Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Breaking Cycles Through HR: Rena Cater's Approach to Employee Support at Eagle Transport

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Breaking Cycles Through HR: Rena Cater's Approach to Employee Support at Eagle Transport · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Cotispodi and
0:17
today's guest is Rena Cater, vice president of human
0:20
resources at Eagle Transport Corporation.
0:24
They were founded in 1969 and are headquartered in Rocky
0:27
Mount, NC. Eagle delivers high quality
0:30
transportation services across petroleum, chemicals and
0:34
plastics industries. They believe in doing things
0:37
right the first time and are constantly improving through
0:40
training and teamwork. With a strong emphasis on
0:44
safety, competitiveness, and responsibility, Eagle values
0:47
excellence, trust, integrity, respect, and hard work above all
0:52
else. Rena brings over 25 years of
0:55
human resources experience and has been in her current role
0:59
since October of 21. She earned her MBA in
1:02
Organizational Development from Hudson University and holds a
1:06
professional Human Resource certification.
1:09
Known for her strategic thinking, strong work ethic, and
1:12
attention to detail, Rena is passionate about creating
1:16
supportive workplaces and helping others grow.
1:20
Her extensive background has helped Eagle maintain a people
1:23
focused culture while achieving operational excellence.
1:28
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2:12
All right, back to our guest today, VP of Human Resources at
2:15
Eagle Transport Corporation, Rena Cater.
2:18
Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
2:21
Thank you for having me. So, Rita, you have a long
2:25
history in the HR space. What first drew you into the
2:28
field? Well, I think the field kind of
2:31
found me, but my first inkling that I really wanted to work
2:36
with people is kind of a funny story.
2:39
When I was working at a an electric company between my
2:43
junior and senior year of college.
2:45
And at the time, my degree was in administration and computer
2:49
sciences. I want to be, yes, I want to be
2:52
a computer programmer. And so I went to work for a
2:57
summer and in their programming department, and I was in a
3:02
little cubicle without the time of green screen.
3:06
So I just aged myself and data cards that really ages myself
3:11
and I discovered after probably the first month that this was
3:16
not for me. So then I went and I added a
3:19
bunch of other management classes onto my my senior year
3:26
and ended up graduating. I couldn't change my major so I
3:29
still graduated with a with ABA and computer sciences with a
3:33
minor in math but was very focused on this was I wasn't
3:38
going to pursue a computer career.
3:41
OK, so how did you specifically choose HR then?
3:45
So I started out at ironically utility company as far as my
3:51
first career job and I worked in a department that was and again,
4:00
so back when I started working, you started, you got a ground
4:04
level position, you were happy to do that and you were going to
4:08
work your way up the ladder. So I started in at that point it
4:12
was an administrative assistant. And I think the first time I
4:16
realized that sometimes people aren't treated the way they
4:20
should be is shortly after I had my daughter.
4:24
And I was told by my manager at that time that if I had known
4:29
you were going to be getting married and having children, I
4:32
never would have hired you. Oh boy, what year was this?
4:37
19801992. Holy cow.
4:42
Yeah. And so I had an opportunity to
4:46
move to a subsidiary of that utility because at that point,
4:50
that was when those utilities started to, you know, become
4:53
parents and then they had all these subsidiaries underneath
4:56
them. So when I went to work at the
4:59
other subsidiary, I remember writing like a three page letter
5:03
to the HR department and explaining everything that had
5:08
occurred, including the during my pregnancy and things like
5:11
that, only to learn probably six months after the fact that he
5:15
was promoted. So I'm like, that's, that's not
5:19
the way life should go. But I had an opportunity to work
5:23
in many, many different departments at this subsidiary.
5:27
And my first real introduction to what I consider to be kind of
5:31
part HR, because we're so intertwined, was working for the
5:34
safety department. And then I started to work on
5:38
projects with the quality department.
5:41
And then I was asked, or I moved, I should say, to another
5:44
subsidiary and they, I was working as an admin or an office
5:49
manager. And they came to me and asked me
5:52
if I would be willing to do human resources at one of their
5:56
small little hydro plants. And I looked at them and said,
5:59
well, I've not done human resources, but they felt like
6:02
all of my experience lent itself to that.
6:06
So I agreed to do it. I took a chance and I went for
6:11
my for different certificate classes and I built an HR
6:14
department for that and I've been in HR ever since I built
6:18
one. It wasn't like you came in at
6:20
the ground level of this HR and and worked your way up like you
6:24
were the person and you built the team That had to be
6:27
intimidating. Like like you had worked in some
6:30
of these areas around it, but you had never worked in
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specifically in HR. It seems.
6:38
It seems a little mind blowing that they would ask you to start
6:41
the department and and create it.
6:43
Yeah, it it was. And again, this is a subsidiary,
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so I had contacts at the parent company.
6:50
I utilized them a lot to help me grow it.
6:54
And I pretty much read at the time the, you know, the, the,
6:59
the standards book around labor laws and the true register and
7:06
I, which is very boring, by the way, but, but you have to know
7:10
this stuff. And anytime I had an opportunity
7:14
to go to whether it was a conference or certificate class
7:18
or anything like that, I, I did that because I knew I needed to
7:22
know and understand. And I was never afraid to ask
7:25
questions. And I wanted to make sure that
7:28
whatever we were doing, we were doing it right and within the
7:31
compliance and I was treating, you know, treating people the
7:34
way they needed to be treated. And that was my first
7:37
introduction and really learning about labor law, learning about
7:43
benefits, all of those things. You know, any time that I
7:48
started in a new field, started a business in a new industry,
7:54
it's only ever worked when I've had somebody very seasoned an
7:58
experience that I could learn from.
8:01
And it sounds like you did have access to that through some of
8:04
the other subsidiaries. But you know, hats off to you
8:07
for going in and like forming a, the the HR department on your
8:12
own and, and not having worked in that field before that.
8:15
That's incredible. Thank you.
8:18
So let's let's move a little closer to present day and then
8:22
we're going to, we're actually going to rewind a bit, but I
8:25
want to know how the opportunity to join Eagle came about.
8:29
That's also kind of a funny story.
8:33
I was working obviously at A, at another company and I had been
8:37
talking with a vendor in regards to a product.
8:42
And we have been talking probably for six months.
8:45
And he was a salesperson. And we, as we were talking, he
8:51
was, you know, saying, well, this company is, I've been
8:53
talking with this company and that company.
8:56
And then he paused and he goes, you know, I've been talking with
8:59
a company in North Carolina that's looking for AVP of HR and
9:03
I really feel like you would be a great fit.
9:07
So my first thought in all honesty was, OK, this is an
9:11
interesting sales tactic. So he asked me for my resume.
9:17
I sent him my resume thinking I'm never going to hear back or
9:21
anything about it, which is fine.
9:23
And lo and behold, the president of Eagle contacted me.
9:27
We did a Teams interview a week later and might yeah, I think it
9:31
was a week later. We did our in person interview
9:35
that morning and then in the afternoon, actually we did it on
9:39
Thursday. Friday, I had a phone call and
9:42
was out for the job. So.
9:43
That was fast. That was fast.
9:46
What do you think they saw in you?
9:50
I think that we really connected on a level of how Eagle wants to
9:57
treat their employees. So on that cultural level, I had
10:02
many of the same mindsets that the the current executive team
10:06
had that we want to treat people fairly, we want to do what's
10:10
right for them. We want to try to give them
10:12
benefits that mean something and we want to help people grow and
10:19
really keep that family feel even though we're a company with
10:22
over 1000 team members. So paint a picture for us.
10:27
What exactly does Eagle do? Eagle delivers petroleum that is
10:32
probably about 80% of their business and we are an
10:36
independent carrier. So a lot of people think because
10:40
we deliver it, we own the fuel. Well, we don't.
10:43
We're an independent carrier. So somebody who does own the
10:47
fuel and I'm just going to say so that people will recognize
10:50
the names of the stores, but let's say a Circle K might hire
10:54
us to deliver fuel to one of their stores.
10:58
We all know Circle K has their own trucks, but we are that
11:01
person and we do, you know, that's a 24/7 job.
11:08
But the really good part about that is our drivers get to be
11:11
home pretty much every night because it's, you know, we have
11:15
terminals across the Southeast and as far as Texas.
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So we are able to, to put people where the loading racks are to
11:25
get the fuel into the trucks. And then we, we service a local
11:28
area so that we can have our guys home.
11:32
Our chemical business is a little different.
11:34
Some of those folks are out two or three days at a time because
11:38
those are longer halls. What's the geography that you
11:43
cover? We have as far north as
11:46
Maryland, as far West as Texas, and as far South as Port
11:52
Everglades, FL. OK, that's a pretty big
11:54
territory. It is.
11:58
I think now I I want to do the rewind actually before we do the
12:03
rewind. In 2022, you got your MBA.
12:07
What was behind that decision to go back to school?
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Well, I had started trying to go for my MBA early on, but you
12:15
know, I had children, I was trying to build my career and
12:18
life just got busy. And then I had started to pick
12:22
it up again. And then my both of my parents
12:25
got sick. And so my focus was taking care
12:29
of them. And even though my mom early on
12:33
in my life didn't think college was the way to go, she knew that
12:39
I wanted to finish or to get my masters.
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And she, she was encouraging for me to, to, to do that.
12:47
So just before I lost her, I made a promise to her.
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And I guess to myself at the same time that even though I had
12:54
started this journey many, many, many years ago, I was going to
12:58
complete it. And after she passed away, that
13:02
time that I was no longer spending taking care of her, I
13:05
took to start classes back up. So I think now is probably the
13:11
right time to do so that rewind listeners, regular listeners of
13:14
the show know that, you know, my favorite question to ask in the
13:17
interview, I usually say for a little bit later about a serious
13:20
challenge that you'll overcome in your life.
13:22
And I think listeners are going to understand why I'm moving it
13:26
a little bit earlier in the show because this impacts a lot of
13:30
how you approach life and how you approach your job today.
13:34
And so as we rewind to your upbringing, I'd like for you to
13:39
share with the audience a bit about what that was like and how
13:43
it influenced you going forward. Sure.
13:47
You know, one of the things that I find very interesting is when
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people meet me today and maybe even, you know, 5-10 years ago,
13:59
they have this image of how it was brought up, right?
14:03
It was a picket fence. It was a perfect family.
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I, you know, everything was, I was handed stuff and nothing
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could be further from the truth. I was not abused.
14:15
Let me tell you that. But you know, I, I grew up in a
14:18
dysfunctional family. My mom had been married 2 times
14:24
prior to my birth. So I had four siblings that were
14:28
half siblings. I had a, a sister and three
14:31
brothers. And then she met my father and
14:34
she had me. So, you know, so it was a, it
14:38
was a blended family and my dad didn't always get along with my
14:43
brothers for sure. And both of my parents drank.
14:48
And let me give you a little back story as to why I feel that
14:52
happened the way that it did. I was almost four years old when
14:56
my sister, who at the time was 16, was killed in a car accident
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on the way home from high school.
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And it happened on my oldest brother's birthday.
15:09
And she took a ride home with her best friend's boyfriend in
15:14
order to get to beat my brother home, to make him a cake because
15:18
that's who she was. So that loss rippled throughout
15:23
the family. And I think my mom's way of
15:27
coping with it was to drink. I think my dad was a drinker to
15:31
start with, but I was young enough where I probably didn't
15:34
really notice that. So.
15:37
So they both did. And you know, there were many
15:42
feuds in in my household. I was on a first name basis with
15:46
our with our local sheriff. But again, you know, they
15:51
weren't physically abusive to me.
15:53
And a lot of people that are hearing this are thinking, Oh my
15:56
God, she was abused. You know, she grew up an
15:58
alcoholic family. And but at the end of the day, I
16:03
don't they never, they never stopped loving me, right?
16:06
They just were a little misguided.
16:12
They had, they had focused on, on, on some wrong things and
16:15
thought that they were doing whatever they could do that was
16:18
best at that moment. You know, they, they had to deal
16:25
with a lot, you know, and my, my brothers probably got even the
16:29
biggest brunt of it because they were older and they, you know,
16:34
kids rather they at the moment, they don't want it, but kids
16:37
want guidance and they need guidance.
16:40
So I was pretty much left to my own vices.
16:43
I kind of became the older sibling being the youngest
16:46
sibling, if that makes sense. So you were some sort of a, a
16:50
caregiver role? In in many ways, in many ways, I
16:55
was definitely a big helper. My oldest brother would come and
16:59
pick me up and he would be, you know, having a fight with his,
17:02
his girlfriend or, or just want to chat.
17:05
And, and I, I can't remember the specifics of our conversations,
17:09
but I remember they were pretty deep and, and by far, probably I
17:13
was the closest to him. My other two brothers, you know,
17:18
without guidance, they were at that age.
17:21
So they became very rebellious. They didn't make a lot of good
17:24
choices. So when they did get in trouble,
17:28
arrested in jail, you know, they would often reach out to me,
17:35
'cause at a very young age I had started, I babysat from the time
17:39
I was 7 years old and I, it was my, my, my nephew let me just
17:45
and then the. Age where you need babysat, not
17:48
where you're doing the babysitting.
17:49
Yeah, well, you know, it was for short periods of time.
17:52
Let me clarify that. But it wasn't too long.
17:55
I mean, I, you know, I, I babysat from that point forward.
18:00
And then my aunt had a ceramic shop where she would actually
18:06
pour the molds. And my mom worked there at the
18:08
time too. So I would go and work there
18:11
during school break and summer and whatnot.
18:14
And I'd make so much money for every little mold that I, that I
18:17
would pour. It was like $0.05 or a quarter
18:19
or something like that. I would help her check out
18:21
people and help her get set up for her painting classes.
18:25
So I was always trying to, I was always trying to make money.
18:28
And then, you know, as soon as I had, I was able to get a work
18:32
permit. I did.
18:33
And then I, I started, you know, I, I worked office job and then
18:37
on the weekends I'd work at like a pizza shop.
18:41
So I've always been a very hard worker.
18:43
And part of that is because I always felt like no one was
18:48
going to take care of me but me. And so I would help my brothers,
18:53
you know, I probably enabled them to, to, to get in trouble
18:58
sometimes because I'd be there to bail them out, so to speak.
19:02
And and how old are you when you're bailing them out air
19:05
using air quotes? I am anywhere from 9-10 years
19:11
old to up until probably my really early 20s, when now my
19:18
ex-husband, who is also deceased but told me I had to stop the
19:28
last one. One of my brothers called and
19:30
said, Rita, can you bring me some cigarettes and a pair of
19:32
jeans? And he's.
19:35
Yeah. So this is, I mean, it's at a
19:38
very early age, you seemed like you had an awareness beyond your
19:43
years of what was going on, the chaos and the dysfunction that
19:47
surrounded you and your family. And I don't tell me if if this
19:53
rings true. It, it, it almost seems like the
19:57
only way for you to get some sort of normalcy or order was
20:02
for you at a very young age to create it and to try to spread
20:06
it to those in your family. Yes.
20:11
You know, I never heard it put that way, but yes, I think that
20:14
does ring true. It's the only thing I only had
20:17
control over what I could control, which wasn't a lot at
20:21
that age, right? But where I could bring it, I
20:25
did, you know, I was, I always wanted everyone to get together
20:28
for the holidays, you know, And I don't know why, because all
20:32
the time it ended up in a fight. But you know, we still tried.
20:37
Did it feel like a burden at the time, or do you look back on it
20:41
now as a burden? It didn't feel like a burden at
20:46
the time. It felt almost normal for me and
20:49
I probably didn't realize that my upbringing was not typical
20:54
until I really started going over to friend's houses as I got
20:57
older. And even looking back now, I I
21:02
don't view it as a burden. I view it as something I learned
21:06
from and, and created the person that I am today.
21:10
You know, I remember my mom as she was, you know, getting more
21:14
sick and, and whatnot, telling me that she didn't want to be a
21:17
burden to me. And I told her, I said, mom,
21:19
you're not a burden. You know, and even though some
21:22
people are going to not agree with this statement, I told her,
21:25
you took care of me for 18 years of my life.
21:27
It's my turn to take care of you.
21:30
And the people who wouldn't agree with that statement, what
21:34
supporting evidence would they give?
21:37
The fact that I didn't have that guidance growing up and what did
21:42
she, what did my parents really do to care for me?
21:46
But at the end of the day, they had a roof over my head.
21:49
The minute I started working a job, I bought my own clothes, I
21:51
bought my own car, you know, I paid for my own insurance.
21:55
But but those are all OK with me because it built responsibility
22:02
and it is who I am today. And I think it enables me to
22:06
really put myself in the place of others that are struggling
22:10
and understand where they're coming from.
22:13
And, and I really, really hope give me the tools in my tube
22:17
belt to help them break the cycle for themselves, just like
22:21
I broke it for for my family. I'm an anomaly out of my core
22:25
group. Yeah.
22:27
Actually, I want to explore that a little bit because I'm curious
22:31
as people around you are, in my words, not yours, kind of
22:35
swirling down the drain at a very young age, you're doing the
22:39
opposite. You are becoming stronger.
22:42
You are helping and supporting those around you at an age where
22:46
that should not be expected of you.
22:48
And even today, as you look back on that, I'm hearing in the
22:52
words that you're using a lot of gratitude.
22:55
You know, hey, they put a roof over my head.
22:58
They were kind of doing the best that, you know, they knew how to
23:00
do. And you started off the story
23:03
with pointing out that you were never abused and that, you know,
23:06
that your parents always loved you.
23:09
Why do you think, do you have any sense of why you went one
23:13
way and some of the people around you were going in the
23:17
complete opposite direction? I think that I knew I didn't
23:25
want a life of, you know, jail and I, and I wanted, I wanted to
23:30
have, I wanted to have a life for myself that maybe I did see
23:34
on TV, right, or that some of my friends had.
23:38
I wanted the white picket fence. I wanted the nice home.
23:41
I wanted that. I wanted that family unit where
23:46
where kids were kids and we did things together that didn't have
23:50
to involve alcohol and, and all of those things.
23:55
So and I knew that in order for me to be able to do that, I had
24:00
to do something different, right?
24:02
I couldn't just get done high school and go get a job and
24:06
just, you know, never better myself.
24:09
So I, I always strive to better myself.
24:12
And ironically I never got in trouble at school.
24:17
Which brings up a little funny story in 8th grade because at
24:20
that time we went K through 8 and one one building.
24:24
In 8th grade, my 8th grade teacher said I'm going to give
24:27
you a detention just because you need to have one because you
24:30
never have. What?
24:32
He kept me like 5 minutes, but yeah.
24:38
Just so you had the experience of being a quote UN quote bad
24:40
kid. Yeah.
24:42
That's funny. I was always a rule follower, I
24:45
guess in in many senses. Now you know, don't talk to me
24:50
about driving my car, but anyway.
24:53
Well now I have to what? What's the problem with you
24:55
driving your car? Back then I, I had a lead foot
25:00
and, and I would, you know, race mile marker to mile marker on
25:07
the Interstate. And so I had a little bit of
25:10
rebel in me and that and that's where that's where it really.
25:13
That's where it came out. Yeah.
25:15
Yeah. You know, you said something
25:17
earlier, Rena, about, you know, you went to get your MBA mom
25:23
years ago originally wasn't on board with sort of the direction
25:26
you were taking with your life. Can you say more about that?
25:30
Sure. Because I had been working at
25:33
the Veterans Administration actually from the minute that I
25:36
had a work permit. She thought that I should just,
25:40
you know, work on getting into full time with the VA.
25:43
It's a good job. You know, you have good chances.
25:47
You don't need to go to school, you know, it's just you're
25:50
spending money that you don't have to spend and things like
25:52
that. And I was very adamant that no
25:54
mom, I'm going to school and she so I filled out all my own
25:59
financial aid paperwork, all of that to, to make it happen.
26:04
And I worked two and three jobs during college.
26:06
I stayed on campus year round 'cause I took classes during the
26:09
summer as well. And what was it that softened
26:13
her view later on? I think that as I, when I
26:19
graduated and the jobs that I had and she saw me, you know,
26:23
kind of move my way up the ladder from an admin,
26:28
unfortunately, she never got to see me be AVP, but she did get
26:34
to see me be a manager. And I think that she realized
26:38
then that, you know, maybe my choice was the right choice
26:43
because I don't believe some of those opportunities would have
26:45
occurred had I not had that degree.
26:49
What was driving you so hard to get that degree?
26:52
I mean, you know, at that age we are impressionable and you know,
26:55
our parents, they can sway us. They can influence how we think.
26:58
Was it sort of these trips to your friends houses and seeing,
27:01
wow, there's a different life that's possible for me?
27:05
I, I think it was definitely part of that, but I always
27:11
wanted to be more, more than a high school diploma.
27:16
And I don't mean that in a bad way because, you know, you got
27:20
to remember that back then, a lot of jobs, if you didn't have
27:24
a degree, you didn't even get an interview, right.
27:28
And honestly, I initially wanted to be a lawyer, but I couldn't
27:32
afford that school. So, so that's how I ended up,
27:35
you know, going for a, you know, administration and computer
27:39
sciences, which was up and coming.
27:42
It was the thing to do. And I thought that could be a
27:44
really good career. I was good with math.
27:48
I have a good attention to detail.
27:50
So I figured I could do that job.
27:53
But I think in some way I always kind of went against the grain,
28:02
you know, with, with my parents, you know, even when there were
28:06
parties at my house, I would be the person and I would, people
28:09
would pay me to go to the refrigerator and get them a
28:11
beer. So you know, I just I utilized
28:15
any opportunity I had made it positive.
28:19
And so, Reena, today, how are you leveraging some of those
28:22
challenging experiences growing up to help other people?
28:27
Well, you know, it is very, it's much easier for people to relate
28:33
to somebody if they can understand that that person
28:36
didn't have that silver spoon in their mouths when they were
28:40
born. They didn't have that perfect
28:41
childhood. And I'll share with you actually
28:44
the most recent story, which which I have to say, I'm so
28:47
happy for this person. Probably a couple of months ago,
28:51
we had a young lady that started working in our office and
28:54
actually in HR and she was having some very challenging
29:01
times, abusive relationship to the point of, you know, physical
29:06
bruising and a restraining order.
29:10
And so, you know, immediately my protective mode kicked in,
29:16
right. And I, I, I started to talk with
29:18
her about that and, and we have a wonderful program at Eagle,
29:23
which we'll talk about in a little bit Secure coach program.
29:27
And, and she also speaks with him and spoke with him then and
29:30
continues to do so. So as she was talking to me, I
29:35
could tell she was, you know, 'cause we talked a few times
29:38
and, you know, he got bonded out.
29:41
And then there was this, there was a big to do with that.
29:44
And that's when she reacted. She physically got hurt.
29:48
So anyway, he went right back into jail and I finally told
29:53
her. I said, look, I said, I
29:55
understand where you're coming from.
29:58
I said I my childhood was not perfect.
30:01
And the first thing she said to me was really she goes, oh, I
30:04
figured you had a perfect life. And I said, no, no, far from, I
30:08
said, but you know what? You can make that change now for
30:12
you. And if you make it for you,
30:15
you're making that change for your children.
30:19
You can break the cycle. You have that power.
30:21
And we will do everything in our power to assist you to do that.
30:25
And we did. We, we got her in touch with
30:27
people and you know, she has done all of the right things and
30:32
she never gave up. She literally probably made
30:35
about 30 phone calls to try to find a place to live for her and
30:39
her four children. 29 of those calls were no.
30:44
And I'm so happy to say that she's moving into her own place
30:47
October 1st. And it's, it's a rental.
30:50
It's a nice rental. It's a 3 bedroom and you know,
30:55
and she, she did that. She, and she did it all on her
30:58
own. And, and I say that because she,
31:01
all it took was her listening, believing and trying.
31:04
And she's done it. And I I told her the other day
31:07
how proud of her I was that she broke the cycle and that she's
31:10
done that for her kids as well. That's awesome.
31:13
And, you know, hearing your story, it, it reminds me of, you
31:17
know, the reason I really like to ask the question about the
31:21
hard challenge is because I think there's this natural human
31:25
tendency to look at people from the outside and people looking
31:29
at you like you said, you know, and this woman in particular,
31:32
oh, I just assumed you had the perfect life growing up.
31:35
Like you have no idea what somebody's been through to get
31:38
to where they are. And so it's really helpful to
31:41
kind of pull back that curtain a little bit and share.
31:44
So people are like, oh, I'm not the only one who went through
31:47
XYZ. I'm not the only one who's
31:48
having a hard time with something.
31:51
And when you hit that hard thing, that's not the time to
31:54
quit. It's not the time to throw in
31:56
the towel. It's not the time to let
31:58
yourself swirl down the drain. You need to pick yourself up.
32:02
You have to figure out a way to put 1 foot in front of the other
32:07
and that's I think the hope that you're giving people by sharing
32:09
your story and offering you know your experiences and lending a
32:13
hand to them. I, I certainly hope so, you
32:17
know, because I'm, I'm not sharing my story.
32:19
I don't, I don't want sympathy. I, I don't want any of that
32:22
because my life is great. I'm very happy.
32:25
I, I have a job that I love. I work with people that I
32:29
absolutely admire. You know, I have two beautiful
32:34
children and several grandchildren.
32:37
You know, I, I'm, I'm a happy, happy person.
32:41
And, you know, I just want to, I just want to help others to get
32:46
out of whatever rut that they think they're in, because all
32:51
ruts are very, very temporary. Even the one that I was in from
32:56
the age of, you know, almost 4 till, I don't know, 18/19/20,
33:04
whatever, right? It's a.
33:05
Long rut. It's a long rut, but you know,
33:08
there there were there are moments you come out and then
33:10
you go back in along that way. But you just you just have to be
33:15
willing to learn from it and not not get stuck in it.
33:19
Don't be the victim you know, just learn from it.
33:25
Tell us about the Care Coach program at Eagle.
33:27
What is that? So I, I love this program and I
33:32
was so happy when I even learned that they had it.
33:35
So the care coach program is it's a business that we have
33:40
come in and they have coaches, we have a care coach at every
33:44
single one of our terminals, so approximately 22 of them and
33:52
well some of them have multiple terminals, I guess if they're
33:54
close enough in proximity, so maybe 20.
33:57
And they are pastors, but they also are educated in counseling
34:05
and so forth. And it is a completely
34:09
confidential program paid for completely by the company.
34:13
And they are there to listen if you are having whether it's
34:18
marital issues, financial issues, issues with your
34:21
children, issues with your job, just feeling down yourself,
34:26
struggling with weight, struggling with a medical
34:28
problem, anything like that, they are there to listen to
34:32
help. They have a lot of different
34:34
resources and they're available during the work day, they're
34:37
available by cell phone, They'll meet you for coffee, whatever it
34:40
takes. So and I think that for the
34:46
people that utilize them, it's made a huge difference and we've
34:50
had a lot of really good feedback from it.
34:52
And obviously we don't know who all uses them unless they choose
34:55
to share it with me. Wow, that's tremendous.
34:58
Is this a program that you brought in or was this in place
35:02
by the time you joined the team? This was in place when I joined
35:06
the team, but at that point I think we only had it in three
35:09
locations. So since I've been there, we've
35:14
put it at all of our locations and it's really a program that
35:18
my think my boss brought in initially and something that I
35:22
support 110%. I'm going to guess that this was
35:27
part of what encouraged you to to take the role 'cause you're
35:29
saying that you guys really connected on, you know, the
35:33
level of taking care of employees that was something you
35:35
had in common. Yes, the, the, the care coach
35:39
program and honestly just the conversation that I got to have
35:45
with the executive team and I think the acknowledgement that
35:51
when I did talk about those moments when I got to help
35:54
employees and that that's what I feel my job is about.
35:59
Yes, it comes with the hard stuff too, right?
36:01
It's certainly not all roses and and gum drops, but the good
36:07
things offset that by far. If I help one person, it makes
36:10
up for all of the tough things that I had to do and, and the,
36:16
the fact that they acknowledged that and most importantly, my
36:19
boss who acknowledged it as well.
36:21
And, and I think we've, you know, we've, we've made some
36:24
changes at Eagle, probably nothing real earth shattering.
36:28
We've added some benefits and things like that.
36:30
But I, I think the employees have a new sense that they can
36:36
contact me and talk to me and, and I'll, I'll work with them as
36:40
much as I can. I don't undermine their manager,
36:44
you know, unless there's something going on.
36:46
But I, I, you know, that's not my, my intent.
36:50
It's just to help them sometimes work through or to understand
36:53
maybe even the manager's point of view.
36:56
What are some of the benefits that you've added recently,
37:00
traditional benefits or just, you know, other perks to you?
37:03
Know kind of keep the. Employees happy.
37:05
Yeah. So you know, we, we obviously
37:07
have all, all of your traditional benefits, but we did
37:09
make a change a couple years ago with our prescription provider
37:13
which has managed to save our employees a lot of money.
37:17
And, and obviously the company too 'cause it's kind of hand in
37:20
hand, but we have introduced a cancer care program that will
37:26
hand hold somebody through that whole process and even suggest
37:31
like second opinions. They'll review and it's nurses
37:35
that have worked in cancer care forever and they'll review the
37:39
documentation of the medical records and determine if what
37:42
they're getting for treatments really the right treatment.
37:47
And then we've also have a keep it, keep it simple surgery in
37:51
place that we can essentially, depending on where where our
37:55
team member lives, they may have access if they need to have a
37:59
knee replacement or rotator cuff or something like that, it might
38:04
be completely free for them. Wow, that's incredible.
38:07
Yeah. So we, we keep trying to, to,
38:10
you know, put those things in and then little simple things
38:13
that cost us nothing like working Advantage program.
38:17
It's just a discount program. You know, people can go on, if
38:19
they're gonna go to an amusement park or something, then there
38:23
might be discounted tickets on that for them and, and things,
38:26
you know, just things like that. It's, it's a lot.
38:29
So people don't remember most of them, but that's OK.
38:35
That happens sometimes. Are there any other maybe like
38:40
innovative things, forward thinking HR practices that
38:43
you've introduced, perhaps something that involves
38:46
technology or mobile workforce solutions, anything to keep your
38:50
employees engaged, productive, happy?
38:53
Yeah. So I don't know if it's for
38:56
thinking, but you know, because we have so many terminals, it's,
39:02
it's hard for our drivers. Our drivers don't have a work
39:05
e-mail per SE, right? It's a personal e-mail.
39:09
So their communication before, prior to me was pretty much
39:14
seeing either getting a note in their boxes or seeing something
39:18
posted on a wall. We also have satellite locations
39:22
where that means there's no, no brick and mortar building.
39:25
It's just like a parking lot where our trucks are so that we
39:30
can better accommodate our customers.
39:33
So those drivers don't even have a box to go to.
39:37
So we put in digital screens at all of our terminals so that
39:43
we're able to advertise on that screen.
39:45
What's happening, what's new? We say happy birthday, we say
39:48
happy anniversary, you know all of those things as well.
39:52
And then we also just introduced an intranet site and on that,
39:58
you know, we have documents that most people like to get to and
40:02
it's all in one spot, so it's easier to find.
40:06
And they are. They can chat with each other.
40:10
But more importantly, especially in our line of business, our,
40:13
our terminal managers now have access to send out an e-mail to
40:18
all of their reports or even just a group of them, let's say
40:22
at a satellite location, You know, don't come in today,
40:26
there's a storm or we're closed because of, you know, hurricane
40:29
or whatever. And given that we're in Florida
40:32
or even Northwestern Carolina, unfortunately, you never know
40:36
when that may happen. Yeah, I mean, it sounds awesome
40:39
being able to introduce those communication tools.
40:42
Really helpful. You know, I mean, there's some
40:44
work environments where people are just naturally congregated
40:47
all the time. And, you know, the
40:48
transportation field like you guys are in.
40:51
Yeah, people are dispersed. They spend most of their working
40:54
time outside of those central gathering points.
40:57
And so you need a way to stay in touch with them and, and I'm
41:01
going to guess that, you know, you probably got some tools
41:04
through that communication method to be able to help build
41:08
the culture and, and make people feel involved and included.
41:14
We, we certainly try, you know, we, we share, you know,
41:19
whatever's going on within the terminal, if, if they're OK with
41:22
it, we'll share with it with, you know, all terminals like,
41:25
you know, dressing as simple as dressing up for Halloween,
41:29
hosting a family picnic, having a celebration for, you know,
41:34
5000 safe loads without any incidences, you know, terminal
41:40
of the year celebration, meaning that they, they met all of
41:44
their, all the marks, whether it be production, income and so
41:50
forth, right, safety, all of those things.
41:53
So we try to share that across the board.
41:55
A lot of it people will see on Facebook from us as well as
41:58
LinkedIn, but we will also put it on those digital screens.
42:03
Birth of a new child, right, Congratulations to them.
42:06
And when, when they want it shared and, and we'll, we'll do
42:09
those things trying to keep it, everyone connected.
42:12
And then we'll we'll share news from corporate office as well
42:15
out on those screens. As you look back over your 20
42:19
plus years in HR, how have you seen the role of HR in companies
42:25
evolve? I believe that the role was very
42:32
transactional before, right? You had a policy, it was black
42:36
and white. Did this incident, did this
42:40
issue, whatever it might be, fit in this policy?
42:44
Nope. They violated the policy.
42:46
OK, They hit written up or well, no, it's, it's OK, it's allowed
42:51
per the policy, right? That's they took the human out
42:55
of it. And, and I remember probably my
43:00
very first meeting with my new team at Eagle, you know, I told
43:04
them I said, we're going to put the human back into human
43:07
resources, you know, because they, that department had become
43:13
transactional to the point where if a driver needed something,
43:17
they would communicate the answer to the terminal manager
43:20
and have the terminal manager tell the driver.
43:24
And I'm like, no, no, no, that's not what we're going to do,
43:27
right? We'll, we're going to, we're
43:29
going to talk to drivers. We're going to help drivers.
43:31
We're going to help anybody in the company directly.
43:33
We don't have to. If they're asking a benefit
43:35
question or they're asking about their pay time off policy, that
43:39
doesn't have to go through a terminal manager or their
43:42
manager, right? We can work with people
43:44
directly. And that was a pretty big switch
43:47
for Eagle and a big switch for my team and my dad.
43:51
How did you navigate that when when there was sort of this
43:54
chain of command that existed before?
43:57
I'm going to guess HR felt almost insular, like, you know,
44:02
we, we don't communicate directly with, you know, the
44:05
person asking the question. And I don't know if that was
44:08
comfortable or uncomfortable to them, but making that change had
44:11
to be something different. Yeah, it, it was definitely
44:14
different, but I really feel like most of the folks on my
44:18
team were happy with that because they, you know,
44:24
sometimes some drivers you, you ended up talking to anyway
44:27
because they were just persistent ones.
44:30
But I really feel like, you know, it added to the workload a
44:34
little bit. But the message got to them and
44:38
it got to them the correct way. You know, when it's like
44:42
anything, right? If you tell a message to
44:44
somebody and have them deliver their message to somebody else,
44:47
it's like that telephone game, right?
44:48
It never comes out quite the same.
44:51
So, you know, and then as far as you know, presenting that whole
44:56
idea to our terminal managers, I remember the very first manager
45:00
meeting that I went to, I did a presentation on, you know, we're
45:05
putting the human back in human resources, which means some of
45:08
the admin stuff that you're doing that you don't have time
45:11
to do because you're running a terminal.
45:13
We're going to take that off your plate now.
45:16
And and it for the most it was, it was an adjustment, some
45:20
adjusted much quicker than others, but I think it it's all
45:23
working pretty well now. Can you think of a story that
45:27
kind of embodies this idea that Eagle really prides itself on of
45:33
doing things right the first time?
45:36
An anecdote that would really help people understand how that
45:40
plays out in in sort of the day-to-day.
45:44
Yeah. You know, we, we meet every week
45:49
and usually we talk about, you know, anything that maybe didn't
45:52
go quite so, so good the week prior and, or those things that
45:56
went well. At the end of the day, humans
46:00
are humans. So you can't do everything right
46:03
the first time, but we certainly do try.
46:07
We put a new driver through training almost 30 straight
46:12
days, well full days, I should say 30 full days before we allow
46:16
them to pull a load on their own, right?
46:22
Because it's petroleum deliveries are not like your
46:26
typical cargo, right? You, you don't back up to a
46:31
dock, you don't get loaded and then you don't go back up to a
46:34
different dock and get unloaded, right?
46:36
You are getting in and out of the truck.
46:38
You have to know which tank to to dump, which fuel.
46:41
You have to put the right fuel in the right compartment in your
46:44
truck. So there are a lot of factors
46:46
and there's math involved in all that.
46:47
So we do a lot of training and we try to explain to our drivers
46:53
that we provide a service to our customers, right?
46:58
And that service is to provide fuel when they need it, so their
47:03
tanks aren't empty, so that they can in turn provide a service to
47:08
their customers. So we're a really big piece of
47:11
that puzzle that doesn't always go the way we want it to go, but
47:17
when it doesn't go our way, we are very quick to rectify it as
47:21
well, which is why, you know, we've had some long term
47:24
customers with us. So when a mistake happens, you
47:27
own it and you jump on it to figure out how can we fix this
47:32
as quickly as possible 'cause like you said, there's humans
47:36
involved. There's going to be errors,
47:37
there's going to be mistakes. It's just, you know, I think
47:40
what defines a company, what defines an individual, is how
47:44
you respond in those instances. Yeah, absolutely.
47:47
We don't, we don't try to place blame on somebody else.
47:52
We we own it. Yeah.
47:54
How about a book or a podcast, a course, some some kind of
47:58
resource rena that's been helpful for you that you might
48:01
recommend to our listeners? You know, that's, that's a
48:05
really tough question for me. I read a lot of different
48:09
leadership books, but there's one book and it doesn't, it does
48:13
have to do with leadership, but it doesn't.
48:15
And it's called The Goal. And actually, I ironically have
48:20
it here because I have given a copy to my boss and it's, I
48:25
can't pronounce this first name, but it's Goldrad and Jeff Cox.
48:30
And this is actually around manufacturing and it's kind of
48:33
around the Toyota's premise of, you know, you, you do things,
48:41
you touch things one time, right?
48:43
So it's that lean concept. And I read that more from an HR
48:51
perspective, but I guess it has impacted me because, you know,
48:56
part of putting the human back into human resources and not
48:59
delivering a message through a third party.
49:01
And just, you know, dealing with somebody direct is a lot quicker
49:04
and more efficient than asking somebody else to do it for you,
49:09
right? And so this book really talks a
49:13
lot about some of the, the hurdles of changing a process,
49:19
right? And why does it make sense that
49:21
you go left instead of right when you're at a manufacturing
49:24
line? And it's it.
49:25
And sometimes it's simply just the way you have something set
49:28
up. But in order to do that, you
49:30
have to step away and you have to realize that you're going to
49:34
have people really not agree with you and, and try to, to, to
49:41
almost not savage. Well, maybe sabotage you in, in
49:45
your efforts. But you just have to keep
49:47
forging forward. You have to stick with it.
49:49
And you just have to have faith, I guess, in some terms.
49:54
Then on the other end of that, it's, it's going to be what you
49:58
need it to be and what you expected.
50:00
And it's going to be better for the company overall and, or even
50:03
for your own life. So I guess it's just another one
50:07
of those working, working through, working through the
50:09
bumps. Reena, what would you
50:12
characterize as your superpower? That's another tough question.
50:22
For me, I think it's resilience. I just have resilience and I
50:34
think I have the ability to make most people feel comfortable.
50:37
So that and I I want to do that so that I can help them with
50:41
whatever it is that they may need.
50:44
Yeah, I think we've got decades of evidence that supports that
50:48
resilience is indeed your superpower, at least one of
50:51
them. Is there anything that you'd do
50:54
to get your day started or keep you on track?
50:57
Some habits or rituals. Well a non well healthy and
51:03
maybe not healthy but I start every day out with a cup of
51:06
coffee and a wurdle. There you go.
51:10
That gets the mind working, huh? It does it, it gets the mind
51:13
working. You know, I, I love to walk.
51:17
You know, I don't always get to, to exercise in the morning.
51:21
I did that for a while, but I live a little further from the
51:24
office now. And, you know, even though I'm
51:26
an early bird, I can only get up so early.
51:30
But I do try to eat very clean and I try to eat healthy and
51:34
it's not 100% all the time because that's way too boring.
51:38
Plus I go on vacation, so that doesn't work well.
51:41
But but I really, I try to have, you know, the the healthy and
51:45
the clean eating outweigh the the unhealthy by by a long shot.
51:49
I like it. Yeah.
51:51
Sometimes our mistakes become our greatest teachers.
51:54
Rena, what's an early career moment that seemed like a set
51:58
back at the time, but actually, when you look back on it now,
52:01
propelled you forward? It was, I was, I was in a, in a
52:12
rough marriage and I allowed that to impact my work ethic.
52:22
And so I had forgotten to notify an agency that we didn't want
52:29
their temp to come back the next day because, because when I got
52:35
home, things were a little crazy and, and I didn't dare tell that
52:40
to my boss. And, and they, they knew so, so
52:44
I didn't own it. I didn't own it.
52:47
That's the last thing that I've, I've ever done where I didn't
52:50
own it. And so they, they outsourced my
52:53
position. So I found myself unemployed.
52:58
It was a tough lesson, but you know, and accountability is
53:03
everything to me. And I was teaching my kids
53:05
accountability, but I was, so I was the main breadwinner.
53:09
I was the person with the benefits.
53:10
And then it was that way throughout my my marriage.
53:13
And so I was fearful that I was going to lose all of that for my
53:17
children. And by being fearful of it, I
53:19
made the wrong decision and not owning it and I ended up not
53:23
having it anyway. So that didn't work very well.
53:27
But that last, that left an imprint and that's put you in a
53:31
really scary place. I am never going to do that
53:33
again. How did you work your way out of
53:35
that? How did you find the next
53:38
opportunity? Well, so I needed to do
53:42
something quick, so I signed up with temp agencies and I started
53:48
advertising to clean houses. So I was cleaning homes and then
53:54
I, I did land and, and I ended up getting a job at the
53:57
convenience store just down the road from us.
53:58
So I was able to work all that and, and then none of which came
54:03
with benefits, by the way. So then I, I landed a job with a
54:09
temp agency and the first one was going through Child
54:15
Protective Services records, which I wouldn't wish on anybody
54:20
because those are heartbreaking. But then my next job was at a
54:24
manufacturing plant where I lived at the time, which turned
54:28
into a full time job. So and then I just I started
54:32
working my myself right back. Well, it goes back to what you
54:38
were saying earlier. You're going to go in and out of
54:40
those ruts in life, but they are temporary.
54:43
So keep moving forward, work your way to find a way to get
54:47
yourself out of that rut because they are temporary.
54:50
Yeah. So I've just got one more
54:53
question for you, Reena. But before I ask it, I want to
54:55
do 2 things. First of all, to the listeners,
54:58
pause for just a second. Go to your podcast app, hit the
55:01
follow or subscribe button. I want you to get more great
55:04
content like this in your feed and it helps other folks find
55:06
the show too. Rena, I am also going to let
55:10
people know the best way to get in touch with you, which I think
55:12
is your LinkedIn profile. And we're going to include a
55:15
link to that in the show notes. But folks that are listening,
55:19
you can search for it just by looking her name up, Rena RENA
55:23
Cater. CATER not there probably aren't
55:28
too many arena caterers, but just in case you can add Eagle
55:30
Transport on to that. So Rena Cater Eagle Transport
55:34
and connect with her there. So last question for you, Rena,
55:38
you and I connect one year from today and you're excited you're
55:42
celebrating something big. What's that big thing you're
55:45
celebrating in one year? Oh boy, that's that's a great
55:54
question I don't think I have an answer to.
56:02
That nothing personal, nothing professional.
56:06
A goal post you've got for yourself.
56:08
A milestone. Well, OK, on a personal level
56:15
that that I am still with a man that I have managed to fall in
56:24
love with over the past nine months.
56:27
That's awesome. I love that one.
56:30
That's a great place to end Rena Cater from Eagle Transport.
56:33
I want to be the first to thank you for sharing both your time
56:36
and your story with us today. I really appreciate it.
56:39
Thank you. Folks, that's a wrap on another
56:42
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
56:44
Thanks for learning with us today.