America has been struggling with truck driver shortages over the past couple of years. The American Trucking Associations (ATA) chief economist, Bob Costello, said the driver shortage could hit 160,000 over the next decade if current trends persist. Companies must re-evaluate their recruiting and retention strategies to find and keep qualified drivers.
Your trucking business is only as good as the drivers you hire. No matter how much you invest in the latest technologies, it won’t flourish if you cannot onboard and retain excellent drivers!
Employers must apply below tips to keep their drivers for longer miles!
- Adapt hiring process to attract young drivers:
Most trucking companies with a current workforce are nearing retirement age and hiring young drivers has become a necessity.
Here are a few recommendations:
Use of social media: As most millennials use social media, posting jobs ads on them can exponentially increase your search rate. They not only use social media to communicate but also search for new carrier opportunities.
Streamline hiring process: Young generation is getting frustrated with the duration of getting employed traditionally. Re-examine your hiring process, identify unnecessary steps, and eliminate them.
Highlight job benefits: Truck drivers value work-life balance, health, wellness, and the opportunity to spend time with family, among other things. Highlighting these benefits will attract the drivers and make them apply.
- Comfortable company culture:
A recent poll revealed that 70% of the drivers feel a lack of respect in their company and feel detached from the rest of the employees while they are on the road delivering the load. Many drivers also experience that they don’t get enough support to overcome the challenging situation when dealing with demanding clients. A good salary with benefits is important, but appealing company culture is also essential. If your company lacks a friendly environment for workers, you must consider redesigning the culture.
- Invest in fleet management software:
Drivers need to comply with FMCSA & DOT regulations to drive their trucks. Obsolete technology can make a driver’s life difficult, e.g., not having software integrated with ELD to track hours of service (HOS) and other data related to driving style, fuel consumption, etc. Drivers must have access to all the vital documents about fleet maintenance, so if any DOT officer stops them on the road for inspection, they can showcase the required documents just by logging in to the app or web portal of the fleet management software.
Profitable trucking business combines human and machine working as a single component. You can buy the best truck available but cannot hire and retain a skilled driver until your company invests time and resources in reinventing hiring practices and adapting to the latest fleet management software.
FleetDrive360 latest features will ensure that your trucking business maintains all the required regulations set by FMCSA and DOT!
