What’s the key to driver retention: perks or bonuses? The answer may be more holitistic.
Idelic founder and CEO Hayden Cardiff expounds how culture plays an integral role in driving fleet safety and, ultimately, retention with DriverReach founder and CEO Jeremy Reymer in his podcast, Taking The Hire Road.
Driver recruiting can be tricky, especially amid a pandemic. But just as difficult is retaining existing drivers. Today’s discussion spotlights the effectiveness of retention by prevention strategies, as prioritizing safety helps drivers stay aligned with career goals.
Drivers leave motor carriers for many reasons, a major one being miscommunication. Far too often information isn’t shared between recruiters and driver managers, resulting in a driver’s expectations falling flat within the first couple of weeks on the job.
Cardiff explains that driver hemorrhaging can be largely avoided by encouraging information to be shared across departments as well as establishing a strong safety culture that is recognized across all levels of management.
He reasons that these concepts allow conversations with drivers to remain congruent among both recruiters and fleet managers so everyone is on the same page about what is expected and hoped for.
Idelic’s comprehensive driver management platform aggregates critical driver data to not only help fleets predict and prevent crashes but also reduce driver turnover. Cardiff adds that Idelic’s integration partnership with driver recruiting management system DriverReach enables the platforms to keep record of drivers’ aspirations and expectations, as well as personal information to help fleet managers get to know their drivers more personally.
“Data is obviously key,” Cardiff said. “Fleets intrinsically know that data is not helpful if it isn’t turned into insights and action.”
Now more than ever, as workforces remain siloed, Cardiff said that fleets are realizing that recruiting and retaining is becoming an increasingly cross-functional process, requiring the entire operation to communicate freely across channels.
“Fleets need to be brutally honest with themselves about what their culture is today, what they want it to be and what it’s going to take to get there,” Cardiff said.