truckload driver in the Midwest at about $46,700. He did
not have details on salaries for drivers at LTL or private
fleets, but he said they are higher.
A recent survey of 150 fleets by TCP said wages need to
be in the $50,000- to $70,000-a-year range to draw applicants into the field and keep them once they’re hired.
Klemp said the median driver salary needs to reach about
$67,000 a year to accomplish both objectives.
Of equal importance is to narrow the wide gap between
the wages of drivers working for truckers in the top quartile
of payors, and those at carriers in the bottom quartile,
Klemp said. The differential currently sits at a historic high
of 16 cents per mile, well above the traditional gap of nine
to 10 cents per mile, according to NTI data. Until the gap is
closed, “you will continue to have churn,” he said.
Batts of TCP said wages must rise to keep drivers performing a job so critical to the U.S. economy but which
presents serious work-life challenges due to long periods of
time away from home. “If you are going to have an awful
lifestyle connected with the job, you need to be overcompensated for it,” she said.
Churn, schmurn!
KEEPING DRIVERS CONTENT
Carriers, for their part, recognize this fact. For example,
J.B. Hunt Transportation Services Inc., the company perhaps most closely associated with long-haul trucking, is
diverting more of that freight to intermodal rail service as
it focuses its truck network on more regionalized deliveries. Hunt and other carriers realize that intermodal service,
besides reducing their line-haul costs, boosts driver retention because shorter hauls at the regional level mean more
time at home.
Kane Is Able Inc., a trucker and third-party logistics service provider, keeps its 200 drivers operating at distances of
about 300 miles each way, thus maximizing home time.
That factor, as much as anything, makes driver churn a virtual non-issue, said Lawrence Catanzaro, the company’s
vice president, transportation safety and recruiting. “We
don’t have a lot of turnover. When we get drivers, we generally keep them,” he said.
Most of the driver retention precepts are not rocket science, carrier executives say. Companies must stress communication with their drivers, create a pleasant work environment, provide opportunities for advancement either
within the unit or with another company division, and
monitor their competitors to uncover best practices and to
stay a step ahead.
With CSA 2010 at the top of everyone’s mind, carrier
executives stress that working with drivers to improve their
safety scores has the ancillary benefit of improving morale
and minimizing churn.
“You are improving a driver’s performance, which will
make a company more valued in a customer’s eyes. But it
also shows the drivers that the company cares about their
life and their work,” said Charles W. Clowdis Jr., managing
The problem of driver turnover, or “churn,” keeps
many trucking executives awake at night. But Herb
Schmidt, CEO of Con-way Truckload, says he sleeps
pretty soundly.
“It doesn’t bother me one bit,” said Schmidt, refer-
ring to driver turnover. Although some churn is
inevitable in trucking, he says, there are ways to min-
imize its impact on operations. The key, he explains,
is to make sure the turnover is “planned.”
In a program that the executive said is unique to
the trucking business, the Joplin, Mo.-based carrier
grants its drivers as much as four to five months of
unpaid leave a year if the driver is considered a good
worker and demonstrates a legitimate personal or
business need for the time off.
Drivers using the program are technically terminated when they leave and do not receive any credits
toward service tenure during their time away.
However, they are guaranteed of being rehired when
their leave is over, and at the same pay, benefit, and
seniority levels they had when they departed. The
time off can be taken all at once, or it can be divided
into intervals of the employee’s choosing.
Schmidt said the program boosts morale and helps
discourage turnover by giving drivers the freedom
and flexibility to tend to other business or personal
needs. At the same time, the company can plan
ahead for their absence and minimize the risk of
being caught short of drivers. Schmidt said that Con-way Truckload’s driver turnover is about 30 to 35 percent below truckload industry averages.
The program is well suited to drivers who have second vocations—such as farming and ranching—with
predictable seasonality to them, according to
Schmidt. He estimated that less than 5 percent of
Con-way Truckload’s 3,000 drivers take advantage of
the program.
director, transportation consulting and advisory services at
consultancy IHS Global Insight.
Shippers can play a part by making their freight more
driver-friendly, executives say. “Attention to proper loading,
adjusting pickup or delivery times to better accommodate
[current driver hours-of-service] regulations, and manag-
ing driver [wait times] are more important than ever,” said
Mark Rourke, president of the truckload division of truck-
ing and logistics giant Schneider National Inc. “Shippers
need to be cognizant of the downstream impact of their
freight on drivers.”
“It’s pretty simple,” said Schmidt of Con-way Truckload.
“Run an efficient dock, turn the loads quickly, and get the
driver moving on down the road.” ;
