There is an old tale in which a young man in New York City asks a newsvendor how to get to Carnegie Hall. “Practice, my boy,” answers the news-stand owner. “Practice.”

I recently facilitated and sat in on a number of DataQs at the ATA Safety & Loss Prevention Management Council (S&LPMC) meetings in Kansas City. There were lots of valuable ideas and thoughts shared there, and I wanted to summarize the key points I took away from the meetings.... Read More

Improving driver retention is a multifaceted issue – but one crucial aspect is investing (and not just monetarily) in your driver fleet. Sure, everyone would like to be paid more, but it goes beyond that. By making an investment in your driver fleet, you are demonstrating respect and appreciation for your people, something that goes a long way when it comes to retaining drivers.... Read More

Make it clear that driver retention is a priority for everyone in the company, especially for driver managers. Driver turnover should be measured by the driver manager (not just at the company level) and the driver manager’s performance review (and any bonus system) should be tied to this statistic.... Read More

Let’s face it; everyone knows that driver recruiting is a wicked problem. The transportation industry is in the midst of the worst driver shortage it’s ever seen. We’ve all been to seminars on it and everyone’s looking at new ways to help bring in new drivers, but what about the drivers you already have? If you can retain more drivers, then the only recruiting needs you have are the ones that help you grow your business. ... Read More

I remember my first year in college many years ago. I was attending one of the required courses - Introduction to Psychology 101, taught by Dr. Bell. During those early years, I was more interested in playing football and meeting girls, until I found the one girl I eventually married. However, I do remember my Psychology 101 Professor, Dr. Bell, teaching with great enthusiasm about various psychological theories. ... Read More

Calling those involved in the business of driving for a living as a commercial truck driver, “professional drivers” has led to much of the disrespect people have for the trucking industry and it’s in my opinion, the single most detriment to the way trucking companies view them.... Read More

Let's summarize, shall we? Our friend Jorge has increased factory pay levels from an average of $1.05 an hour to $3.75 per hour, had a short lived success with retention and recruiting, and was now right back to where he started. High turnover and low production due to shortage of factory workers. Now his current rosters of factory workers were all at the higher pay level. Sound frustrating and all too familiar?... Read More

We have a lot to cover on this topic, so posts will continue daily throughout the week...

So the new higher pay rates were a huge a success, the next few weeks were chaotic with training, but the plant was back at full production. There was a lot of backslapping and hand shaking as the executives were very happy. This higher cost of labor was fairly easy to absorb in the cost of the product, (when a production line sits idle because of lack of labor, as we all know, it's not good for anyone) and more importantly they were able to meet customer demand.... Read More

Make it clear that driver retention is a priority for everyone in the company, especially for driver managers. Driver turnover should be measured by driver manager (not just at the company level) and the driver manager’s performance review (and any bonus system) should be tied to this statistic.... Read More