With annual driver turnover averaging 136% for truckload carriers according to a recent American Trucking Associations report, motor carriers face two challenges. They can continue to hire almost one and a half times their entire driver labor force every year at a cost of several thousand dollars each, or they can take the steps necessary to retain the services of the drivers they have already hired.
Duff Swain, president of the Trincon Group says the best solution for motor carriers is to improve driver recruiting and screening practices to ensure that only drivers qualified for the job and psychologically matched to company culture are hired. Then, carriers must take carefully calculated steps to retain those drivers. Trincon is a motor carrier consulting group based in Columbus, Ohio.
For the past several years, a wide array of industry experts has estimated that the cost of recruiting, screening, and hiring one driver ranges from $5,000 to $8,000. Swain contends that the price of driver turnover is even higher, pointing to human resource studies that he says confirm an average loss of $45,000 every time an employee leaves a company. He says this loss contains both soft and hard costs and that increasing driver retention by just a few percentage points can drive significant amounts of revenue to a company's bottom line as profit. “Hiring and retaining quality drivers is one of the most persistent and important issues facing the trucking industry,” Swain says.
Profiling drivers
Using extensive surveys over the past 16 years, Trincon has developed an employee profile that shows the average truck driver to be a male high school graduate between the ages of 37 and 42. More than 85% of drivers are married and more than 70% have children at home. Fewer than 55% of drivers have a working spouse.
Asked why they drive a truck for a living, most drivers have told Trincon that they like the independence and that they like working outside an office or factory environment in addition to liking the lifestyle of a truck driver. In addition, drivers responding to Trincon surveys report that the job offers the earning power they desire along with security and opportunity. In seeking to profile drivers who change jobs frequently, Trincon surveys show them to be independent and defensive, but non-confrontational.
“That profile does not define a stable employee concerned about a secure career and future,” Swain says. However, “it does explain why many fleet drivers think that the company truck belongs to them.” It also pictures workers “who are attracted to a non-regimented job environment rather than money,” and why many “will quit their jobs when confronted with attempts to regulate their work habits. Most truck drivers make a lifestyle choice rather than a career choice when they look for or leave a work position.”
Trucking companies have helped compound the driver turnover problem by not focusing on developing career-conscious drivers, Swain says. The driver problem surfaced following trucking deregulation in 1980. Since that time, driver pay has been set by the market, rather than being based on experience and competence. “Drivers have little loyalty to a particular employer, since they can obtain comparable pay and benefits with any number of fleets,” he says.
Improve recruiting
The recruiting techniques used by most carriers help make the retention problem worse, Swain says. By using poorly targeted advertising, unprofessional interviewing and using poorly defined and enforced qualification standards followed by inadequate post-hiring training, carriers produce a cadre of drivers who are ill-suited to the challenges of modern competitive trucking, he says. The result is the current turnover average above 130% compared to that reported as nearly optimal of 35% in a 1980 study conducted by the University of Illinois, Swain says.
To begin solving the driver problem, carriers must first solve the recruiting problem. Carriers must recruit drivers who are security and career conscious and who are self-motivated to increase their pay levels and their standing within the company, Swain says. Once carriers begin hiring drivers suited for their operations, they must train them in ways that improve company loyalty. That is the task of properly designed orientation programs, he says.
Carriers need to start the hiring process with clearly defined job expectations, Swain says. They should find a way to do driver personality profile testing to identify suitable applicants and to weed out those who are unsuitable and most likely won't remain with the company. Only after hiring the proper drivers can any attempt at retention be successful, he says.
Build retention in orientation
Swain strongly believes that retention starts with orientation, saying that other than recruiting, orientation is the first real image a driver has of a company and that carriers never get a second chance to make a good first impression. All too many carriers view new employee orientation as a necessary evil, an uncomfortable, time-consuming afterthought to the hiring process. “By failing to make orientation a priority, companies blow it big time,” he says. “They lose a perfect opportunity to instill their processes, their values, and their corporate culture. What's worse, they stifle the new driver's excitement and enthusiasm.”
The experience a newly hired driver has in orientation is critical to retention. First, it is a low-cost, but highly effective educational factor behind retention; and second, high quality orientation programs are great marketing tools for finding more drivers like the ones already in the orientation classes, Swain says. “A good orientation program sends the signal to drivers that the company is glad they are there and wants to help them acclimate and succeed,” he says. “Good programs provide an excellent source of information to new drivers who are chronically starved to learn about the job and the new workplace.”
Good orientation sessions usually last two to three days. Following the classroom sessions, more informal orientation should continue for two to three more days with trainers in the trucks with the new drivers to make sure they perform as they have been instructed, Swain says.
Building early productivity
Properly designed orientations serve a number of purposes. They help new drivers get up to speed with the new company and reduce the costs associated with workers who are not completely aware of how the company works, Swain says. Good programs should help make drivers comfortable with new surroundings and procedures making them more productive more quickly. Strong orientation helps take the guesswork out of a new job and provides guidelines for behavior so that new drivers know from the start what is expected from them and what they can expect from the company. New drivers who have experienced a well-designed orientation require less management time following the program than those who have not been taught as well, he says.
While most carriers think of orientation simply as the classroom time required to explain company policies and procedures and to get the administrative requirements following a job offer out of the way, good programs can actually be divided into four segments, Swain says. The first stage of good orientation begins before a driver ever sets foot on terminal property for training. In this pre-orientation, the new driver needs to be welcomed to the company — first by phone and then by mail with a packet of information that includes a formal letter of selection for the job, the location, date, and time along with an agenda for the formal orientation sessions. The information packet also should tell drivers how to dress and what to bring with them, including how much pocket money might be needed. It should tell them where to park, whether public transportation to the orientation site is available, and provide the address for the company web site. In addition, the pre-orientation packet should include a list of key carrier personnel and their telephone numbers.
Formal orientation must provide new drivers with an overview of the company including a history of the company, its purpose, and the services it provides. It is critical that new drivers be welcomed to the company by the president or some other senior officer who makes sure they know how important drivers are to company success and the role drivers are expected to play in ensuring that success, Swain says. The basic orientation overview also includes the remaining administrative requirements in the hiring process such as photos for company identification, a drug screening, finishing up paperwork associated with the job application and completing paperwork needed for the hiring process along with the road test that companies require before putting a new driver in a truck.
Stress job-specific subjects
With the overview part of orientation complete, the program should move on to job-specific subjects including a review of the company organizational chart and issuing the company policy and procedures manual. Job-specific orientation is the part of the program that describes a carrier's customers and the geographic markets the company serves. This also is where drivers learn about the company's compensation and benefits plans and about incentive and recognition programs, Swain says. One key part of any orientation is making sure that new drivers have a complete understanding of payroll procedures and that they are given detailed descriptions of deductions that will be held out of driver pay.
The job-specific part of orientation has to do more than tell drivers what the company will do for them. It also must prepare drivers to participate fully in company operations, describing the maintenance program and driver responsibilities to that program. In particular, drivers must understand what to do when service or repairs are required on the road, Swain says. Orientation on maintenance procedures should include a tour of the terminal and maintenance facility along with introducing key maintenance personnel. Since every company is different, maintenance orientation should include hands-on demonstrations of tractor and trailer inspections.
Even drivers with years of experience need detailed descriptions of dispatch procedures at a new company. This includes introduction of key operations personnel with special emphasis given to dispatchers. During the explanation of dispatch policies, new drivers should get the details for requesting time off, Swain says. While most safety programs share important aspects, that should not prevent carriers from making a full safety presentation during orientation, he says. Pay particular attention to equipment procedures and accident reporting along with the necessity for periodic driver safety reviews.
Dealing with customers
Finally, get back to the reasons the company is in business — customer service, Swain says. Drivers need to understand how important they are to customer relations and how to interact with customers. Give them a specific list of do's and don'ts for dealing with customers. Make sure that new drivers have a complete understanding of the reports the company wants from them. Cover it all — the great, the good, the bad, and especially the ugly, he says.
With careful organization, a carrier can pack all the information required into two to two and a half days. However, many carriers find it more effective to extend orientation to three full days. For a large number of carriers, three days of orientation has become the standard, Swain says.
Sitting in a classroom for three days doesn't constitute a complete orientation. Drivers need to feel that the time was well spent and that they have accomplished something. Put a positive end to orientation by giving each participant a formal certificate of completion, Swain says. Recognizing the accomplishments of orientation helps give new drivers a sense of pride in the company, he says.
Orientation doesn't end at the classroom door, Swain says. It should extend through the probationary period that almost all carriers have for new drivers. Although less formal than classroom orientation, the probationary period gives carriers a way to continue training and evaluating new drivers, particularly with randomly scheduled rides with drivers. The program should reward good performance and provide training to redirect poor performance. At the end of the first 30 days, new drivers should receive a performance review, ideally conducted by at least two people in separate sessions. “The key is to inspect performance to ensure that expectations are met,” he says.
Simply sitting in a classroom listening to well-organized presentations doesn't mean that drivers will take away everything they need to learn. A few simple factors can make orientation programs work better, Swain says. For instance, make sure that new drivers reporting for orientation are greeted promptly and courteously; then start the sessions on time. Remember that orientation is an educational program for adults and that adults don't like being crowded into tight spaces. Provide enough room for a comfortable environment.
Tailor classroom sessions to typical driver attention span, normally 28 to 48 minutes, Swain says. Don't make drivers sit and listen for extended periods; they may finish listening before the instructor finishes talking. Provide breaks — several short breaks are better than one long break. Putting drivers in the spotlight is not a good idea; they don't like being embarrassed in front of other drivers. Finally, don't assume what drivers know or don't know. Instead, make sure orientation includes everything new drivers need to perform to meet and exceed company expectations. “It's a new job; do what is necessary to ease the transition and make drivers feel comfortable,” he says.
For more details on the services Trincon provides, visit the company web site at www.trincon.com. The site provides numerous instruction manuals in pdf form.
