Retention – Why Drivers Leave
Posted on Feb 25, 2010 - 10:37pm by James Dawson in Trucking
Contractor and driver retention is extremely important to the transportation industry. Many factors lead to drivers leaving a company. Certainly one of the first ones that come to mind is the driver is not making enough money. This is one of the major issues which increases driver turnover, but it is not the only significant one.
Through driver exit interviews throughout my career it has become apparent that other issues which lead to a high driver turnover rate are that the driver feels like no one cares about them, they get no respect at their current company, and there is no support or recognition of the drivers. I think that companies sometimes forget to treat drivers like business partners and sometimes treat them like a tool for revenue generation.
One thing I really focus on with my employees is to treat the drivers with respect and like partners in the company. Without the drivers, none of us would have a job. Something I think we forget sometimes.
I would appreciate your input on why drivers and contractors change companies and your personal experiences.
James Dawson
Vice President
The Mason & Dixon Lines
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Sssshh.. President Obama and Congress do not want you to know this because they are all International Globalist. They are the ones who shoved NAFTA and the WTO down the American people’s throat and it has been a dismal failure.
Whenever you find yourself in a hole: “STOP DIGGING”.
It seems Harry Dingey and Paul Krugman (an American economist and Nobel Prize Winner) are the only two people in America to understand we have a Trade Problem with China?
Make no mistake about it the International Trade Deficit must be balanced one way or another if America is to SURVIVE as a Nation.
There are only three ways to correct this humongous Trade Imbalance.
1. Increase the American Exports by $450.6 Billion Dollars per year. We been trying to do this since 1993 and this is absolutely impossible.
or
2. Decrease the American Imports by $450.6 Billion Dollars per year, then manufacture the merchandise in America. Paul Krugman wants to add a 25 percent Tax on all Imports and hopes this will reduce Chinese Imports.
or
3. Pull out of NAFTA and the WTO. Then Close the Largest Consumer Market in the World to all Imports. Do not worry about Exports and this will create well over 15.02 million Jobs instantly and probably even more.
I am suggesting we do number three. This can be done by the American President and Congress and will automatically bring the large American Manufactured Goods Trade Deficit into BALANCE almost over night. But, they would rather keep borrowing and printing money and hope things get better. They are pushing on a string because you cannot have a meaningful recovery without good high paying manufacturing and construction jobs.
There is NO substitute for good High Paying Jobs.
The real question is do we want to create Good High Paying Jobs in America again or continue letting the International Companies make large Profits off of Chinese Slave Labor?
Toyota of Japan would be forced to totally manufacture in America, every car sold in America.
Every item sold in every store in America would be required to be manufactured right here in America.
I can remember this large sign posted in Wal-Mart: “EVERYTHING SOLD IN THIS STORE WAS MADE IN AMERICA”.
Sam Walton said: “Everything sold in all Wal-Mart stores will be made in America”.
I CAN CREATE 15 MILLION JOBS ALMOST OVER NIGHT right here in America !!!
Here is my Job creation Computations:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Total USA Imports in 2006:
———————————-
$ 2,211.7 billion —– Total Imports.
$ – 309.4 billion —– (Money spent on Imported Crude Oil)
————————————————–
$ 1,902.3 billion / 30 billion=63.41 million jobs lost from Imports.
==================================================
Total USA Exports in 2006:
———————————-
$ 1,451.7 Billion / 30 billion=48.39 million jobs America Created from Exports.
If USA Pulls out of NAFTA and WTO right now:
USA would absolutely gain a total of 63.41 million Jobs by Manufacturing all IMPORTS right here in the USA.
So, 63.41 minus 48.39 = 15.02 million NET JOBS GAIN. But, a lot of Exports must be purchased in the USA. That would mean an even larger number of jobs created in America than I have estimated.
Also, I should note that I have subtracted out the $309.4 billion dollars that America spent on Import Crude Oil in 2006. This is another problem that must be solved later.
My calculation means an ABSOLUTE 15.02 million Jobs gained if the rest of the world did not buy even one penny of USA EXPORTS.
SO MOTE IT BE. . . . .
Do you truly want to help straighten out the United States Government now? Then, copy and post this article everyplace on the Internet you can post.
BY: Harry Dingey
Have a good day my friends.
WOW! And I thought this was a complex subject, but Harry – why doesn’t everyone see the genius behind creating an international trade war and closing our borders to trade? It sounds like we would go from the trash bin straight to Utopia because it “will create well over 15.02 million Jobs instantly and probably even more” as you stated. I’m gonna write a letter to Obama and his economic staff – they just didn’t know about your brilliant plan!!! They have the wrong people! They need Harry!
Ever hear of Adam Smith?
Ever hear of the Great Depression? Any idea what caused it? (I’m hoping you say the stock market crash and that we should eliminate Wall Street too)
Ever hear of Socialism?
Ever hear of a modern, prosperous nation with high living standards that doesn’t trade internationally?
Ever wonder how a company like GM can make money when unskilled, uneducated laborers are making $29 an hour with full paid benefits and doing about 2 hours of work in an 8 hour day? Think I’m wrong about that? Most of my immediate and extended family were union steel workers – Westinghouse, GM, Ford, Bethlehem – I know what union workers used to be, and I know what they became over the past couple of decades….
Actually, here’s an even more immediate problem. Not only is our Federal govt broke, but the states are too. Actually, so is my town because the taxes keep going up. Why should we cut off trade to other countries but keep open trade between the towns and states. I think we should immediately stop ALL free trade between the states, the towns, and across ALL borders!!! If cutting off America from international trade would create 15 million jobs overnight as you say, then going two steps further and cutting off ALL trade across ALL borders would probably create 45 million jobs IN THE SAME DAY!!!! Every man and woman in America would have TWO high paying jobs and we’d all be so super rich – and just think – no more commuting to work! We’d save so much gas by never leaving our own towns! Hell, we should probably not even trade outside our own neighborhoods!!! God, then I’d probably have THREE great jobs!!!!
Holy cow – we could even eliminate the Interstate Highway System!!! No more maintenance!!!!
Harry for President!!!! He’s the economic leader we’ve all been waiting for!!!!
Truckers are people and want to make money and enjoy their lives. Simply put, treat them with respect, pay them a fair wage, and let them have a life wherever they want and they will be happy.
-Steertire
http://www.truckproblems.yuku.com
ITS which is a load board for truckers who have authority, and every Tom, Dick, and Scary (brokers to post loads) who are also no more than big bankers…with no banking laws as they are suppose to be just “conduits” pass the cash…….and also the FMCSA and the ATA behind the times on Laws….regulation….in that anyone can broker…with no criminal background check, so basically a felon could even broker….no big deal….then steal ya blind…. and then fail to pass the cash to the truckers..the ones doing the work, and who also own the equipment and all equipment costs…
ITS put out true controlled reported numbers on trucking…
Here they are for reference to a higher story of trucking..
Titled: Fraud and Scams….
Double brokering for more money and not paying end carriers…..57%
Identity theft and posing as another company…………………….34%
Companies that have engaged in multiple scams, stolen identity stolen freight, holding loads hostage, money advance scams, double brokering for more money, and carrier no shows…………………………………8%
Here is the good part to show who the snakes are out here and who are the good guys……
TRUCKERS ARE THE GOOD GUYS…..DOING UR JOBS….
No active authority only (truckers)……………………………………………….1%
Money Advance Scam only from truckers…………………………….1%
Stolen freight by truckers………………………………………………1%
Holding loads hostage by truckers……………………………………..1%
So its the bankers….wall street!! With no transparency or accountability to shippers/receivers/ or truckers….so basically theft of services, and why businesses out here are pretty much shutting down…as they are taking them down….yet saying we can help move your stuff, talking out both sides of their mouth…..We can outsource America right out of business, and even globally thru logistics…..and also running with the ATA on the ant hill….these bankers…
We only need to look at YRC….Road way as a a example…asking the teamsters in one week for a bailout, and then in the next couple weeks their brokerage side buying a Chinese Logistics Company in the millions….They must have crapped out dollar bills instantly???…………Corruption…fraud of the bankers in trucking…wallstreet…..not at work….but busy, busy, busy….revenue in thin air…crossing our trade barriers….with no transparency or accountablitly to anyone, but their back pockets….and then some…
GO TRUCKERS….God loves you!! When they run naked you all can sit back and laugh……over Greed….and so much more from your labor…As you do create every job in America….and just keep on giving…while they keep on taking….Can we say……?? CRASH!!
JUST A FYI….HEADS UP HERE…
Plenty of agreements on the amount of bad companies out there. There are some good ones but few and far between. I recently was told about a driver that had a tragic accident, someone died and he was ticketed. He was going to get his own attorney to defend him but the company “stepped up” and had their attorney defend him. He pleaded down but still was sentenced to 24 months in jail. Come to find out that it worked out better for the company financially for him to plead down and do a sentence. I am told they paid out 200K less in fines or damages. I believe this goes on more than we know it. Sold out for 200K and he had a family too. Scary stuff.
Managers and owners tend to think only in terms of money. Yes money is necessary and most of us wouldn’t go to work unless we get paid. Studies done on people in general (yes, we drivers are people too) show that employees are literally starving for things like being respected or recognition for a doing a good job.
Typically, the only “recognition” many companies give is when someone screws up. It is like they are afraid the other drivers will find out and want to try it just to see what its like. So, there is a memo and a message on the Qualcomm warning that anyone caught screwing up will be in severe trouble.
Never a word about all of the drivers who did their jobs, got there on time even though they had to chain up five times. Or on the rare occasion, someone is “recognized” they are escorted into an office, told to close the door behind them, and someone mumbles an embarrassed sounding “um, er good, um job – you can go now – leave the door open on the way out, OK?”
Not all companies are like this, but way too many are. And its not just the trucking industry.
“pre-hired before I started school with two companies”
I’ll leave the rest for some other time. Just realize that pre-hired means less than being pre-approved for a credit card. You could be “pre-hired” by ten companies and not be hired by any of them for any reason they feel like.
“recognition” doesn’t mean being recognized in front of others, it’s about respect from people in corporate who get their salaries from what you do. You might be able to contact someone if something isn’t right, but it’s what they do with that information that makes the difference.
Dave, you make a good point, and like I said I’m not even a rookie yet so my comments are probably ill-informed. I do appreciate your take on pre-hires…the recruiters are pretty slick, and I don’t trust any of the ones I’ve talked with. Your comment reinforces my caution in dealing with those guys. I’d trust them a lot more if they’d just come out and say that life on the road isn’t for everyone, and for many people it turns out to suck. Tell me about how sometimes you’ll have to wait 3 hours for a load to be ready while you’re not getting paid. Tell me HONESTLY how much home time I should expect. I’d much rather hear that I’m not going to be home for three weeks or more at a time than hear that I’ll be home weekly and then not get home for a month right out the gate. THAT will result in instant turnover for a lot of guys who might be depending on it.
And my distrust goes double, triple and quadruple for the idea of doing the truck leasing thing through a company (later, after I have some experience). I just don’t trust the idea of getting that deep into bed with a single company, and I’ve heard horror stories from former truckers about how their company basically raped them. I’d appreciate any thoughts you might have on that topic.
Take what I say with a grain of salt, as I’m a pre-rookie in my second week of training.
That said, I’m in the process of choosing a company, and maybe my perspective is valuable here. First of all, I don’t care crap for “recognition”, at least on a company-wide level. If there is a driver recognition program, I don’t really care if I get recognized in front of a bunch of people. What is going to be important to me is whether I have someone (non-driver) in the company that I can contact if something isn’t right, if I need to blow a whistle, if I have a suggestion, etc. It would be GREAT if there was someone in the office I could talk to when I need about company policies and so forth.
There are drivers (like me for instance) that will be very sensitive to very particular company policies. In my case, I really don’t want to work for a company where I’ll never be able to bring my dog with me. I’ll pay the multi-hundred-dollar fee plus the ongoing small fee or whatever, but nobody is ever going to tell me that I’m going on the road for weeks at a time without my best friend. I’m sure others have issues like smoking in the truck or whatever, but mine is my dog. He’s going with me, period. And if I hire on with a company that has a pet policy and after I start they remove that policy, they will soon have one less driver. I was pre-hired before I started school with two companies, only one of which has a pet policy. I haven’t even really seriously considered the non-pet company, and I have it fixed in my head that if I hire on with the other and they cancel the pet policy, I’m going somewhere else.
I get the idea that trucking companies tend to change their policies without giving due consideration to the results of their decisions. They should maybe consider just slowing down the pace of change. I’ve been a software developer for nearly 20 years, and one of the things that drove me out was constantly having to learn new programming languages, learn new software and so forth. People can only change so fast, and I had been burning the candle at both ends for a long time. I know that the same thing has obviously been happening in the trucking industry, because I have an uncle who did a lot of trucking back in the 80s and 90s, and by what my instructors say, he wouldn’t last a week in today’s environment. He would be busted for drinking (he liked his beer and wasn’t particular about whether he was driving at the time) or not keeping his log book up or something else.
Anyway, those are the thoughts of someone much less wise than others who have posted here previously. As I said, I don’t have much to offer other than a take from a different perspective.
For sure alot of it is being treated like a 3rd class citizen. Harder to make the money that we used to make. Being compliant at all times in all states is next to impossible, and for good drivers very few people want to really help us protect what keeps us on the road–our CDL. With CSA 2010 and all the unknowns, it doesn’t look good for many of us.
I’ve been working with and training drivers for over 30 years. Although my current title is DOT Compliance Manager with a large construction operation, I do my best to work “for” our drivers. My job is to protect the company, but also to protect each drivers livelihood, their commercial license.
Paul is correct, just talk to them and listen, help where you can (they may end up helping you). Everyone needs to feel appreciated and recognized occasionally. Drivers will leave for various reasons, in most cases it’s to better themselves and their families.
What can we do? In addition to annual performance reviews, set up a schedule to meet with each driver every 3 months to hear what’s working and what needs improvement. Then, follow up. Have a driver recognition progarm and make a BIG deal out of it.
Thanks for the post James.
Mike
Just Talk to us and be prepared to listen. Ask us how our week/day/month is going?
Any problems? Any ideas how to solve them? We have to work hard to get where we are today and We are more than just pumped up pizzia delivery boys. Treat us like it and we will do our best for you.
There is an old saying…”How can you tell if a recruiter is lying? His lips are moving.” Put it in writing and everybody wins.