Dive Brief:
- Old Dominion Freight Line hired 500 new workers since September, after allowing its headcount to slide amid an extended freight downcycle, CFO Adam Satterfield said on a Q1 earnings call Wednesday.
- The hires grew the Thomasville, North Carolina-based carrier’s headcount to 22,891 workers, slightly less than the nearly 23,000 people it employed in the same quarter last year, according to a securities filing.
- “We tried to get a little bit ahead of it, but we're cautiously optimistic ... and have been for the last quarter, so that was why we went ahead and tried to invest there in that employee growth,” Satterfield said.
Dive Insight:
Old Dominion executives were more hesitant to predict a Q2 freight demand rebound than last year.
But the hires demonstrate the LTL carrier’s confidence that a turnaround isn’t far off — and its determination to capitalize on an increase in demand whenever it arrives.
The carrier handled nearly 47,000 LTL shipments per day in Q1, down from an average of 51,000 in September.
To grow its truck driver pool, Old Dominion provides other employees opportunities to attend its company driving schools, Satterfield said. Recent hiring has included backfilling jobs vacated by those employees becoming drivers.
“We've tried to continue to do all the things to get ahead of anticipated growth,” Satterfield said.
The company’s payroll and customer demand are in balance, the CFO said. Old Dominion doesn’t see an immediate need to increase headcount further, unless demand requires it.
“We're in a good spot,” Satterfield said. “Maybe kind of flattish from here, but depending on [if] we see further acceleration ... through September, then that might require some some further hiring.”
