Driver Recruiting vs Driver Retention

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brwnee

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Nov 11, 2009
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Been reading a lot lately about driver shortage. I see numbers for the average cost of hiring a new driver ranging from $5000 to $12000. Wondering if anyone has their two cents on the cost of recruiting?

I am also reading that a lot of fleets spend all of their time and money on a recruiting program - and very little resources on a retention plan.

Would this statement be accurate?

Curious to know if this driver shortage comes to fruition on what companies will be doing to not only attract drivers ( good ones that is ) and yes there are some good ones - but also how they will keep them from going to the competition in a very driver competitive market?

Brwnee
 
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Good recruiting and screening on the front end make retention efforts that much easier. Too often recruiters waste time qualifying candidates based on experience and driving record when at least as much effort needs to go into making sure that the hire candidate fits from a lifestyle temperment perspective.

Hiring a 60 year old for a peddle run that requires handbomb is just an obvious example of what most probably isn't a good fit, although a complicating factor is that carrier cannot discriminate based on age.

Another less obvious example is hiring single drivers (not married) and ASSUMING that home time isn't important.

Most drivers want a good balance that provides scheduled hometime...not hometime on the fly. Thus all elements of the carriers' business, including operations and sales, need to consider the needs of the driving force they employ. Short hop loads are poison to a fleet that runs predominantly teams for example.

Recruiting done right greatly minimizes the need for retention efforts later on.
 
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Many have left industry due to the pay rates not reflecting the time away from home anymore. With all the changes and new regulations this will continue to happen until the industry can pay more. But more to your point you are 100% correct, how many companies have meetings with drivers after they start, one week, month, quarter to ensure what the company promised is happenning, as well as for the driver.

And it is not all about the money, how about the help with directions, customs, waiting time, what kind of support do they get when out on the road as well?
 
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A different angle

I was talking with a carrier who really takes recruitment and retention to the next level.

Before hiring, they leave the driver alone in the driver's break room for a couple of hours to talk to the current drivers. If after that, he still wants the job, they arrange an interview with his wife.

They review the hours of work, pay, benefits etc. with the driver's wife to make sure she agrees. If so, they hire. Their turnover is almost non-existent. Exit interviews showed that the biggest cause for driver turnover was the wife's opinion of the hours of work, pay, benefits, etc.
 
Absolutely, if the wife is onside - buddy will stay forever if he is treated right.

Years ago in a different company, we used to arrange a "wife's night out" 3 or 4 times a year. Usually hosted by one of the girls in our office we would arrange a night out for the wives. It would be anything from the theatre to the race track or sometimes just dinner at a local pub. It gave them a chance to talk to each other and hear some horror stories about other companies. More importantly it gave us a chance to thank them for putting up with the crazy world of long haul trucking. It paid off big, but it only works if you are doing everything else necessary to keep your drivers happy. Safe equipment, fair wage and treat them with respect from the dispatch up to the president's office.
 
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Shakey said:
Many have left industry due to the pay rates not reflecting the time away from home anymore. With all the changes and new regulations this will continue to happen until the industry can pay more. But more to your point you are 100% correct, how many companies have meetings with drivers after they start, one week, month, quarter to ensure what the company promised is happenning, as well as for the driver.

And it is not all about the money, how about the help with directions, customs, waiting time, what kind of support do they get when out on the road as well?
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That is it in a nutshell.

When the folks in management decide to start treating drivers with the proper respect and not paying them slave labour rates, you'll find the driver shortage and shortage of quality drivers will evapourate.

When the driver is paid hourly for ALL of his on-duty time, which includes all driving, time spent waiting for his next dispatch, loading, unloading, breakdown, layover and paid overtime rates after 44 hrs per week, you won't have a problem finding drivers.

However when you have companies only offering what are essentially 20 year old pay rates with no cost of living increases either, you insult drivers who know what they are worth.

In the early 90's the going hourly rate for a Class 1/Class AZ driver was $15 per hour.
How many of you are still paying that same rate today.

How many of you are paying what that $15 per hour rate is worth today with costs of living factored in?

$15 in 1990 is equal to: $24.87 in 2010


Cost-of-Living Calculator.

Pay up or pay the piper because the 2nd and 3rd generation driver pool this industry once had to choose from is gone.
Drivers are fed up being treated like slaves and 2nd class citizens.
 
Well...getting the wife to agree to any deal is easier said than done...might be easier to arrange a divorce and hire him as a single man.
 
Week ends off

There is an old fallacy that seems to linger with Canadian transport companies - the Monday morning delivery.

Many carriers require their drivers to deliver a long haul load (1200+miles) on a Monday morning, thus having the driver away from his family for the whole weekend.
We make sure that our drivers are home for either Saturday or Sunday during their 48 hrs off. Our drivers are also home every week.

I am not sure if we are fortunate that our loads have a flexible delivery schedule or not - that alows us to do this. Now that we created this pattern we are stuck with it, the combination of hours of service rules and efficiency dictate that we continue in this pattern.

We will rarely get offered a load that the delivery schedule cannot be modified. More often than not the receiver will be happy to accomodate us and free up some time on their very busy Monday.

As for pay, our drivers are paid for everything they do. Waiting time is immediate at deliveries , pick ups and the borders. All pick ups and deliveries are paid as well and the mileage pay is generous.

Our driver retention is very good, although we are a small carrier, therefore deal directly with the drivers, none of them have a number, they go by name.

I can see how this can be a big problem for larger carriers!
 
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Just as another point of view to this, back in the early 90's I drove for a company where the management came up with this formula of getting paid for what each driver did (needed a degree in calculus to figure it out!) I hussled my but off and on some days earned 11.70/hr at best.
 
We've got guys making $70,000 per year and home every weekend (36 to 48 hours) and we still struggle to get good drivers to come through the door but when they do come through we keep them. Unfortunately drivers have been treated so bad by a lot of companies they are very untrusting and we have seen that if we keep them for 6 months we generally keep them for life. We look for PROFESIONAL Drivers so we also pay and treat them that way............it works well.
 
alx said:
There is an old fallacy that seems to linger with Canadian transport companies - the Monday morning delivery.

Many carriers require their drivers to deliver a long haul load (1200+miles) on a Monday morning, thus having the driver away from his family for the whole weekend.
We make sure that our drivers are home for either Saturday or Sunday during their 48 hrs off. Our drivers are also home every week.
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That is commendable. You are correct though where most companies insist that drivers must work every weekend to meet their customers demands.

I am not sure if we are fortunate that our loads have a flexible delivery schedule or not - that alows us to do this. Now that we created this pattern we are stuck with it, the combination of hours of service rules and efficiency dictate that we continue in this pattern.
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When EOBR become mandatory for all trucks you will find many will be forced to rethink their fleet scheduling. I doubt many will care on how their change in scheduling will negatively affect a drivers pay as long as the customer gets serviced.

We will rarely get offered a load that the delivery schedule cannot be modified. More often than not the receiver will be happy to accomodate us and free up some time on their very busy Monday.
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Not many will admit to having that flexibility. It is always push push.

As for pay, our drivers are paid for everything they do. Waiting time is immediate at deliveries , pick ups and the borders. All pick ups and deliveries are paid as well and the mileage pay is generous.
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Do you also pay drivers for all their hours spent waiting for a dispatch when they are away from home? For example, they arrive at their destination at 9pm. Take their 10 hours off and deliver at 7am but you can't find them a load or move them until the following morning.
Do you fully compensate them for that day's lost wages?
8 hours of FULL pay?

Our driver retention is very good, although we are a small carrier, therefore deal directly with the drivers, none of them have a number, they go by name.

I can see how this can be a big problem for larger carriers!
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Any place that treats a driver as a number is not concerned about the driver's welfare. Only filling their seats with a body to steer their truck and move their freight for the cheapest pay possible.

Again, how many of you have increased your pay rates on an annual basis to provide all drivers a cost of living increase in pay.

Many of you are still paying 1990 rates.
 
We just hired another owner/operator that started on May 15th/10.
As of the end of Sept, his earnings, after deductions was $75, 075.51.
Not bad for 41/2 months.
We are very, very selective about who we hire and they are 99.9% of the time home every weekend.
Everyone we have ever hired is still with us because we do treat them as people and family. As far as I know, will end their careers here.
 
I take it that by the silence of the majority here and refusing to address the elephant in the room so to speak that they are not really concerned with the problem of driver recruiting or retention.

As a good man said elsewhere recently when it comes to many of your attitudes towards drivers and the grossly underpaid rates which you offer you would be wise to take this word of advise seriously

“if you want me to be a team player, then treat and pay me like a member of the team”.

I'm still waiting for one of you to admit to having provided your drivers with annual cost of living increases in pay.

This elephant's not going to go away until those of you in management and ownership positions change your ways and start paying drivers the respect and pay they honestly deserve.
 
Maybe I'm wrong, but unless you work for the Goverment in some way, shape or form COLA is a pipedream. I would love to know how many members (without switching jobs) have had ANY type of wage increase in the last 5 years. Again, maybe I'm wrong but I for one am just glad to be working these days.
 
bull958 said:
Maybe I'm wrong, but unless you work for the Goverment in some way, shape or form COLA is a pipedream. I would love to know how many members (without switching jobs) have had ANY type of wage increase in the last 5 years. Again, maybe I'm wrong but I for one am just glad to be working these days.
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No raise here in the last 6 years.
 
Maybe many haven't Bull but look through the ads for drivers and many are still paying the same or very close to the same rates that they were in the 1990's!!!

How do you expect to find drivers in an industry where the driver is forced to eat and live on the road where every other expense has gone up not only there but for him at home too without at the very least keeping up with the cost of living.

Just being thankful for working is a tired worn out line that many use to make drivers feel as though they should appreciate and be thankful simply working for an employer.
The truth is, the employers should be greatly thankful that drivers are actually working for them because without the drivers, your freight's not moving and you're not collecting your handsome management salary either.
Drivers are leaving this industry in droves. Many because they're tired of being disrespected and underpaid. Who's going to replace them?
Immigrant workers who might not be able to cross the border successfully or without constant hassle? More cheap labor??

The bottom line is, the people who post on this board by and large are the ones who are in the position of management and can help change this attitude.
It starts with you all.
 
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Thank God for that "handsome management salary". Who are you kidding? Take a long hard look around, not just at the trucking industry but everywhere else. Nobody is doing as well as they were 5 years ago. Nobody disagrees that most drivers are not paid what they're worth, but they're not the only ones. Jobs pay, what jobs pay, end of story.
 
this is not a transport issue, this is an economy issue. How many are hauling for same old rates as well, if there have been increases they have being on inbound due to outbound going down. Supply and demand is how the work works, shortage of demand rates will come up. Yes there will be issues when economy is up and running again, BUT will it ever be the same that it was??? No impossible way to many factories have been moved out of this county and back to USA or worse to Mexico. Those manufacturing jobs will not be returing. Raise, ya right, everyone involved in transportation deserves to be paid more, are we ?? will we?? Depends how many make it!! When demand is up and supply down then rates will increase, pay will increase. I do know of a few carriers that have recently raised RPM back to where it was couple years ago so hope that trent continues!
 
What many of us forget sometimes, is that a long haul driver is a trained professional. He needs to not only be capable of handling 80,000 lbs of iron through bad weather conditions and up and down mountains but also has to be trained in Customs regulations of two separate countries, MTO and DOT regulations, hours of service, Hazmat, etc etc.
On top of this he has to abide by whatever policies and regulations his employer puts on him and then be a flexible "customer service representative" to the customer whenever there is a problem.
It's funny, traffic mgrs who take a night course to learn a fraction of what these guys know put a CITT or someother designate after thier name and act like they are doctors and lawyers.
 
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