How to Improve Truck Driver Retention

America depends on truck drivers to move commodities, supplies, and dangerous items, navigate challenging roads, and make sure all the things arrive in top shape, on schedule, and safely. However, truck driver retention among truck drivers seems complicated due to job dissatisfaction, unsafe work conditions, and inefficiency of fleet management.

Carriers continue to lose experienced and quality talents due to these factors. As a result, truck drivers' average turnover is at least 80% annually. Given this scenario, they need to replace almost its entire force, which is uneasy and challenging. In March 2021 alone, large fleets averaged 89% of driver turnover, two points higher than in 2020, revealed the American Trucking Association.

Other industries may link turnover to employees quitting their positions. In the trucking sector, it's a different story. Switching or bouncing from one carrier to another can also be referred to as turnover among truckers. How then can we keep truck drivers? The top advice from our truck driver recruitment firm is provided below to help your business increase retention.

What is driver retention?

It basically entails keeping your truck drivers content and satisfied enough to work for your business for a considerable amount of time, if not forever. CDL drivers change employers in search of better working conditions, rewards, pay, work-life balance, and corporate culture.

Employee retention, in general, is your ability to stop turnover, or your personnel leaving your firm, either voluntarily or involuntarily, according to NetSuite. Truck drivers who feel safer become better employees and are more likely to stick around, therefore engagement is the solution.

According to research by Bersin, companies with engaged employees lowered employee turnover by 31%. Successful truck driver retention methods can also reduce the costs associated with recruiting, training, and onboarding new employees.

One turnover costs a company six to nine months of the employee's salary to replace an employee, reported the Society for Human Resource Management, not to mention the hiring, training, and onboarding.

You might also like: Top 6 Reasons Truck Drivers Succeed in the Trucking Industry.

Use better equipment and schedule regular maintenance of your fleet

Investing in high-quality equipment is one of the top truck driver retention strategies you can use to keep drivers loyal. You could picture what it would be like for them to spend up to 11 hours a day in a cramped, uncomfortable seat.

Make sure to give drivers a sense of security and comfort while they are driving, as well as assurance that the brakes won't fail.

Regularly schedule maintenance and gain their trust. Maintaining a fleet of happy-making, noise-free, and fully functional automobiles will improve employee morale.

Your trucks should be in good operating order to minimize breakdowns that could increase the likelihood of collisions and endanger your driver and the general public.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration studies unveiled a staggering 45,000 accidents annually caused by vehicle malfunction, a majority due to poor vehicle maintenance. Corrosion in the exterior of your vehicle with the noisy exhaust is a sign of poor maintenance. Unfortunately, this can also be a sign of neglect that will not boost customer trust in your business.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires all trucking companies to inspect, repair, and maintain the vehicle in control.

Lack of truck maintenance can increase the chances of a crash or accident, precisely because of conditions, like hub separations, rusty axles, steering problems, and wheel bearing failures. Other conditions include faulty couplings, a trailer hitch, and broken mirror or tail lights.

Therefore, routine maintenance will not only make your vehicles last longer and keep them from showing symptoms of wear and tear, but it will also ensure that your company won't suffer from having to cover the high cost of traffic incidents.

You might also like: 3 Steps to Landing Your Ideal Trucking Job.

Improve communication

Treat your CDL truck drivers as partners, not as only employees. Discuss minor issues before they become significant problems. Enhance communication and make it a part of great company culture, requiring a collaborative effort from each team member to establish a meaningful one.

Communication is an integral component of making it happen. Having enough of it, along with transparency, can breed trust.

Gather feedback and listen. Respond to a request for a day off, take a call from a dissatisfied driver experiencing delays at a loading dock, or act as a sounding board for an employee having a difficult day. Lifting morale and enhancing driver performance can be greatly improved by simply asking how they are feeling.

Know your drivers and improve operations. For long-term success, put an emphasis on developing solid and sincere professional relationships. By getting to know your staff, you may encourage a sense of pride, meaning, and belonging.

Use SMS solutions. Two-way discussions over a CB radio or cell phone can be a big problem in loading docks because of how loud they can be. To enhance communication, send an SMS as opposed to calling.

Minimizing or cutting the jargon altogether is another way to enhance fleet communication to avoid misinterpretation since most of them are non-native English speakers. Spanish is the most common at 75%.?

Therefore, it might not be wise to use jargon. Always make sure you're using the appropriate terminology and double-check that they grasp the information you've sent.

Use dispatch and scheduling solutions. Find a scheduling tool that can accommodate your unique needs and use it. Use your phone, tablet, or keyboard to schedule and dispatch drivers using an intuitive and user-friendly solution. Some also enable hiring list customisation and communication between dispatchers and drivers.

Act on feedback. Establish open and transparent communication channels to enable drivers to offer their thoughts and suggestions since everyone wants to be heard. Engage them in problem-solving and give them the impression that they are important resources for your business.

Use technology. Use technology to improve the safety, productivity, and accessibility of your drivers' lives rather than antiquated techniques. Using a trustworthy fleet tracking solution, for instance, can help fleets conserve time and resources, provide better routing, which results in more effective trips and enables drivers to arrive home sooner.

Give your drivers access to modern technology, such as a driver safety software for coaching sessions, so they feel more supported and have the chance to develop their abilities. They may feel your fleet is behind them as a result.

Offer ongoing education and skill improvement.

Regardless of the field or industry, professional development programs are one of the most potent and successful retention measures, according to the Consumer Technology Association. It boosts perceptions of gratitude and raises operational productivity as a whole. Truck drivers with talent and skill are more equipped to handle difficulties than those without.

You might also like: 5 Things Truck Drivers Should NEVER Do

Pay on time and consider offering a raise.

Trucks carry 72% of goods and products throughout the USA. One of the best ways to address turnover and improve retention rates is sufficient pay, which is the most critical factor in making truck drivers stay, according to a WorkHound 2020 survey of 12,700 participants.

Driver compensation was second among the most important issues in the trucking industry, according to the American Transportation Research Institute (October 2020 edition); it was first among corporate drivers and third among owner-operators and independent contractors.

additionally, make sure they are paid on schedule. Make sure you have a system in place so you can make the necessary adjustments when you need to, such as numerous payment choices and rapid notifications in the event that your compensation is delayed.

Consider raising pay. Some carriers continue to increase pay to address the truck driver shortage. Also, consider having a good pay scale to retain drivers and give them enough incentive to stay.

Tip from our truck driver recruitment agency: Understanding the market for quality drivers will enable you to construct pay packages properly. It will pay off to enhance bonus structures and earnings as the need for truck drivers rises in order to stay competitive and draw in and keep quality drivers.

Celebrate wins, big or small!

The average driver turnover cost is $15000 per driver. Acknowledge a job well done to boost morale and show appreciation to your people. This will help increase employee engagement. Offer meaningful incentives and reward drivers for doing a great job.

Tying objective metrics with performance is a good place to start when trying to motivate people with incentives. Driving safely, receiving favorable customer feedback, coaching ratings, and collision-free days are a few data-driven criteria.

Improve your company’s safety culture

Make safety one of your company's key principles so that it will be prioritized at all levels, including employee meetings, your mission, and your overall values.

Through your leadership, set the tone. Is it forbidden to talk on the phone while driving? Avoid using the phone while operating the vehicle. Maintain your commitment to your company's safety culture without even stating it. Live by the principles you want your staff to uphold.

Hold drivers liable for their safety. Data can be used to evaluate safety performance. Combining telematics with video is a useful method for providing clear data to enhance driver conduct. This enhances retention and also helps to avoid mishaps.

Instead of depending on and employing punishments to alter bad driver behavior, safety issues can be addressed through coaching and training. Create a culture of safety, talk with your driver, and comprehend specific behaviors, such as dozing off while driving. Is he worn out due to a change in the schedule?

Promote rest and work-life balance

Poor work-life balance can lead to higher turnover intentions and employee turnover, while work-life balance positively affects organizational performance and improves truck driver retention rates.

Truck drivers who are exhausted and under pressure are more likely to be unsafe near other drivers and while driving, and meeting deadlines might make them even more anxious. When they are well-rested, they perform better than worn-out and overworked truck drivers.

Reduce or prohibit driver overtime. If there is an opportunity for flexibility in the delivery time, be flexible with your scheduling so that your drivers may spend more time at home without it negatively affecting how efficiently and productively they operate.

Allow them to take time off for important family events attended as a family, like funerals, weddings, and births. Extracurricular school events are also crucial for trucker's life, so make it possible for them to attend those.

Promote enough sleep. According to a 2012 study, people who slept for no more than five hours in the 24 hours before their workday may be at an increased risk of being in an accident. Encourage them to prioritize sleep in order to reduce daily weariness.

Truck drivers' happiness and mental health can be enhanced by encouraging a strong work-life balance, increasing their likelihood of staying on the job for the long haul.

Encourage health and wellness

Long-haul drivers are more likely to be overweight, smoke, and be less active than other US workers, according to a CDC survey. They might experience health issues as a result of their workplace.

Improving driver health is one of the greatest ways to keep truck drivers, therefore several fleets are now providing perks like free nutrition programs, health screenings, and on-site gyms.

Additionally, they think about examining or switching insurance policies and contrasting them with those provided by rivals. Additionally, fleet managers and owners are increasingly thinking about dispersing diet and exercise-related information as well as creating corporate-wide incentives. Others employ technology like pedometers, activity trackers, and heart-rate monitors.

These actions further show how invested you are in your drivers, boosting their loyalty and engagement and improving your overall positive truck driver retention statistics.

Final Thoughts

Happy, engaged, and healthy drivers are more likely to stay, meaning more stability for you and fewer turnovers.

Implementing truck driver retention programs, improving communication channels, encouraging work-life balance, and promoting health and wellness are specific measures to improve retention.

Using technologies, offering incentives, and paying drivers sufficiently and timely are also vital to make them stay long-term. Finally, and most importantly, consider giving drivers a solid and realistic job preview to set expectations from the start, and that's something that Rig on Wheels recruitment services might be able to help you with.

Contact us to learn more and talk to one of our dedicated recruiters today!

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If you work in the trucking industry and want to share your experience, email me at recruiting@rigonwheels.com

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