By Antoinette Blunt

My late brother was a long-haul truck driver for a good part of his life. He often told me of how lonely he would get when away from family, especially after his son was born.

He felt like he was missing out on so much.

There was little consideration for allowances to call home, and certainly not enough to alleviate the feelings of loneliness. That was over 10 years ago.

Last year, my only daughter left our home in the Soo for the first time and moved to London, England. It was very hard for me and my husband. We missed her so much and felt so lonely. But we found something my brother did not have: Skype.

As soon as she moved into her first flat and got the Internet hooked up, she called us on Skype. My heart leapt. To see her smiling face and talk with her as if she was right in our home was amazing. She walked around her flat with her laptop showing us everything; we felt like we were walking beside her.

Our loneliness has been alleviated to a great extent because of today’s technology.

Being satisfied at work is more than simply receiving a decent paycheck. What makes people happy is feeling valued and being a part of a company that cares for their well-being. And this means taking care of an employee’s emotional and social well-being. It is hard to stay connected with people if they are not working in the same office or location.

The thing is, whether you’re talking about drivers, dispatchers or bookkeepers, the new generation of workers relies — more than anyone in history — on social-support networks.

Today’s college-age people have never known a world without the Internet. They “need” the net, just like food and oyxgen.

So while we cannot change the supply chain to make long-haul trucking a thing of the past, I believe there are things companies can to do keep their current staff happier.