What do drivers want? Find out in this webinar.
What do truck drivers want? That’s the million dollar question; a code that only a few carriers have managed to crack consistently.
In partnership with Lytx, CCJ this spring surveyed its company driver and leased owner operator audiences to find out what makes them tick (and what ticks them off).
Did you miss our webinar Thursday? No worries. Click the link below and we’ll send you the recorded version, along with give you access to the full What Drivers Want survey results.
Communication with drivers is key. That’s what the experts had to say when it came to each element of CCJ’s What Drivers Want survey, conducted in partnership with Lytx, that takes a deep dive into drivers’ satisfaction in the workplace.
CCJ talked with leaders of two trucking companies and a professional driver Thursday during it’s What Drivers Want webinar about best practices when it comes to driver pay, driver appreciation, attracting talent, equipment specs, technology and training and correction.
Pay to play
Of the drivers who took part in the survey, 35% said higher pay, unsurprisingly, is the top factor that could draw them into the seat of another company’s truck.
[RELATED: Why do truck drivers leave a fleet?]
Companies that do it best – you guessed it – say communicating with drivers about their pay is the No. 1 way to prevent driver frustration. It’s important, too, they said to ensure drivers have some measure of pay stability.
Many drivers at Crawford Trucking have a minimum pay guarantee, but that isn’t the best solution for every driver, so the company looks at pay on an individual level. The company also hands out pay stubs to drivers ahead of processing so they can review it to ensure it matches their loads, and it recently rolled out a new app that lets the driver see pay in real time as loads are completed.
“One of the worst things that can happen is a driver get a surprise when it comes to payday,” said Crawford Trucking President Gregg Ryan. “We want to be out in front of that and have open and full communication and also put together a solution that works for everybody.”
Professional Driver and Founder of Truck Thriver Elroy Whyte said having someone to explain a driver’s paycheck to them is imperative because “the last thing you want is messing with your drivers’ money.”
Garner Trucking communicates with drivers during quarterly town hall meetings to keep them apprised of the current economic climate and the state of the business.
“You’ve got to be able to broadcast those messages as to the good times and be honest with your drivers in the bad times as well so they know what to anticipate,” said Garner COO Tim Chrulski.
Garner has also dabbled in special programs like a vacation buyback program to provide its drivers some additional income. Garner and Crawford both said they offer advance pay in limited circumstances based on individual needs to help their drivers.
A thankless job
The second factor that drivers said could push them into the arms of another company is appreciation, or lack thereof.
It, again, comes down to communication.
Gregg Ryan said personal connection is principal in making drivers feel appreciated. His office is located in an area of the terminal that is heavily trafficked by drivers, and he said he makes a point to get out in front of them and check in on a personal level. Drivers also have his personal phone number.
Gregg’s daughter, Abby Ryan, who serves as CFO at Crawford, said the nice thing about being a smaller trucking company is being able to know drivers on a personal level. She said she enjoys hearing about drivers’ kids and grandkids and their pets, and having those conversations makes them feel included.
As part of their inclusive culture, Crawford has a Facebook group for drivers and their families to communicate with each other. The company also connects with drivers via its driver advisory and social committee.
“We include them in our decision-making process, our social events, whatever we can to make people that aren’t right here in the office every day, who in many cases don’t feel that they have a voice, making it known that they do have a voice and they’re part of the process,” Gregg Ryan said.
Garner also has a driver advisory board and includes drivers on various committees for feedback.
[RELATED: Garner Trucking puts its money where its mouth is]
“We want driver input. We think we know what drivers want, but the best way to find out what a driver wants is to ask the driver. So we want to include them, have them be part of those larger decisions that the organization makes,” Chrulski said. “They’re also a big part of our community events, fundraisers, parades, school visits.”
Garner also does employee spotlights in its newsletter and social media. The company also hosts monthly cookouts and for the last several years has hosted the Garner Family Fun Day where all company employees and their families come together.
Garner also promotes drivers’ successes – within the company via social media and newsletters but also by publishing in a driver’s local newspaper. Whyte said, as a driver, recognizing even the smallest of accomplishments – like improving their driver score, for example – makes a driver feel appreciated.
“Appreciation is all year long,” Chrulski said.
A premium seat
Both Crawford and Garner include drivers on its committees. At Garner, that includes an equipment spec committee.
Whyte said part of driver appreciation is communicating with drivers to figure out what they like, and that goes beyond Driver Appreciation Day prizes to equipment. Only 1% of drivers said a newer model truck would lure them from one company to another, but a premium driver’s seat has a bit more sway. When it comes to equipment, Whyte said the most important thing to him is a quality driver’s seat.
As drivers rated all the equipment pieces in CCJ’s survey, a big sleeper truck with an APU and a nice seat was more preferable than simply buying a new truck.
[RELATED: Do you know what drivers really want? I do.]
Abby Ryan asks Crawford drivers if they could dream, what would they change about the truck. Though the company can’t make everyone happy, she said just listening helps. The company had previously taken escape doors out of sleepers because they were a point of water intrusion, but many drivers expressed feeling safer having them so they brought them back.
“The spec of our truck has evolved consistently over the years through (driver) feedback,” Gregg Ryan said.
Some specs Crawford and Garner mentioned include the more common like microwave shelves, APUs and refrigerators to the more wish list-type items like Wifi, Sirius XM radio, heated and cooled leather seats and a premium mattress, among other things. For the driver himself, Whyte mentioned the old-school CB radio and the simple matter of equipment maintenance.
Technology and the younger crowd
Technology has come a long way since the CB radio, and WDW determined that drivers don’t hate safety tech in the truck.
Garner deploys tech like disc brakes, adaptive cruise control and lane-departure systems but also driver cameras: inward- and outward-facing and on the sides. Chrulski is a big proponent of cameras as a safety tool “so that we can get a good spectrum of what actually happened in a situation or circumstance,” he said.
But Garner doesn’t adopt a new technology without communicating with drivers first for their input and testing it in every truck.
Abby Ryan said getting individual feedback is paramount when deploying a new technology.
“When you do change the technology, it’s super important to sit down with people because people don’t like change … having that individualized training. We sit people down and say, ‘Hey, let me walk through it with you,’ … so just really making sure drivers understand because they have a lot of things to worry about on the road,” she said. “The testing is super important and then making sure people understand what this new technology is and explaining why.”
Garner’s use of technology has paved the way for the company to join the Safe Driver Apprenticeship Program in an effort to attract young talent to the trucking industry.
The average age of CCJ survey respondents was 59.5 years old. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and ATA says the average age of a truck driver is around 46. With an aging workforce, the trucking industry is seeking new ways to appeal to younger drivers.
Crawford partners with its local community college and pulls graduates of its truck driving program into Crawford’s driver finishing program. As part of trucking’s younger demographic, Abby Ryan said communicating with potential drivers via social media has helped Crawford bring in fresh talent. She said it’s important to use younger drivers’ stories to highlight the positives of becoming a driver and even scope out talent among existing drivers’ families.
“Changing our marketing direction to be more inclusive to all ages – because all ages are just as important – but as we’re seeing, it is harder to get the younger generation on board, especially because of that 18- to 21-year-old thing,” she said. “… This is a really cool job. Just be open in communication about it and share those individual stories.”