on the wall, and my managers were simply unethical on their hiring, promoting, managing, and terminating practices. Racial jokes, racial slurs, and discrimination should be kept out of the work environment but once again, management is young and careless at some terminals.
