The Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council issued a statement recently that approximately 20,000 truck drivers will leave the industry for a different occupation, highlighting the paradox almost every trucking company has to confront. A strong economic climate beefs up the demand for trucking services. But the lure of manufacturing or construction jobs with better pay and more certain schedules siphons drivers out of the trucking labor pool.

“We are looking at the potential loss of 3,000 drivers per month,” including drivers who are retiring, laments Roy Craigen, chairman of the CTHRC, an Ottawa group that promotes professional standards in the industry through training programs, products, and information.

“We are losing drivers with 30 and 40 years of driving experience and replacing them with individuals with one and two years of experience, who may not have been trained to professional standards.”

Almost every fleet distinguishes between new-driver and senior-driver turnover. Senior drivers are any drivers with more than two years of experience driving for you, and replacing one is almost never a one-for-one swap. Roughly 35 percent of drivers who quit their job do so within 90 days of being hired, and another 35 percent are gone before they’ve worked two years for their employer.

That means every time the average carrier in Canada loses a driver with two or more years’ seniority, it has to hire three other drivers before it can find a stable replacement.

Turnover among senior drivers ranges from 10 to 20 percent for most carriers, comparable to other blue-collar jobs, says Dave Goodson, who is president of Class 8 Solutions, a consulting firm that specializes in driver retention.

An “unexpected exodus” of senior drivers can escalate modest turnover into the triple digits, Goodson explains. Say you’re a truckload carrier with 100 drivers. You expect to lose 10 senior drivers this year. If you have to hire three drivers in order to find one that stays with you for a year, you’ll need to recruit 30 new drivers to replace the 10 who left. If change at the company prompts 25 senior drivers to leave, your turnover will skyrocket, says Goodson.

It’s hard to figure what that scenario actually would cost you. Fleet managers typically peg the cost to replace one driver at anywhere from $500 to $10,000, but few examine the issue closely enough to know for sure. Some costs are unavoidable, like fees for a background check, drug screening, and physical exam. When a driver leaves your company, most carriers expect to lose at least one week’s utilization of the tractor while it’s repositioned and cleaned up.

How can you keep these costs in check? Here are three ideas:

Money’s important, but bosses should consider home and
family issues too if they want to keep drivers around

PUT A QUALIFIED PERSON IN CHARGE.
CTHRC executive director Linda Gauthier says when her organization recently surveyed 600 people responsible for hiring at truck fleets, it counted 150 different job titles.

“We spoke with safety managers, operations supervisors, owners, trainers, recruiters, but very few people who could stand up with confidence and say they are qualified, professional human resources managers,” she says. “Most of the people doing the hiring seem to be wearing other hats as well.”

Trucking companies have to work extra hard to get promising non-operations people in the door. Recognize that good people move for opportunity — in many cases, to be an integral part of the management team and help solve the industry’s most vexing problem. “An ambitious HR professional is going to relish the opportunity to rein in turnover costs or build an in-house retention program,” says Gauthier.

Good people also expect fair compensation. Cerno Research is a Toronto firm that surveys compensation and benefits at manufacturing operations and trucking companies. Controllers, HR staff, payroll administrators — their salary levels are not only higher across the board at manufacturing operations, they come out farther ahead on the benefits they receive. For example, 50.6 percent of salaried employees in manufacturing are eligible for a pension plan. In trucking, only 22.1 percent are in the same situation.

DEVELOP A CAREER PATH.
In May 1993, the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at North Dakota State University published a survey of more than 4,000 drivers to see what they liked and disliked about their jobs. Called Job Satisfaction of U.S. Commercial Drivers, the study shows that drivers with eight to 20 years of experience — the senior drivers fleets covet most — begin to value their independence less and their paychecks more.

The bottom line, says Julie Rodriguez, one of the authors of the study: in less than five years, most truck drivers are at the top of their earning potential. Just when a driver is a more productive, professional worker, his desire for more pay can take him outside the profession.

Rather than throwing money at the problem in the form of merit increases or service bonuses, Rodriguez says fleets should develop a structured career path for drivers based on experience, training and performance. Her suggested plan has five levels: apprentice, certified, advanced, senior and master driver. Entry-level drivers would start as apprentices and advance to the next level after logging a certain number of accident-free miles and after demonstrating a command of specific skills.

FOCUS ON “30 MORE DAYS.”
You can reduce driver turnover by 25 to 50 percent if you can encourage new drivers to stay 30 days longer than they otherwise would have, Dave Goodson explains. The longer new drivers stay, they more they begin to understand your freight patterns and company policies.

The key is to make the driver’s first 30 days a success. Goodson offers the following ideas to help you cement a long healthy working relationship:

— The person teaching orientation should go through dispatch procedures with the driver. Encourage dispatchers to take the time to explain load assignments. Some carriers assign all new drivers to a special dispatcher for the first few weeks.

— A good orientation program gets drivers out of the classroom. Teach them to operate the satellite system by getting them in a tractor and sending test messages. Have them sit with their dispatchers so they can become acquainted and see how the information they send is used.

— Don’t leave “home” time to chance. Appoint one person to monitor how new drivers are dispatched and make sure a realistic plan is in place to get them home on schedule, without fail, even if it means deadhead miles. Make sure the driver gets home during the first 30 days.

— Often drivers leave within the first 90 days when the promises made during recruitment don’t pan out. Dispatchers treat them rudely; payroll doesn’t live up to expectations; and safety and operations aren’t on the same page. Whatever the problems, fix them.

— Look for ways that family members can support the drivers — and benefit the company at the same time. Call the driver’s spouse or family and introduce yourself and answer as many questions as you can.

Explore ways spouses and kids can learn about the trucking industry or the company. Not many people are supportive of things they don’t understand. Perhaps you can help a spouse or a driver’s kid earn a commercial licence, and possibly pick up a new co-driver in the end.