Leah Kelly, Author at Global Trade Magazine

In an industry currently struggling with finding and hiring drivers, it grows more and more painful seeing your drivers inexplicably leave — especially when you have a gnawing feeling it probably could have been prevented with a simple conversation.

Not knowing what you don’t know is frustrating, but when viewed through the right lens it’s like so many things in life – an opportunity to improve. It’s not a revolutionary idea that you should want to focus on keeping the drivers you have and learn more about the issues they encounter that make their jobs difficult. Fortunately, the time to implement a retention program that listens to drivers’ needs couldn’t be better.

Putting a plan in place to effectively improve driver retention is easier than it sounds, and with the introduction of Insights earlier this year, Tenstreet clients now have a clearer view into what drivers experience at four distinct stages in their lifecycles. But what about getting a good read on your fleet as a whole, and on a more frequent basis?

Checking the oil in your fleet

Your fleet is the engine that keeps your company moving. If you neglect to regularly check the oil in your car, you run the risk of damaging vital engine parts, which could lead to expensive repairs or even a total replacement. Just like using a dipstick to check oil levels in your car gives you a good indicator of your engine’s health, you need a way to regularly check the overall health of your fleet.

Today, we’re introducing a new retention survey to our Insights platform that gives you a look into all the moving parts of your company. Our new FleetCheck survey module works similarly to an NPS tool in that it sends an anonymous two-question survey to your drivers once a week (or twice, depending on your preference). It gives you visibility into the current condition of your fleet at a regular frequency to show you immediately whether your fleet is running smoothly or if it needs something more to keep it going strong.

How surveys help you retain drivers

When drivers take your FleetCheck surveys, dashboard reporting automatically compiles the results, showing you an overall ranking, how many drivers responded, which drivers have not responded, and which drivers are detractors (or gave a below average score) – which may indicate an at-risk driver who could be saved with an intervention. Detractors are given the option of foregoing their anonymity should they wish to discuss their issue 1-on-1 with their manager.

You’ll also be able to see the satisfaction levels of your fleet week-over-week and month-over-month, connecting carrier and industry events to general driver sentiment–helping with that bigger picture objective–and ensuring your fleet is well-lubricated with everything it needs to give it power to drive.

As drivers start to see their feedback put into action, they’re more likely to feel like a valuable contributor in the organization and will grow more empowered to share things they otherwise might keep to themselves. Strengthening the driver-carrier connection cultivates a more dependable and loyal driver base, and ensures you get the most miles out of your fleet.

Finding and hiring drivers requires time, resources, and capital – all of which are wasted when drivers leave because nobody’s listening. Find out what you don’t know by checking in with your fleet. When drivers and carriers are communicating regularly, retention rates improve, trucks stay full, and your company runs more smoothly.

Need help building a retention solution?

Complement FleetCheck with additional Insights surveys to get a more holistic view of a driver’s sentiment both across his tenure and at specific stages therein.

Not sure what you need or how to get started? Reach out to us today! Our industry-experienced team will help you create a plan to help you listen to your drivers so they stay with you for the long haul.

Talk to Tenstreet

A healthy interest in the driver market always ranks high on a carrier’s list. But given the tough conditions, the industry has experienced over the last year, this interest has shifted to a furrowed concern. With application volumes dropping every week and more trucks sitting vacant, the desperation for drivers means carriers are likely paying more for less in an attempt to avoid the same fate other carriers and small businesses have suffered.

What’s Causing the Drop?

It’s a combination of several factors. Clearinghouse eliminations, retirements, and early exits would have affected the industry in 2020-21 anyway. But COVID introduced unprecedented factors to the market for which it couldn’t have prepared – notably drivers who are waiting to reenter the market (possibly until vaccination numbers rise or until they can get vaccinated) and the stimulus checks that keep them comfortable while they do so.

The number one thing to remember is that you’re not alone. This is not a carrier- or service-specific shortcoming, it’s a broad drop in application volume that has impacted the entire industry. While that may bring you little comfort, there is something you can do to prepare for when drivers return.

First, let’s review the data.

Weekly Driver Activity – Last 53 Weeks

Typically, application rates tend to be high at the beginning of the year and during late spring/early summer. They gradually drop off until the holiday season, when the drop in the volume of applications tends to be most pronounced (see late November and December). Another case of seasonality explains the dip in February 2021 when the country was locked down by storms.

From the first two charts below, you can see evidence of an additional market element. While driver job-seeking activity is still significantly below pre-pandemic levels, the stimulus has managed to drop the floor out from under the situation.

This is made clearer in the second chart, in which we’ve zoomed in on the last 5 weeks. Note the last 2-3 weeks in March where the number of applications fell drastically. March 2021 still places application volume 10 or 15 points below where we were in March 2020.

Weekly Driver Activity – Last 5 Weeks

Application Activity Index

This index is derived from Tenstreet clients who have had a consistent IntelliApp volume for the past 25 months. We assigned January 2019 a value of 100 for comparison. This gives us an easy way to see rate of application activity change over the last two years while removing the impact of growth in the number of carriers using the platform. As you can see, carriers as a whole have seen a huge decline over the past year in general.

Cost Per Lead, Cost Per Full Application

As mentioned above, carriers are paying more for leads and full apps than they did just a year ago due to the more intensified driver shortage, and are likely finding that the more specific their search, the shorter their results fall. Nevertheless, cost per full application has risen +30% over the past year.

Hiring Cycle Compared to Hire Rate

This chart shows a solid inverse relationship between the number of days in your cycle and the chance that a driver will make it to a hired status. Put simply, the longer your hiring process, the more opportunities there are for drivers to drop out.

With carriers having to work harder for every candidate, it’s more important than ever that they be able to glide through your hiring process smoothly. As past data has shown, the more serious the candidate, the more carriers they are typically interacting with – so finding and eliminating any rough patches will pay dividends when the pendulum swings and application volume improves.

This process need not be overwhelming, and we can help. Start by walking through your process as a driver and making note of any bottlenecks and hiccups. Replace them with time-saving solutions, like automation and integrations. Remember, drivers will be coming out of their own slumber and will not hesitate to move swiftly on to the next carrier if they encounter any reason to think they’re in store for more hard times.

Engagement and Early Onboarding

In addition to automation and integrations, engagement in early onboarding is another way you can improve your hiring cycle to improve your chances of getting that driver in a truck. The below chart shows carriers who engage drivers with text messaging, digital forms, and digital training modules within less than a day have a 40% greater chance of getting that driver all the way to hire.

Time and drivers aren’t the only things you’ll save. The more you can move online, the more money you save on hotels, meals, and recruiter onboarding time. Carriers who onboard online experienced an immediate 20%-40% in savings when they free their onboarding processes from expensive and unnecessary activities.

Tenstreet Can Help

Just as you’re not alone in this drop-in application volume, you’re not alone in improving your hiring process. Let us help your business see a new level of success. Many of our account managers and advisors have worked for carriers like yours in the past and know how to help.

Give us a call at 877-219-9283 or email us at sales@tenstreet.com and let us help you put new strategies in place for the next surge of drivers who come your way. It’s only a matter of time.

This article originally appeared here. Republished with permission.

Introducing FleetCheck: An Indicator of the Health of Your Fleet