In every survey where fleet managers are asked about their biggest challenges, the issue of driver recruiting and retention is near the top.
In fact, in the American Transportation Research Institute’s 2021 Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry report, the driver shortage was at the top of the list. Last year was the fifth year in a row that it held the number on spot. Coming in at number two was driver retention.
Finding and retaining drivers is a big issue for both for-hire and private fleets, but private fleets have an added burden because trucking is not their main business, and drivers are likely a relatively small subset of employees they need to hire, manage and retain.
Managing a fleet today is challenging. Fleet managers are dealing with a lot of issues from a logistics standpoint that require their attention. Private fleets facing issues in their day-to-day operations need to ask themselves if it makes sense to devote a great deal of management’s time to something that is not a core competency.
While many fleets outsource maintenance, outsourcing the entire fleet — including personnel — is probably not something they may have considered.
The most obvious reason to outsource a fleet is that it eliminates the headaches associated with finding drivers at a time when there is a significant shortage of them. But outsourcing also shifts the burden of other driver-related things. When you let someone else manage your drivers, they also take over the responsibility of training – an ongoing responsibility, as drivers need to be updated on how to operate new technology features on trucks as well as being refreshed on a regular basis on safe driving practices.
There is also the responsibility of making sure drivers are in compliance with the myriad federal and state regulations to which they are subjected. Turning drivers over to someone else shifts the responsibility for things like drug testing and return to work protocols following an injury away from the private fleet, leaving it free to concentrate on what it does best – whether that is making furniture or widgets. The company that is now managing the drivers is also responsible for maintaining all the paperwork required by the DOT and making it available to inspectors whenever they ask for it.
