While many in the trucking industry believe there is a shortage of truck drivers, others believe the problem falls more on the shoulders of carriers when it comes to retaining drivers they already have.
During a recent webinar hosted by Transflo, three truck drivers (two current and one former) discussed various things, based on their experiences, that fleets can do to help bridge the gap between management and their drivers.
The recurring theme throughout the webinar was that the primary things drivers want are for fleets to communicate, be honest and be transparent, beginning with the recruiting and onboarding process and continuing through the driver’s tenure with the company.
Debra LaBree, a current owner-operator and president of Castle Transport with 15 years of trucking experience and 1.5 million miles and counting, said that those three things – communication, honesty and transparency – are “vital for good relationships.”
Verlen Larsen, a former truck driver and current solution architect at Transflo, noted that in nearly every driver survey over the last decade or more, drivers list pay as the main reason they leave fleets. The panel argued, however, that drivers will often say pay as an easy out.
“It’s easy to say it’s for money,” LaBree said. “A lot of times, it has to do with relationships, not getting enough miles, and broken promises overall. When honesty and trust are broken, they want to go somewhere else.”
