- Credits
- 537
The next question is from Rob Salmon with Deutsche Bank.
Robert H. Salmon - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division
James, I'm thinking about just the -- if you could talk a little bit about the morale at kind of the Regional companies? Because it feels like, at least in the fourth quarter, that they took their eye off the ball, given the elevated accidents severity as well as workers comp in the quarter. And how you guys are looking to drive better engagement to achieve some of the productivity targets you guys have outlined in the past.
James L. Welch - Chief Executive Officer and Director
Rob, that's a good question and a good observation. It kind of goes back to where we were this time last year, plodding our way through that winter weather and the MOU and the uncertainty in the refinancing and all the things that we were doing. And, yes, there's no doubt that we lost a little pep in our step from an employee engagement standpoint. And then, we all pretty much got smothered with volume in that second quarter. So it's just been a continual process of trying to be sure that we're communicating and engaging our employees to do the right thing for our customers and our company and themselves. And we kind of got on a little bit of a bad streak with some injuries and some -- and several severe accidents. So I don't think that there is a lack of employees trying to do the right thing. I think it's just been a little tougher time line to get things back to where we wanted it, for the reasons that I just outlined in the first half of the year. And that kind of gets back to my comments that literally, 2014 was a year of 2 halves. But all 3 of the Regional companies are working diligently at employee engagement as is YRC Freight. So I don't think we have a morale problem per se, but I think this has been a little more difficult to get the pace that we wanted back from that MOU time frame last year.
Robert H. Salmon - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division
James, I'm thinking about just the -- if you could talk a little bit about the morale at kind of the Regional companies? Because it feels like, at least in the fourth quarter, that they took their eye off the ball, given the elevated accidents severity as well as workers comp in the quarter. And how you guys are looking to drive better engagement to achieve some of the productivity targets you guys have outlined in the past.
James L. Welch - Chief Executive Officer and Director
Rob, that's a good question and a good observation. It kind of goes back to where we were this time last year, plodding our way through that winter weather and the MOU and the uncertainty in the refinancing and all the things that we were doing. And, yes, there's no doubt that we lost a little pep in our step from an employee engagement standpoint. And then, we all pretty much got smothered with volume in that second quarter. So it's just been a continual process of trying to be sure that we're communicating and engaging our employees to do the right thing for our customers and our company and themselves. And we kind of got on a little bit of a bad streak with some injuries and some -- and several severe accidents. So I don't think that there is a lack of employees trying to do the right thing. I think it's just been a little tougher time line to get things back to where we wanted it, for the reasons that I just outlined in the first half of the year. And that kind of gets back to my comments that literally, 2014 was a year of 2 halves. But all 3 of the Regional companies are working diligently at employee engagement as is YRC Freight. So I don't think we have a morale problem per se, but I think this has been a little more difficult to get the pace that we wanted back from that MOU time frame last year.
