Historically, driver turnover rates have aligned with freight market conditions. When freight rates and volumes are going up, turnover increases from drivers searching for better job opportunities. During a recession or periods of uncertainty, drivers tend to stay put.
True to form, in March 2020 driver turnover screeched to a halt when states issued lockdown orders attempting to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Stay Metrics (SM), which is now part of Tenstreet, tracks the retention rates of drivers on a monthly basis. The retention rate of drivers hired by carriers in March was higher than any month in 2019 or 2020.
SM tracks retention rates with an index, the Stay Days Table, that serves as a “survivor” chart that shows how long driver hires remained at their carriers using 7-day, 30-day, 60-day and 270-day milestones.
The company also tracks annualized monthly turnover using the same group of 30 carriers it selected based on their lengthy duration as clients and the quality of their data.
In April 2020, the monthly turnover rate fell precipitously when fears around the pandemic were at their height.
Overall, the 7-day milestone had five different months at or above 99% (including December) despite the fact that fleets significantly changed their process for onboarding drivers due to the pandemic. In 2019 the highest 7-day retention rate was 97.8%.
