We are living unique times. Keeping experienced truck drivers on the job isn’t easy in the current market. With the economy set to explode, and trucking companies busier than ever, truck drivers have more options than ever before. What will your trucking company do to position itself as the best possible option when applicants have so many to choose from?
The first thing you must do is make sure that your operators want to keep driving for you. You need to make sure you create an open and honest line of communication between your truck drivers and fleet managers, safety managers, and other interested parties.
Successful trucking companies have an open-door policy that encourages truck drivers to visit the fleet or safety director when they come back from a trip on the road. Allowing your truck drivers to give you feedback about what happened in the prior week generates trust and keeps your truckers engaged while on the job.
The Importance of Direct Access
Do your truck drivers have what we would call “direct access” to your office? When they have a question, comment, or concern, you need to make sure your truck drivers feel comfortable coming to you and giving open feedback. If you have not fostered a culture of open communication between your front-line fleet drivers and management, you are missing out on critical opportunities to keep your people motivated, engaged, and on the job for the long haul.
Smart fleet managers take a collaborative approach to understanding the truck drivers experience. Even more, they make a concerted effort to act when their subordinates provide them with actionable feedback.
In many cases, receiving direct feedback from truck drivers allows senior management to nip problems in the bud before they become serious problems for the fleet. One effective method is to provide an anonymous suggestion box that allows truck drivers to provide feedback without fear of reprisal. This way, feedback can be shared directly, and management can take quick action.
An open-door policy is not common in the trucking sector. It takes work on management’s part to ensure their truck drivers feel comfortable bringing feedback when it should be brought. No company is perfect, so fleet managers need to be open to suggestions from the people who are getting the job done day-in and day-out.
Try Creating an Advisory Council
Another option for ensuring you have an open communication pipeline between your truck drivers and managers is to establish a driver’s advisory council. This council can be comprised of both managers and the workers who will bring feedback to the council. Trucking companies that utilize councils in this fashion task them with making direct improvements to the company.
When truck drivers are on an advisory council with their managers, it brings everyone together and makes the drivers feel empowered to provide information they might otherwise be afraid or unwilling to provide. When truck drivers can provide direct feedback about what is bothering, often fleet managers uncover issues that may otherwise have gone unnoticed.
Many trucking companies also mix these councils up with people from various departments and at various skill levels. When you throw a diverse mix of people together, from various departments, you may create synergies that would not happen otherwise. Imagine having truck drivers and back-office accountants and technicians together on the same council. The possibilities are endless.
As one example, if a council like this discusses turnover or the truck driver shortage, the drivers themselves can provide first-person information on what makes them want to stay with the company. While managers may automatically assume it is pay, having everyone in the same room allows for a level of openness that generates solutions. While many people think it is all about pay, smart fleet managers look beyond money to solve all their problems.
Looking Beyond Pay as a Primary Motivator
While many inexperienced managers automatically assume pay is the primary motivator for their people, in many cases this is not true. In fact, many fleet managers will tell you that truck drivers want an actively engaged management and executive team; leaders that inspire them to want to come to work and reward them for a job well-done, where appropriate.
Ask just about anyone involved in the trucking sector and hiring truck drivers and they will tell you that motivating truck drivers is about more than just a paycheck. Progressive fleets work hard to develop a culture and sophisticated pay and incentive packages for their people. They develop programs to reward their truck drivers for behaviors that improve the company’s bottom line and create a safer and more efficient environment.
In the end, it is about more than just how many cents per mile a truck driver makes. There will always be a direct correlation between how truck drivers are treated and how happy they are in the cab. You can pay someone all the money in the world, but if they do not feel valued, they are not going to be motivated to do a good job.
It is also important to consider that pay can be broken down into two factors. You have more pay, and you have predictable pay. Everyone wants more money, but truck drivers in particular look for predictable money. Offering a minimum number of guaranteed miles each week take a lot of pressure off truck drivers who need to feed their families during tough times.
What Do Your Truck Drivers Want?
It isn’t just the transportation sector where it is far too easy for management to become complacent and assume that what they want is all that matters. But before you make big changes to how you operate it is critical you ask the people it will affect whether you are making the right move. The answers you get may surprise you.
Innovative fleet managers use technology to improve fleet operations and find out what’s on their drivers’ minds. Tools like SurveyMonkey or other web-based portals or software to let their truck drivers provide anonymous feedback. Look online to find recruiting tools, including your own website and social media channels to put a positive light on your company and bring the right people in.
21st Century managers instead look at the big picture. Effective leaders take a holistic look at the “total work environment.” When you compartmentalize truck driver needs, it becomes harder to see the big picture and address your truck drivers needs in an expeditious fashion. Of course, the impetus for this must always come from the top. If leadership is ineffective, nothing will change.
Still, it is important to have more than just a vague open-door policy. You must make sure that actions back up your words. The days when motor carriers could bring recruits into an orientation, show up at a cursory meeting, then give them a truck and hope for the best are long past. Nowadays, trucking companies with that attitude are not going to be able to compete for the best people in a competitive market.
Be Honest with Your Recruits
The most important thing you can do as a fleet or recruiting manager is to not sugarcoat the position you are bringing them in for. When you bring your new truck drivers in for their first orientation, it must be about more than just your basic policies and procedures. The orientation provides you with an opportunity to shows your new hires that they will be treated with respect. It gives you the chance to get to know them.
Remember, you are going to be dealing with these people on a face-to-face basis pretty regularly. For your fleet to be successful, you must develop a relationship with your people and be honest with them about what the truck driving job entails and what they can expect. Consider having a paid lunch with new truck drivers and get to know them on a more personal level.
Finally, don’t let your first 30 days with a new recruit be immersive, and then let them dangle in the wind. Getting to know your people and effectively motivating them is a long-term effort that requires attention 30, 60, and 90 days out. By showing you are invested in the long term, your new recruits will respect you more and be motivated to do a good job.
With the tools and methodologies available to fleet managers in the modern age, there really is no excuse for an inability to recruit and retain the right people. Getting them in the door is the easy part, keeping them there requires work. Are you putting in the effort for your truck drivers?