Volume 1, Issue 1

In this issue:

How to Turn Around High Turnover Numbers

The Culture of Recruitment & Retention

Driver Shortage Makes a Return

Drivers Soundoff

Track First-Year Turnover

"Trucking & Telematics - A Combination That Demands a New Blend of Skills"

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Our Sponsors

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Quote of the day:

"Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish."

--Sam Walton

Questions of the day:

Is there a driver shortage?

• Yes, and it's only going to get worse in the future.

• No, there are plenty of people with CDLs looking for work.

• You're asking the wrong question. There are plenty of drivers, there just aren't enough "quality" drivers

• There are plenty of drivers, but they're moving from job to job. The real problem is turnover.

Click Here to Vote

Note: Inside Trucking polls are surveys of those who choose to participate and are therefore not valid statistical samples. We will present the results in the next newsletter.

ARCHIVES

Newsletter

Welcome to the premier issue of "Inside Trucking" online! "Inside Trucking" is here for one reason: to help you maximize the driver recruiting and retention efforts at your motor carrier. This means better numbers, greater efficiency and, most importantly, cost-effective results!

Our sponsors, "Over the Road" and "Pro Trucker" magazines, have been generating leads that deliver new hires to advertisers for nearly 25 years. As their publishers have often stated, "We'll bring the drivers to your front door, but you, the carrier, must shut the back door." Shutting that door requires the establishment of an active, company-wide "retention culture." Helping you get there from here is what "Inside Trucking" is all about. Let's get started! Marvin Shefsky, Publisher/CEO

Commitment is the only place to start when you finally decide you have had enough of outrageous turnover numbers. It is of the utmost importance to the long-term benefit of any retention effort. It must come from the directors/owners of your company.  It must be genuine and it must be unwavering.  Without genuine commitment to a consistent retention strategy, some gain may be made but ongoing long-term success will never be fully realized.

Turning your Company from its current position of high turnover into a driver-friendly, value-driven, low turnover organization will take resources and time. Shareholders will need to start making this investment today for significant benefits that will not be fully realized until some time in the following 12 to 24 months.

Most drivers and O/O’s are looking for a place to work that they won’t feel like every move out of the ordinary is a move to “get them." They want to feel confident that all decisions are made to the greater good of the community they work in. They need to know that they will be treated honestly and fairly in their day-to-day dealings with the company.

Commitment to change can be started by developing a value statement, if you already have a value statement, ask yourself if everyone in your company is acting in accordance to its content. Value statements must have teeth.  This statement is your sword for the future relationship with your driving force.  Without it you’re a dog with no teeth!

If your company has not formulated a value statement, do it immediately.  Gather information from all the players in your company. Input should come from company drivers, your owner operators, office personnel, operations, maintenance, safety etc. -- department representation must come from all.

Your senior management team should take key words and intentions from the information gathered and formulate the statement.  You must ensure that all stakeholders at this level, along with any other level of influence above this team, commits to its intention. There is no room for any waffling on this.  Full commitment is the only way.  Produce it and then advertise it heavily.

Vision and mission statements are great tools to rally your troops and for explaining your short-term and long-term strategies, but they are not your driving forces’ primary concern.  If you have a high turnover situation, your drivers need to know that your company is value-based; and that answers to their concerns will be predicated on your stated values.  Accomplish this and you have taken a significant first step towards turning the tide of high turnover. Best of luck, stay committed and determined and you will prevail.

Ray Haight is president and chief operating officer of MacKinnon Transport Inc in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. A second-generation trucker, Ray began his career in the trucking industry as an owner operator, driving long haul across border lanes across North America with dry van and refrigerated equipment. MacKinnon Transport Inc. consists of 250 trucks; combination of company owned and owner operated.  Ray sits on the Board of Directors for Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) and is co-chair of the Labor and Human Resources Committee of the TCA. He has also accepted the position of chairman for the Professional Truck Drivers Institute (PTDI).  

An old and familiar phrase -- "driver shortage" -- is back in the trucking industry's everyday vocabulary. Carriers are scrambling harder than ever to find qualified drivers to fill up their cabs.

When it comes to recruiting, over-the-road professionals find themselves literally and figuratively in the driver's seat. Everyone wants them and the drivers know it. Top over-the-road professionals can pick and choose the situation that best fits their particular needs from a raft of employment opportunities.

"We're at probably one of the hardest points in our history to recruit drivers," says a spokesman at one of the nation's largest carriers."

The current shortage, reminiscent of the one in the late 1990s, exists across the country. According to a new survey, more than 93 percent of shippers say they expect capacity to be a concern throughout the year. About 40 percent say they're paying higher rates to secure capacity.

According to the Roemer Report, the growing economy is likely the main reason for the increased demand, but other factors are involved. During the last three years, more than 12,000 trucking companies closed due to the sluggish economy. Capacity was tightened further when regulatory changes placed stricter limits on how many hours truck drivers can work. One large carrier estimates the new rules caused driver productivity to decline by up to 19 percent.

Fleets are doing their best to lure drivers, and some have their sights set on owner-operators, who are generally viewed as highly professional and experienced. Fleet owner cite several ways companies are trying to attract these independents, including:

Pay for fuel. One company pays for fuel as well as licenses, permits and insurance.

Home time. Other companies guarantee drivers time at home. One carrier has city drivers home every night and line haul drivers spending no more than one night per week on the road.

Offering premium trucks. Another carrier allows drivers to lease trucks with all the "bells and whistles" at low payments. Although expensive, says a spokesman, "we believe if we put (drivers) in a position where they are happy and can make money, the company makes money as well."

Source: Roemer Report  

"I think they need to know that the drivers understand that the freight has to be there. They have to be more lenient on their delivery expectations. Any driver will tell you that out on the road, it's the unforeseen things that get you. You don’t know what's going to happen 20 miles down the road. I think companies need to understand that when drivers say something is going on and they can't get somewhere, there's usually a good reason."

-- Heath Evans: 35, New Market, IN (professional driving experience: 12 years)

"They need to know how to treat drivers fairly. If I have a gripe, I want to work for a company that will deal with it fairly. I'm not talking about just a 'yes' man. I had drivers working for me. Two of them left and they both came back. That should tell you about the way I treated people."

-- Bruce Buffington, 62, Jacksonville, FL (Professional driving experience: 33 years)

"I've been out here so long, it really doesn’t make much difference as far as I'm concerned. Trucking companies know what they should be doing for the drivers. Some do, some don't. They should do a better job on background checks and reward the drivers with solid experience."

-- Jim Bridges, 65, Middletown, OH (professional driving experience: 48 years)

"There's a lot they don't understand. They need to know that drivers want and respect a little honesty. Pay drivers what you say you're going to pay them. Get them home when you say you're get them home."

-- Mike Fehr, 35, Collegeville, PA (professional driving experience: 9 years)

"Companies should know that I do care about how I do my job. I've worked for one company for 13 years. I can't think of going anywhere else. I know how to do the job, and I think the company needs to work harder to keep good, quality people. Unfortunately, we all get thrown in the same basket. We're just a number. I would like to see that changed so we're recognized for loyalty and longevity."

-- Sidney White, 59, Cartersville, GA (professional driving experience: 20 years)

Source: Truckload Carrier Report

"Trucking & Telematics - A Combination That Demands a New Blend of Skills"

A business oriented white paper by Enterprise Information Solutions, Inc.

The meeting of trucking and technology, particularly the technologies of telematics and onboard computing, represents a challenging combination of old and new paradigms.  The operation of a truck and its movement of freight from “point A” to “point B” have changed very little in recent decades.  On the other hand, the concepts of mobile computing, wireless communication and the never ending evolution of new devices and advancing capabilities, collectively referred to as telematics, are among the most dynamic and challenging areas in the already complex and fast- paced realm of technology. 

When it comes to combining technology with any business endeavor, conventional doctrine is to work diligently to have the business issues considered first, with the implementation of technology following as a very deliberate second step.  Often this is the most appropriate approach as it keeps business requirements and goals in the driver’s seat and helps hold in check the all-too-common tendencies of “tech heads” to focus on selecting “cool” technologies without proper consideration of the business needs at hand.  However, in the area of telematics and onboard computing, as they are applied to transportation, the need for a much tighter blending of business and technical consideration is paramount in achieving an optimal implementation.

Two major factors are behind this.  One is that unlike other areas where computers are applied to business processes, the physical characteristics of the computing device have a considerable impact on exactly what can or cannot be accomplished by deploying a specific technology solution.  For example, when embarking on the implementation of a new accounting system or call center application, few would see the need to have the workstation specifications, memory requirements or CPU clock speed factor into the early decision making.  But for onboard computing, the physical capabilities of the device, from its general user interface attributes to its available peripherals and general mobility and durability, factor extensively into what can be accomplished with the device as well as how much it will cost to effectively implement and bring about efficiencies for a trucking operation.  Similarly, while we no longer even commit a moment’s thought to how the computers on our desks talk with one another, wireless communication is awash in competing approaches, three-letter acronyms and evolving standards –  all of which impact what and when a device can be used and, again, at what cost.  And while small displays and odd keypads really just present a new twist on an old issue of basic user interface designs, other mobile device peripherals like GPS receivers and various barcode and image data capture units introduce a whole new set of possibilities – all effecting when and how emerging technologies can provide added value.

The other major factor drawing business and technology needs together is the potential impact these technologies have on the jobs where we plan to deploy them.  This is much more complex than decisions made when computer terminals were put in front of our clerks and customer service reps. 

While these tools had a huge impact on the efficiencies of those people in performing their duties, in many ways their jobs remained the same.  The amount of information at their fingertips and the speed with which they could access it was greatly increased.  But aside from that, in many cases the tools didn’t significantly affect the overall information process. 

Through the deployment of onboard computing, however, the trucking industry can potentially change the very nature of how resources receive their instructions and how they communicate the fulfillment of their duties.  In fact, it could be argued that if the applied processes aren’t fundamentally changed, then it is difficult to see how the investment in newer technology can really be justified.  For example, for many years, trucking-oriented technology has existed via satellite terminals, pagers or text messaging cell phones, allowing trucks in the field to send and receive text instructions to and from dispatchers at the home office.   However, it’s hard to determine how this approach is significantly better than the good, old fashion human voice.  Simply replacing one type of technology and form of communication between driver and dispatcher with another hardly seems to warrant the investment. 

However, if we incorporate GPS functionality and use that technology to automatically locate the appropriate resource for a task; if we capture volumes and destinations in the field as pickups happen, and use that information to better understand capacity to perform subsequent tasks or prepare sooner for the other routing tasks that will need to be preformed, then we are effecting and (hopefully) improving not just the normal lines of communication but how upstream and downstream tasks are performed.  When deployed in such a fashion, onboard computing fundamentally changes the relationship between driver, dispatcher and the rest of the transportation operation.  But doing so requires an intimate understanding of the day-to-day operations, the skills, attitudes and incentives of the people involved, and the full range of information that goes into making each decision at each step of the process.  At the same time, one must also consider the speed of and barriers to communication, the time required to collect information and the potential accuracy of what data is collected.  The physical devices and technologies that are deployed impact all these issues.  

What is possible technologically should impact the attempted level of automation, but the costs of those technologies must be in line with the efficiencies introduced to the overall flow of the operation and that means understanding the costs in how those tasks are done currently.  All this makes for a much more tightly choreographed dance between operational requirements and technological capabilities.  Herein lies the need for blending of technical and non-technical expertise.

In today’s highly technical trucking industry, when it comes to mobile technology deployments, it is no longer a viable option to draw a line between the business group and the techies.  No longer can we choose to simply define the business requirements and then throw them over the wall to have the geeks work out the details of the bits, bytes and wires.  But neither can the technology command the lead in the decision-making process.  What is required is a higher level of cooperation and tighter partnership between operations and IT departments within enterprises.  Whether it be techies committing to understanding more about the operations or ops people willing to understand more of the basic technology options and influencers, the result will be project leaders who can no longer be content to leave the “details” of the other side of the coin to someone else to be decided at a later date.  Classic comfort zones are going to be stretched when combining traditional operations and the new telematics technology.  Rather than be viewed as a usurping of business methodology, however, this blending of skills should be looked upon as an important and very positive advancement for the transportation industry.  Not only should this new, cooperative environment of trucking and technology introduce greater efficiencies to the overall business process, it will also provide those of us working within the system with a greater understanding and appreciation for what it really takes to get “the job” (and not just “our job”) done.

About EIS

Enterprise Information Solutions, Inc. (EIS), headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois is a systems integration and computer engineering firm dedicated to deploying cutting edge technology solutions based on Open Systems and Open Source components.  Founded in 1994, the EIS Transportation Practice focuses on solutions related to the specific challenges of the transportation and logistics industry and has participated in the development and implementation of many high profile projects for some of the biggest names in the business.

About the author

As EIS's Transportation Practice Director, Marc Mitchell has been involved in developing and deploying solutions for all modes of transportation operations for the past 15 years.  With a background in Computer Science and considerable time spent working one on one with transportation customer service and operations personnel, Mr. Mitchell brings an uncommon combination of technical capability with an understanding of technology's use in a real-world setting.