Many businesses, both small and medium-sized, report having difficulty in hiring and retaining talented employees. If you own a trucking company, it can be even harder to manage employees since they are rarely in an office where you can easily oversee them. Hiring and keeping drivers happy isn’t always easy, but there are some steps that you can take.
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Learning a few truck driver management tips can help you to make sure that your workers are always safe, happy, and working when they’re supposed to. You can use these tips to boost productivity and morale to make sure that you have drivers who are happy, and a company that is thriving.
Good Communication Translates To Happy Drivers
Communication in truck management is an absolute essential. You need to create a system where your drivers know exactly what to expect, and what’s expected of them so you can avoid problems. When people feel informed, they feel valued. They can also keep themselves safer too.
Even negative communication, such as a need to bring in a Commercial Vehicle Accident Attorney, can be easier to handle when your drivers are notified rather than not told anything. Stay positive but don’t sugarcoat bad news.
Encourage Your Drivers To Communicate With Management
Communication needs to go both ways in order to keep drivers safe and happy. Listen to your drivers as well as talk to them.
Your drivers probably know more than you do about working out on the road. They know what to watch out for, what’s working, and what isn’t. Create an open-door policy and encourage feedback. Create surveys a few times a year to check-in.
When your employees feel heard, they feel valued. Valued employees will work harder than those who feel ignored by their employees.
Create Checklists
Part of driver training should involve filling out checklists before and after their shifts. Create checklists for equipment, truck maintenance, and anything else important.
A checklist will help managers and employees to keep track of everything so nobody forgets anything important. This is a useful way to keep everything maintained correctly and your drivers safe and aware.
Provide Opportunities For Advancement
A truck manager doesn’t only need to hire a driver to take goods from one place to the other. A good manager wants to hire and train drivers who are invested in the company.
A way to do that is to provide opportunities to learn and advance with the company. Nobody wants to feel as though they are stuck in a dead-end job.
Offer courses and seminars for your drivers to learn about the latest trends and advancements in the industry. Share information about job openings and job advancement at all levels that are available at your company.
Make sure your drivers know about opportunities so they can apply. You can do this easily through company communications and newsletters.
Offer Decent Benefits
Perks and benefits are usually at the top of employees’ lists when they consider whether or not to take a job. Salaries in the trucking industry are steady, which makes it easy for drivers to make lateral moves. They know they won’t lose out if they do, so make it harder for a driver to say no by offering more incentives.
The longer a driver stays with you, the better the benefits they get should be. Implement a graduated incentives program.
Benefits increase at 6 months, one year, three years, and so on. Your drivers realize that staying means more opportunities for vacation time, bonuses, and more.
Publicly Recognize And Reward Great Performers
A small gesture of appreciation can go a long way to help your drivers feel appreciated and valued.
It’s nice to know that your hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed and it’s even nicer when that hard work is appreciated. Publicly recognizing your best performers will give them the chance to be in the spotlight and see they are valued.
Instead of threatening underperforming employees, reward those who are performing well. You will notice that morale improves if you do this, and those who aren’t performing as well will be able to change their behavior in order to get the recognition and rewards they can see their colleagues receiving. You don’t have to give a large reward. Small things like gift cards or time off can make a big impact on your employees.
Show Your Drivers That You Respect Them
Every position at your company is no more or less beneficial or important than another. Everyone, from cleaning to sales, is needed.
People lower down the rungs can often feel overlooked. Everyone wants to feel valued and respected at work. Make sure you remember that your drivers are individuals, so there is an increased chance that they will feel like going above and beyond for your company.
Avoid Traffic And Limit Speed
You can use apps to help to plan out your drivers’ routes. Rather than having your drivers waste time stuck in traffic, they can use these apps to access an alternative route.
Truck management is also easier when you know where there might be poor driving conditions, or police operating speed checks. This knowledge can help your drivers to avoid accidents or damage.
Using apps like this can help you to manage driver behavior, which will then help your company to reduce the costs of your insurance, lowers the likelihood of drivers being involved in accidents, and helps you to make sure that your customers can get their deliveries on time and in the condition that they expect.
Eliminate Driver Mobile Phone Distractions
A lot of drivers use their mobile phones while they’re driving, even though we all know we shouldn’t do it.
Drivers are often tempted to do things like take photos, checke social media, or text. This means they’re often distracted while driving. Laws have been able to crack down on this, but haven’t solved the problem entirely.
You can use an app to automatically block all possible distractions from your drivers, including calls, texts, social media alerts, and emails.
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