Do you brake for recruiters?

By Timothy Brady

They’re baacckkk…………. It was bound to happen once the freight volumes began to increase: large carriers’ driver recruiters began setting up shop anywhere you would find a congregation of truckers at truck stops, trucking schools, and trucking shows. From a positive prospect, this is a good sign that the economy is improving and the large carriers are sure the freight volumes are going to continue to go up. But the downside is, every one of your truckers at some point during their work week will be approached by a driver recruiter. These recruiters are hungry, their company needs drivers and they have quotas to fill. Just look for the signs: they are giving out free ball caps, pens, rulers, logbook covers, anything that will get their company name constantly in front of your drivers. If these recruiters are able to talk with a driver, they’re going to promise him the moon, with the Milky Way thrown in for good measure. They are going to make promises—everything from more time home to more miles, to no sitting, to better pay; some true and some not so true. But the recruiters’ job is to get your driver in their carriers’ orientation class no matter what.

So what should you do, as a small carrier who needs to retain your quality drivers?

The key to keeping your team of super-truckers hauling your customers’ tonnage is simple, honest communication. The biggest complaint drivers have about the recruiting process is, they aren’t told the truth about what they’re getting themselves into as truck drivers. Realize this is your first advantage, since most large carriers weed out the undesirable driver during orientation, but not a single recruiter will tell a prospective driver that tidbit of information. So your best tool for retaining your truckers, (and I might note this also works well if you are looking for a driver, too) is to create a driver management policy that includes the following:

• reasonable compensation for all hours required to perform the duties of driving, loading and unloading a truck,
• consistency in pay from week to week, and
• scheduled time home. 

The next important task once you have set your driver management policy is to be sure you’re listening.

• Understand your driver’s needs and wants
• Know what his/her family expects and needs
• Keep tabs on his/her expectations about  money, time at home, type of equipment and amenities
• Help your drivers establish career goals and then help them to reach those goals
• Help your truckers to understand the importance of managing his/her personal finances; the money they receive from their driving efforts, how vital it is to establish a lean times reserve and what the impact can be for taking on too much debt.

The point here is, listening for information from your employee/contractor assists you in determining what financial or personal issues are looming on the horizon. Then help nip them in the bud before they cause a good driver to take flight. 

The next step is to keep all your drivers in the loop about your business: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Give them every opportunity to ask for the details. Don’t hide anything. If you’ve got a customer who makes your drivers wait for hours before loading or unloading, and the time is uncompensated, it’s only fair it be divulged. This doesn’t mean you paint a bleak picture, just an honest one. Most people don’t like surprises that have a negative effect on their income. And while there are instances in trucking when they’re unavoidable, if they’re known up front and before they occur, the negative jolts are easier for everyone to deal with. But a shock known to operations or sales that isn't revealed to the driver is one of the largest causes of driver turnover today. The biggest complaint heard from drivers is they are given incomplete information. Full, honest disclosure will tell the trucker you respect him. Avoid telling your drivers what you think they want to hear, but also make sure the trucker doesn’t only take notice of what he wanted to hear. If it’s important, have the driver write it down so you can review it and be sure he did understand what you said. And as a policy, you, as the owner/manager, should do the same when listening to what a driver is trying to explain. 

The more information exchanged, the better the trucker and your company will stay on the same page and sentence. It’s estimated it costs between $8,000 and $12,000 to hire and train a driver for your company. It can cost a company driver several weeks in lost pay or a lease operator tens of thousands of dollars in lost income to switch trucking companies. So being diligent in how you communicate with each other makes sense. Knowledge is strength, and the more knowledgeable the trucking company is about the trucker’s wants and needs, and the trucker is about the company’s methods and policies, the better the relationship will be. All this makes for a strong, long-term business association between them. And these recruiters with their promises of “greener pastures” will be shaking the manure off their boots as your drivers tell them to take a hike. 

Good loads and good roads, everyone. 

Timothy Brady © 2010

To contact Brady, go to www.timothybrady.com