SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE Ray J. Haight
A Few Tips People stay in situations they are comfortable in and they leave the ones they are not comfortable in. When it comes to employment in trucking, is it this easy to break it all down? Under normal situations, I would say that is not the case. In other sectors, the availability to leave one employer and go across the street and be re-employed in short order is usually not in the cards. That is unless you are satisfied with minimum wage and menial labor and if “do you want fries with that” is not something you mind saying 100 times a day. In trucking’s reality, a decent driver with a good record can have multiple job offerings within hours of contacting any number of carriers. I observe that this reality is one that many truckload companies have not come to terms with and that many are at a total loss about how to deal with their turnover in any kind of effective fashion. So, if you were a driver looking for a job, why would you choose that type of company? To begin with, company owners; take a long look in the mirror and ask yourself a few questions. Where is my company in the marketplace regarding driver wages? Where are we in the lanes we service and, in your sector, be it flatbed, tanker, refrigerated, van, etc.? If you don’t know, find out and know your status at a minimum 10 • OVER THE ROAD
of every quarter. Not knowing might be the number one reason your turnover is so high. Next question, where do you prioritize safety in the day-to-day operation of the business? Is it engrained in the culture or is safety an afterthought? Where are your CSA scores at? Newsflash: professional drivers quite enjoy being around other professional drivers. If you are letting drivers get away with unprofessional behaviours, your good ones will leave. Do you have a solid discipline policy and is it enforced? Does safety have the knowledge and credentials to execute a sound safety strategy that is eagerly supported by the entire company? If not, you better get on it because you will run out of drivers shortly or the insurance companies will price you out of the marketplace! Next question. Where do your drivers get their information on the company they work for or the industry they work in? If you do not have a formal strategy for communication, then you must be happy for them to be informed via the drivers’ room at your terminal and, of course, the CB radio. Now think about this for a moment; humans are social beings and they long for interaction. For you non-believers, go ahead and pick up any book on human behavior to validate this statement. I don’t care if you drive a truck or are the Maytag repair guy; people need to JUNE 2021
