Creating a job that drivers want to do

Readers of Motor Transport know the critical role that HGV drivers play to keep our country moving. There is – or at least was – growing public recognition of this too.

At the height of the driver shortage crisis – brought on by pandemic lockdowns, the end of the Brexit transition period and changes to tax rules – HGV driver wages increased and financial incentives became commonplace. In the summer of 2021, for example, Marks & Spencer offered a £2,000 signing-on bonus and in early 2022 Logistics UK reported salaries up 12%.

Around the same time, the UK government announced 33 actions to deal with the shortage. In the short term, this involved fixed-term visas for foreign drivers and extended cabotage rights. Longer term, the focus was on training new drivers and retaining the existing workforce.

While this crisis was brought on by a very specific ‘perfect storm’, its origins date back at least to the global financial crisis. In other words, recruitment and retention of HGV drivers isn’t a new challenge. And while the crisis may have abated (it is now referred to as ‘severe’ instead), and salaries have stabilised, the 2023 worker unrest experienced across the country may rear its head in road haulage.

It is useful to know the total numbers of workers in the sector, but more valuable data would tell us who is entering and leaving the sector, and why.

The available data sketches a pretty clear picture; HGV drivers in the UK are predominantly male – by some counts,

98% of HGV drivers are men. It is also a predominantly white occupation (96%), and dependent on an older workforce than the national average (60% aged 46 or over).

But beyond such statistics, very little is known about the experiences of HGV drivers – what routes and jobs are preferred and which are avoided where possible, what jobs former HGV drivers leave the sector for, and how easy it is to balance HGV driving with home responsibilities. Without this understanding, it is impossible to create jobs that HGV drivers want to do.

Research shows that low job satisfaction affects a variety of issues, including:

 Correlation with low rates of driver retention, and high rates of workers moving between employers;

 Links to mental health conditions including depression and anxiety;

 Associations with physical health conditions.

Our project – Trucking Lives – will spend the next three years tracking UK HGV driver experiences. The first step is to run a survey of current and former drivers to gauge levels of job satisfaction, compatibility with life outside of work, and diverse worker experiences.

This survey is now live, so go to www.truckinglives.co.uk if you would like to support our work or hear more.

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