Welcome back to our blog post series about UTA’s 2022-2030 Strategic Plan.
For the month of May, we’re focusing on our third strategic priority: Achieving Organizational Excellence. Our goal is to be recognized as a dynamic and forward-thinking public enterprise and to become an innovative, nimble, and thriving environment for professional achievement.
UTA is embarking on a journey where we are focused on working together as an agency to create success, improve our services, and create value for our customers. Excellence is about having a workforce that is aligned with our mission and vision, understanding the impact we can have when we're united, and being engaged in innovation and improvement.
Empowering Every Employee
Success at UTA doesn’t start the day you finish New Employee Orientation or even the day you get that long-anticipated phone call with a new job offer. We move you to success right from the start of the hiring process.
UTA is a big organization, employing over 2,500 Utahns. Creating a culture where employees are connected to our mission and are empowered to improve their work, has a significant impact on UTA’s ability to attract and retain a great workforce.
UTA has placed a strong emphasis on creating opportunities for employees to develop their skills, for both professional and personal growth so we are better prepared to serve our customers and create a smooth transit experience.
UTA has recently implemented a few interactive hiring events to boost interest and help us connect with potential employees.
One of these was our Drive the Bus hiring event in April. Prospective employees had the opportunity to drive a full-size UTA bus and then apply and interview to become bus operators on the spot. Candidates said they were amazed at just how easy it is to drive a bus. We were able to extend job offers to 42 new bus operators that day!
In May, UTA hosted two more hiring events: a maintenance hiring fair and an ESL recruiting event.
For the ESL hiring event, we invited students from the Granite Peaks Lifelong Learning adult education program, along with their friends, to learn about UTA’s English-as-a-second-language trainee program. This is an eight-week English language learning course that is focused on public transit and customer service, and graduates will be eligible to apply for full-time bus operator positions. At our event on May 9, we met 88 interested folks who spoke many diverse languages, including Dari, Tigrinya, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Swahili, Kikongo, Spanish, Farsi, Arabic, and more.
Hiring events like these allow UTA to connect with diverse members of our community and to show off the exciting career opportunities we offer.
Part of our hiring process for operators and maintenance workers also includes on-the-job training. Operators can receive their commercial driver licenses, and maintenance workers can start as apprentices and then become certified as journeyists and masters. These apprenticeship programs provide paid training opportunities that advance careers within these trades.
UTA also offers one-on-one confidential career coaching for employees who want to improve their interviewing, résumé, and overall professional development skills. We want our employees to feel empowered in their careers and try to give them all the tools we can to help them reach their goals.
Optimizing Our Operations
Achieving organizational excellence also includes improving the safety and efficiency of our facilities and operations.
New technology and infrastructure create a more comfortable and organized work environment for UTA employees. Our newest maintenance facility, the Central Depot District Garage, can service up to 250 buses — that’s more than twice the capacity of the old Salt Lake Central Garage! And with state-of-the-art equipment and fueling for alternative options such as diesel, compressed natural gas, and electric buses, this new facility allows UTA to be more energy-efficient than ever before.
Another way that UTA employees’ innovation allows us to maximize our efficiency is by custom-creating tools and parts to meet our unique needs. Our Rail Fleet Sustainability Department has a 3D printer that they use to design their own tools, shop supplies, and organizers. Apprentices spend time in the electronics shop to learn about repairing components that are in danger of becoming obsolete. Derek Kuraitis, a training instructor and electromechanic in our Light Rail Maintenance Department, says, “There are many components that have no solutions and vendors are unable to fix, but with the talent at UTA, we are able to do it here and it's incredible!”
We also work to improve our riders’ experience by updating our vehicles with more comfortable seats and clearer audio announcements. Our Maintenance of Way Department makes continuous improvements to our rail lines to ensure a smoother, safer ride. Bus stop amenities like shelters, benches, and better connectivity to sidewalks enable riders to stay safer and more comfortable. Better lighting at stops and stations helps riders navigate better to safely get where they need to go, especially when making connections to other routes or modes of transportation.
UTA has made a lot of exciting improvements in just the last few years and we are excited to see how future improvements can help us reach our goal of Achieving Organizational Excellence.