A formula that predicts which drivers will quit would be useful, but the signs of an early departure may already be obvious. A driver gets an unsatisfactory paycheck, for example, and starts thinking of greener pastures.
Identifying these and other signs of turnover could help fleets take preventive actions, but is retention really the end goal?
Mike Hammond believes the term “driver retention” has a connotation that fleets tolerate their drivers.
Hammond is vice president of driver development for Epes Transport System, a truckload carrier with 1,400 power units based in Greensboro, N.C. If he were a driver, Hammond says that being retained would not be one of his career aspirations. “I want a leader to lead me,” he says.
Retention should be renamed “people development,” he argues, which changes the focus to getting drivers — or any employee for that matter — engaged in their work. Someone who is engaged is motivated to go above and beyond what the job requires and also exerts positive influence on their peers.
Increasingly, fleet executives and managers are finding ways to use technology to increase driver engagement, as these 5 strategies show.
1. Knowledge sharing
