Hiring and replacing a single driver costs a fleet thousands of dollars, so striking a balance between maximizing driver productivity (and their potential) and creating a good corporate culture is vital.
During a webinar hosted Thursday by CCJ and sponsored by Netradyne, three top fleets shared tips they've deployed to keep drivers happy and, the bottom line, healthy.
According to CCJ's most recent What Drivers Want survey, 35% of drivers claim being offered more money would be the main reason they would consider changing jobs and driving for another fleet. However, money tends to be the final straw for an already unhappy driver. In second place, with 23%, was being shown the fleet appreciates the work a driver does and having a team atmosphere. For some drivers, pay and disrespect can go hand-in-hand. Communication, specifically poor communication, is almost always viewed as disrespect.
"Driver communication is critical to keep the team happy," said A. Duie Pyle (CCJ Top 250, No. 59) Chief Operating Officer of LTL Solutions John Luciani.
A. Duie Pyle has an app-based tool that keeps all employees apprised of company happenings, even the company's 2,000 drivers. The company also has a suggestions@ email address, where employees can send concerns that might "enhance a process, or if they have an issue," Luciani said. "That goes to the three top leaders in our organization."
Feedback is an important change agent, and Kim Daigle, vice president of enterprise capacity development for PS Logistics (No. 23), said her flatbed conglomerate collects feedback in various ways – "in any way they want it to be collected." She noted some people prefer phone calls, while others prefer text message or in-person. How the information is collected is important, but so is how quickly those concerns are addressed.
"Often, we can solve a problem in the moment," she said.
Establishing clear communication lines starts early: at orientation. Shelley Dellinger, Cargo Transporters (No. 163) director of recruiting and marketing, said her company sends its drivers their first survey a week after orientation, and it has a completion rate of 65%.
That initial touchpoint can help triage instances where a driver has become frustrated, and Daigle said her company works to head off issues before orientation ends. Her team creates a driver profile during orientation that "gives us an overview of what their expectations are," she said. For example, if the driver is wanting regular home time but has applied for a job over the road, Daigle said her team would let that driver know that their wants and the company's needs for that position don't align.
For applicants that finish orientation, Daigle said a retention manager (a person outside the driver's immediate chain of command) checks up weekly during a driver's first five weeks to confirm all is going well.
While driver surveys can reveal when change is needed, Dellinger added it's just as important to let drivers know when that change simply cannot happen. When a driver does leave a fleet, Dellinger said exit interviews are a must in helping understand where the relationship went wrong, or if it even went wrong at all. "We have gotten drivers to come back," she said, "once they realize, 'maybe the problem I've got there is solvable.'"
Technology's role
Route planning plays a vital role in keeping things rolling, but the days of spending hours of plotting a paper map on the kitchen counter are long gone. Some fleets have leaned into technology to handle this task, but there's a middle ground that gives the driver the flexibility to do what they think is best.
"We know that the driver knows best," Luciani said, adding it's up to the driver to plan the most efficient route possible. "Route optimization tools are available, but the driver knows that he or she has to execute that route. Driver buy-in is critical."
Dellinger noted that her company does use a navigation system, but drivers have the latitude to take the best route possible. "They are the captain of their ship," she said. "They're in charge of it."
Daigle said PS's transition to a tablet-based ELD allowed the company to introduce "an ecosystem" of technology that could help optimize routes, including a geofence that automatically notifies concerned parties of a successful delivery once the truck arrives. It saves drivers time, but it also helps them find the best fuel prices and alerts drivers of traffic conditions and weather issues.
A. Duie Pyle has deployed backing cameras on all 4,000 of its trailers and recently added rear-facing camera on both sides of the truck. Luciani said those cameras have already protected the company and the driver from staged accidents.
Cameras are a polarizing technology among truck drivers. Luciani said A. Duie Pyle has yet to deploy driver-facing cameras but foresees a day where the company ultimately will have little choice. Cargo Transporters deployed driver cameras more than a decade ago, and Daigle said PS Logistics has kicked off use of platform, in conjunction with driver cameras, that gives drivers feedback on violations before notifying managers, allowing drivers to correct behavior before it escalates the issue. That technology, Daigle said, could phase out driver cameras because the behavior correction is what the fleet is really after.
