Lingering challenges from the freight recession have made it difficult for fleets to invest in improving driver experience, said CarriersEdge CEO Jane Jazrawy.
CarriersEdge received 108 nominations and 4,498 driver surveys for its Best Fleets to Drive For program, which is open to all for-hire fleets operating at least 10 tractor trailers in the U.S. or Canada. Forty-eight fleets made it through to the final scoring round.
The 2026 results of the surveys indicated that scaling back recruitment and the hiring of new entrants were major trends among fleets. Many removed their new entrant program completely and instead focused on more experienced drivers, enabling fleets to offer better resources.
Jazrawy noted a demographic reversal among those completing driver surveys. Last year, the driver pool skewed younger, with more under-30s participating, but that trend reversed completely this year.
“I have a feeling it’s because the new entrant programs are almost done … There are no schools anymore. They have shut those down,” she said, attributing declined entrant numbers to the discouraging economic climate.
Fleets in the program still aim to boost driver experience, according to the report.
For example, during regularly scheduled preventative maintenance, only 20% have drivers down for more than two hours, with 60% ensuring there is no downtime at all for scheduled maintenance.
Home time and parking were two other factors important to drivers that fleets were able to maintain. The report noted that the majority continue to offer more than minimum reset and over one-third provide generous home time. Parking reimbursement is now standard, with fleets working with customers to offer overnight parking and facilities.
As for drivers’ top perks, Driver Appreciation Week (despite a love-hate relationship with it as many feel it’s mainly for office staff) still ranks as No. 1 among perks. Meanwhile, terminal parking ranked as the most valued physical support for drivers.
“Drivers really value [terminal parking] … That’s something you can control,” Jazrawy said.
Health and wellness were also listed among the top perks drivers value most, with healthy snacks at the terminal commonly sought out. Weight management support and fitness equipment came second.
[RELATED: Fleets have a role in driver health and wellness]
Pay issues
Looking through a series of year-over-year survey comparisons between 2024 and 2025, satisfaction with the overall pay model was down 4.5%, with comments indicating that drivers have experienced multiple pay cuts. Many are mentally comparing their current situation to 2020-2021 when pay raises were common in trucking.
Driver mentoring programs have grown in the last six years, but there’s no industry standard for compensation. Ten percent of Best Fleets companies pay driver mentors nothing extra; 13% pay minimally or only with reward points; 27% pay under $100/day; 31% pay $100/day or more; and 19% pay $100+/a day, with some companies paying $150.
[RELATED: Carriers share insight into driver pay]
The industry has a habit of asking drivers to do valuable work for free, Jazrawy said, and that can build into resentment over time even if drivers don’t immediately object.
On training pay, 20% of fleets do not pay for training at all, while 30% provide direct pay for all training, and 8% offer additional incentives beyond pay.
Satisfaction with compensation for additional work (including training, wait time and admin tasks) was down 4.1%. Driver comments highlighted a rise in administrative tasks without compensation.
A driver comment showed the attitude toward uncompensated training plainly: “I do training while watching television.”
Driver satisfaction and performance management
Driver satisfaction was only slightly down from last year, according to the report.
The number of drivers who “strongly agree” that they enjoy working for their company was down from 76.9% to 76.6%. Though the industry landscape has deteriorated, Jazrawy pointed out that drivers, even while stressed and dissatisfied on multiple factors, still basically like where they are.
Driver sentiment on whether routing is fair also dropped, with 70% of drivers either having a “really negative view of how routing is determined, or they just have no idea.”
Time wasted at shippers also dropped 3.9% in satisfaction, which Jazrawy linked to the economic market because shippers have the upper hand, while carriers have less leverage to protect driver time.
Of the driver comments on this topic, 50% said the carrier is doing a good job managing shipper delays; 25% said the carrier is actively not helping at all; and around 24% to 25% acknowledged the shipper is in control, and the carrier is doing the best it can.
Driver satisfaction with technology (including scorecards and cameras) continues to be one of the lowest-scoring areas. Only 25.6% of drivers expressed positive feelings about scorecards or cameras, with 38.4% expressing outright negative feelings.
Driver comments noted the flood of information without enough guidance: “I’d like more specific feedback regarding smoothness, and speeding, and scorecard events.”
Regular structured performance reviews, not just reactive conversations when something goes wrong, is a trust-building and retention tool, Jazrawy said. The report indicates that only 25% will talk to drivers when something happens, while 38% conduct an annual review or scorecard discussion.
Fleet managers' impact on driver satisfaction
The dispatcher/fleet manager relationship is central to driver satisfaction, Jazrawy said, as it’s the person a driver turns to for routing complaints, delays and pay questions.
She examined how companies evaluate dispatchers/fleet managers:
- 2% don’t factor drivers or driver input into dispatcher/fleet manager evaluations at all.
- Around 17% look at productivity only.
- 27% incorporate some retention and safety considerations.
- 30% use a combination of productivity, retention, and safety, which Jazrawy called the “sweet spot.”
- 25% use driver-focused metrics, meaning they ask drivers through surveys, calls, or forms how their fleet manager is performing.
“If your drivers are feeling like they’re losing the miles, they’re losing the pay, they’re losing the trust, you need to reach out to them,” Jazrawy said. “The more you reach out to drivers, the more trust you’re going to rekindle in the relationship.”
Driver mental health
An urgent issue that Jazrawy pointed out is how 68% of fleets didn’t mention mental health at all in their wellness responses. Only 23% said they have an employee assistance program; around 8% have moderate, structured support; and around 14% are making substantial, intentional effort on driver mental health.
[RELATED: The big picture of driver wellness includes mental health]
Jazrawy suggested marking mental health awareness days and using employee assistance programs more actively so dispatchers can “recognize the signs of something going wrong.”
The Canadian trucking industry was cited as being roughly four to five years ahead of the U.S. on this issue, both in programs and how openly it’s discussed in the industry.
