11 Cutting Edge Steps To Dramatically Reduce Driver Turnover

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If you want to reduce driver turnover in your company, you’ve come to the right place. We have eleven steps for you. These eleven steps will lead you to the solution that has been right there for years. Read this carefully and follow these steps.

Let’s forget about the drivers for now. These action steps are meant for your office staff. Safety, recruiting, and everyone else in non-driving positions will be affected by these changes. Let’s get every team member on the same page.

1. Rethink The Employee Parking Lot

Where your employee’s park is none of your concern. Just leave enough room for about half of your office staff, and 1/3 of those spots should be reservation only, at $10 per day. As long as the work is being done, parking isn’t your problem.

This step puts everyone on the same page. Since your company shows no concern for the truck parking issue, it only makes sense to level the field with the rest of the employees. Seriously, your company’s biggest investment is wrapped up in those trucks. Since parking those $140,000 trucks is of no concern, why do you care where your HR director parks her Honda Civic?

2. Everyone Works Their First Hour without Pay

This step isn’t cast in stone. It just needs to match your driver’s detention plan. If the drivers don’t receive detention until 2 hours of waiting, adjust your plan so the office staff works their first two hours without pay.

Your staff is getting off easy on this one. Oftentimes a driver will encounter the first-hour rule 2 times a day or more. You only require an hour a day. They should be grateful for this one.

3. Inspecting Their Work Area

All employees must inspect their work area before clocking in. As an alternative, simply add 15 minutes to the unpaid start of their day to cover the time spent.

Truck drivers know they’re required to inspect their equipment at the beginning and end of each day. They also inspect a trailer they may hook to during their workday. Once again, your staff is getting off easy.

4. Reduce Hourly Pay By 10%. Just Call It Household Mover Hours.

If your employees work 8 hours, pay them for 7 hours and 12 minutes. This will save your company thousands of dollars every month. Between the free hour they’re working at the start of the day, and the “short miles” pay they’re receiving, this will add up fast.

If telling a driver he’s getting 50 cents a mile when they will never see 45 cents isn’t a lie, neither is telling your staff they’re actually getting paid more than they are.

5. Your Overtime Policy

You have to pay overtime for everything beyond the 40 paid hours. It’s the law. But just remind them you’re only really doing it because you have to.

6. Reward Difficult Tasks With Lower Pay

When drivers encounter inclement weather and heavy traffic, their earnings drop. When the job is the most demanding, they earn at least a third less.

Identify the toughest task, hardest projects, and other tasks your employees dread. Then simply cut their pay by 1/3 for that task. It can be their version of rush hour.

7. Save On Vacation Pay

Vacation pay shouldn’t match what a staff member makes for a regular workweek. Pay about half their regular earnings. Just figure the average day’s income for a driver, then do the math.

If your company doesn’t stiff drivers on vacation pay, you can skip this step. Honestly, I’ve yet to see a big company that doesn’t short-change their drivers on this one.

8. Save Again On Holiday Pay

Again, the math will lead you to your answer. If your drivers receive anything less than their average daily income, your staff should receive the same percentage.

One more thing on this one, the payout policy needs to match. If drivers have to work the holiday, and/or a surrounding day to receive holiday pay, you need to institute the same policy throughout the company.

9. Eliminate Paid Sick Days

If your drivers don’t receive paid sick days, nobody else should. End of story.

10. Recruiters Need To Lie About Expected Earnings

If the job you’re trying to fill pays $15.00  an hour, advertise the average weekly income of $875 per week. Let them figure out the truth after the fact. The point is to lie to prospective office staff in the same manner as driver applicants. Come on now, you know exactly what I mean.

11. When Things Break, Save Money

This could be anything from the copy machine to the desktop computer. Whoever finds it broken is off the clock, and responsible for taking it in and for repair. Only after the equipment is repaired are they allowed to start earning income again.

Most drivers have wasted hours, even days on this one. Your equipment broke. Now the driver is on the hook to babysit your broken down machine until it’s repaired.

How To Make This Plan Work

As you might guess, implementing this plan will cause some serious turnover issues in your office staff. You’ll probably have to reinstate what you took away in the eleven steps. Why? Because they just aren’t fair or competitive in today’s workplace.

As you reinstate these pay and benefit changes, do the same for your drivers. It’ll cost you more, but you’ll save a fortune in recruiting, training and insurance. You’ll also be able to cherry-pick among the applicants.

The Bottom Line

If you expect your employees to work as a team, start paying them and treating them like they’re on the same team. The day is gone when you can expect a driver to do so much of his work for free or at a discount.

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