Recruiting and retaining qualified drivers has been a challenge for several years. Many young people do not wish to spend so many hours away from friends and family. The Hours of Service and ELD mandates make the job more difficult from a work enjoyment and compensation perspective. They cap the number of hours a driver can work and thereby limit their incomes. As the U.S. government ramps up its ELD enforcement efforts, this will likely encourage some drivers to find another source of employment.

The strength of the U.S. and Canadian economies is placing pressure on the limited supply of drivers. Employment levels in America are at record highs. Two sectors of the economy that serve as alternate sources of employment for drivers are manufacturing and construction. Both areas are also on a growth spurt. The rebuilding efforts after the two major hurricanes in the southern U.S. have provided an added boost in demand for people willing to work in construction.

The driver shortage problem in North America has been studied for years. “Blue ribbon panels” have been created to find solutions to this chronic problem. Some of the challenges are well known.

At the January 21 Driving for Profit Seminar in Mississauga, Ontario, the number 61 was placed on the screen. Glenn Caldwell, Vice President of Sales for NAL Insurance, asked the audience if they knew the significance of this number for the trucking industry. As we learned, the number 61 represents the average lifespan of a professional truck driver in the United States, a number that is significantly below the national average for the rest of population (76 for an American male, 80 for a Canadian male).

One of the handouts at the Seminar was a 144 page report entitled Research on the Health and Wellness of Commercial Truck and Bus Drivers, Summary of an International Conference from the Transportation Research Board of the American Trucking Research Institute of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, published in 2012. The study focused on a range of issues and actions that can have an impact on the health and wellness of truck drivers.

Some Common Driver Health Risk Issues and Potential Actions

Much has been written in recent years about the looming driver shortage in North America.  While there are still millions of people unemployed in Canada and the United States, only a limited number of people are willing to drive a truck for a living.  There are a range of issues that are creating this situation.  The driver lifestyle involves sitting in a rig for many hours a day and for certain assignments, being away from family for days or weeks on end.  This produces a set of challenges with respect to maintaining a healthy diet, performing regular exercise and achieving consistent sleep. 

Then there are the challenges of supporting a family at current compensation levels, the reductions in pay precipitated by the Great Recession and the new hours of service regulations that can restrict one’s income generating potential.  With annual driver turnover running at close to 90 percent, clearly quality freight transport drivers are being actively courted.  They are not hesitating to “jump ship” and provide their services to another organization if the “grass looks greener’” across the street.  The high turnover ratios suggest that many drivers are disillusioned after they make their selection and so the cycle of hiring and leaving keeps repeating itself. 

Most blogs and articles talk about how to recruit drivers.  Very few focus on helping drivers find the right trucking company to work for.  To address this question, I reached out to a panel of drivers with whom I have corresponded in the past.  The panel included Desiree Wood, Harry Rudolphs, Stephen Large and David Robson.  Listed below are a set of suggestions from the five of us. Hopefully these questions will help drivers make better employment decisions and reduce the costly turnover ratio.

There are two distinct groups of people to whom this blog is addressed.  The first group is those people who are considering a job as a professional truck driver.  Then there is the group of drivers who are currently seeking to change employers. 

A. People Considering Taking a Job as a Truck Driver

In last week’s blog, my panel of three expert drivers spoke out on the topic of driver shortages and compensation.  In this week’s blog, we will explore the topics of recruiting, training and student drivers.

Let’s talk about recruiting.  What are your thoughts?

“Just last week I read a recruiting ad that claimed that team drivers could make $100,000”, commented Desiree Wood.   ‘Could’ is the operative word I suppose but in reality the context of the ad was to mislead. The ad was for a lease program which depicted 2 people at a carrier known for extremely low pay to drivers but their recruiting ads tell a different story. The ad does not say what costs will be paid back to the carrier from the gross “could make” amount, if the lease payment is based on both people . . . (driving) . . . or other hidden charges. This is a carrier that should be training candidates to become qualified drivers but instead they are selling trucks to people who know very little about what the trucking industry is really all about.

Drivers are bombarded with less than accurate information and this lack of respect is a contributor to industry burnout among qualified candidates hoping to make truck driving a career.  There are many qualified men and women in the trucking industry already that remain at poor paying carriers until they burn out simply because they cannot trust carriers to deliver the pay or benefits they advertise. . .

It is stressful to be away from family support, work long unpaid hours in extreme weather conditions and have to share difficult living situations while having to adjust to odd sleep schedules.  When candidates are recruited into truck driving, frequently they are unaware of all of these factors, nor  (are they aware) . . . that they will be expected to drive 11 hours per day on top of the unpaid labor they have performed.  Truth in Logistics would help define qualified candidates but this common sense approach takes aim at the inner commission structures in the recruiting and student trucker industry.

I have been writing a blog on a variety of freight transportation issues for the past 5 years.  None has generated as much feedback as my two postings on the subject of driving a truck and driver shortages.  While my blogs can be read in multiple locations, the two recent ones on this topic have received over 2500 hits and 60 comments on the Truck News site alone, many from drivers. 

I have read all of the comments and they encouraged me to reach out to some folks in the field to do a “deeper dive” into the “driver shortage” issue.   As a result, I contacted three truck drivers and sent them a list of questions.  David Robson was the one who helped me write the article on a “Driver’s Perspective on the Current State of Trucking.”  The other two (e.g. Stephen Large, Desiree Wood) are prominent truckers who took the time to share their feedback on the blog.  Here are their thoughts.

One of the recurring themes that I kept hearing is that despite the common perception that we have a “driver shortage” in North America, this is not an accurate description of the current situation. So my first question to the three drivers was to obtain their thoughts on this question.  Do we or do we not have a driver shortage?  Here is what they said.

Dave stated, “I feel we have a driver retention problem that is created by a lack of extensive driver orientation and training from the hiring trucking companies. This leaves the newly hired drivers to learn the company and driver policies on their own. In their frustration they find it easier to quit and move on. I am sure that the compensation was acceptable when they agreed to work for the company.

Problem number two I feel is driver dispatch compatibility. Many dispatchers are not people oriented and therefore drivers cannot work with their dispatch and again find it easier to quit and move on.”