Ken's Korner

In today's trucking world, there is a huge concern for driver turnover. Most companies address this problem in one way or another. Many companies (the smart ones) have actually calculated the cost of driver turnover and then tried to come up with ways to keep drivers. The companies that don’t calculate this cost are in for a big surprise when they do.

Some of the companies simply boost their recruiting efforts to offset the numbers of drivers that quit which, of course, is not addressing the problem at all. It’s like putting a band-aid on a headache. Recruiting cannot bring your driver turnover numbers down. All it can do is bring the number of new hires up. The only way to bring the driver turnover numbers down is to retain the drivers that you already have.

One of the problems is that drivers are very different from each other. Driver's needs change. A driver may be looking for something different today than he was last year. Some simply get bored and need a change. Some get out of trucking altogether. Some move up into management positions. Some need money and some need home time. Some need both, which is hard to find these days unless you work for a company that can offer you local, dedicated, regional and long-haul choices. Some drivers need to be able to choose their loads. Some need good health insurance. Some need to bring a pet or a friend along. Some don’t like being treated as a number and need to work for a company that knows their name. Some drivers don’t like certain shippers. Some may refuse to hand unload or return to a shipper that doesn’t treat drivers right.

A few years ago, trucking giant JB Hunt raised driver pay by thirty-three percent in an effort to retain drivers. Although this was a massive step and initially cost the company fifty-two million dollars, eighteen months later they had recovered that much and more. And in the process, they also reduced driver turnover by an amazing fifty percent. So, for all the companies that think they can’t afford to raise driver's pay, I say you can’t afford not to.

Another giant in the industry, Celadon Trucking Services (who recently bought Burlington Motor Carriers, but that’s another story), now has what they call Lifestyle Fleets, which offer their drivers four different plans. These plans try to give a driver exactly what he is looking for. Their long-haul division, for drivers who need money more than home time, will send drivers on the longest runs to help them earn the most possible miles. Another plan they offer is the seven-by-seven division, which allows drivers to work seven days and then get seven days off, week after week, all year. The drivers who join this plan, obviously, need home time more than money and only have to work twenty-six weeks a year. They also have regional and dedicated fleets. By offering drivers these kinds of choices, they too have cut their driver turnover numbers way down.

There will be a seminar about this very subject on April 10th in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s called the 2002 North American Driver Recruiting & Retention Summit. If you would like to attend, call toll free (877) 564-2333 or (800) 642-2067, or go to www.jjkeller.com to learn more about it.

The Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute took a survey of some top carriers including Crete, CRST, JB Hunt, Kat, Marten, MS Carriers and more. They concluded that the average cost per driver was $8,234. Some companies, which provided incomplete reports, claimed as low as $2,243. But some were as high as $20,729! The study also revealed that hardly any of these companies took all considerations into account. Some of the key expenses which many companies left out were idle equipment costs, entry and exit administration costs, safety, insurance, legal, maintenance and productivity costs.

That study, as accurate as it was, left out a few expenses that I thought about. For example, if you pay your drivers more money, offer better benefits and give them more choices (local, long-haul, choice of loads, promotions, etc.), you will not only reduce turnover and save money, you will also save money on accidents because experienced drivers don’t have many of them. You will also save money on advertising. Word of mouth is better than any ad. When your drivers tell other drivers how great their job is, more drivers will come to you (it also helps to offer drivers a recruiting bonus).

The companies that stay on top of this problem are the smart ones. They know that they are saving money when they pay drivers more. They know that they will get more experienced drivers with higher pay and decent health insurance. And we all know that the top, experienced drivers out there, hardly ever cost a company money. They hardly ever have accidents (which can cost a fortune), they are more stable with their credit and less apt to quit or do anything irresponsible, like say, abandon a truck or go around telling other drivers how cheap their company is. Instead, they go around telling everyone how great their job is. And we all know that many drivers will believe another driver long before they believe a recruiter.

Today, experienced drivers can literally choose where they want to work. If you want them to work for you, then you better get with the program and start offering some real benefits and choices. There is a lot of competition in this industry, not only for customers but for drivers as well. If you think this article is a little one-sided toward drivers, all I can say is you probably have a high turnover rate. Do the math and see for yourself.

For more about this topic and many other subjects that pertain to drivers and the trucking industry in general, be sure to check out www.bigcitydriver.com. Thanks for listening.