Welcome To Werner!

I visited the Georgia DDS (called DMV in many other states) and gave them my temporary paper CDL, so I should be getting my plastic 'hard copy' license in about a week to 10 days. The big task at hand is to get ready for my orientation at Werner which begins on Friday, July 19th. I got this pre-training checklist below, which is pretty intensive. I should add that many of the items are directed at drivers who are coming from outside of the Atlanta area and have to stay for over a week at a hotel. Get this, Werner has so many drivers who come through here for on-boarding training and also drivers who must stay a day or two for a variety of administrative reasons, that they actually own a chain of small hotels called "My Place." Apparently the hotel is pretty full most of the time, too.

The more you know...

Friday, July 19th has arrived and I showed up at the Werner Terminal, which is right next door to the Roadmaster Drivers School, or as they would say at the school - "Up the hill." It's located off Blairs Bridge Road in Lithia Springs, right off the Thornton Road exit of I-20. The closest landmark for you ATLiens is Sweetwater Creek State Park. Our family has gone to that park with our dogs dozens of times. In fact, I went there to just chill by the lake and enjoy my lunch one day during school. Anyhow, orientation is what you might expect- a lot of filling out paperwork, presentations and videos talking about all of the benefits and programs that Werner has available. There ARE a lot! The guy in the light aqua-colored shirt to the left of the picture below is Jason. He'll come into one my stories soon, because he's an instructor and runs the Driving Simulator.

I had about a dozen people in my class. It's a good mixture of "Newbies" like myself, who are completely new to the profession, along with some folks with a little experience, and then there were a couple people who have driven for a long time and have just decided to come over to Werner from another company. There is a guy named Mitchell in my group who was also at Roadmaster with me, but was in a class two weeks ahead of me. Good dude and really smart - he has a pilot's license!

We have to set up an account in the Werner website and Driver Portal because we can do just about all of our everyday business through the portal. We get alerts and emails from corporate (in Omaha, NE) and can even look at our paychecks, access online practice/educational modules known as "E-Trainers" and much more. It's pretty handy and relatively easy to navigate.

By the end of the first day, we're basically worn out from filling out all the paperwork. We also had to take a follow-up drug screening. The 'highlight' of the day was getting our picture taken for our key card, which grants us access to getting on the Werner Terminal lot and into the driver administration building. We actually got the physical card when we showed up for class on Saturday. 

We have to show up at the "My Place" hotel on Monday morning for our drivers meeting, which will discuss "Dwell Time" -that's basically the period we spend waiting for our Driver/Trainer. I've been told mine could take a little while to match up, since I requested a non-smoking driver- the majority of drivers either smoke or Vape. During dwell time we have to stay busy and complete E-Trainers and perform several practice classes to hone our skills in the interim. More next time!