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Recruiting and training drivers can take a your company's profit,
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so it's important that t ey are treated properly to avoid them jumping ship.
Words: David Harris There is little doubt that the best way to cut the cost of recruiting drivers is not to have to do it in the first place. Any firm that can hold on to its drivers — assuming there are no problems with their work — is likely to find that keeping staff is a more economic solution than replacing them.
Recruitment is an expensive business, and not just
CASE STUDY WINFIELD
Winfield Transport's initial efforts to reduce driver turnover and retain staff were a remarkable success, but one that was hard to maintain It was in 2001 that the Cannock firm first made its big effort to retain staff and boost quality. Working with Skills for Logistics (SfL). it cut annual staff turnover from 36.8°. to 12% at one point.
But seven years on. managing director Warren Winfield admits that the 12% turnover rate was not maintained. He estimates that it has crept back up to about 20°.. although that is still much better than the previous high.
Winfield accepts some of the blame for this, pointing out that retention policies need to be constantly addressed to keep staff — and keep them happy One of the most lasting measures from the initial retention effort is Winfield's policy of rewarding efficient driving. Drivers who are more fuel-efficient with their vehicles get a monthly cash bonus proportional to the amount they save. This has been as much as £80 per month, although £30 is the average figure.
Other retention policies have their downside as well as their upside. Driver training is one example. Winfield says the firm has a policy of training non-HGV drivers to Class 2 and then Class 1, but finds that because the firm operates only one artic, some of the drivers then leave for firms that have more.
"We just reason that we have had three years' good work out of them, so that makes it worth it," he says. in terms of the cost of a job advert and the interview process When a driver joins they need to be introduced to the company's culture, they may need training, and other members of staff may need to supervise them in their first few weeks. Although the cost of all this is variable and difficult to quantify, it adds a big chunk to the total recruitment bill.
Once you fully appreciate this, the question becomes not so much how to attract new drivers, but how to hold on to the ones you have.
Pay them well? Of course. But most of those close to the industry argue that driver retention is not merely a matter of stuffing their pay packet more fully than the haulier down the road.
Value and respect
While accepting that money matters. Road Haulage Association (RHA) head of employment Ruth Pott says there are other contributory factors. -The principles of retention are very subjective. Keeping drivers happy is as likely to be [a case of] making them feel valued and treated with respect as just money. Clearly money matters, but it is not everything."
Pott says that proper consultation with staff over company practices is often overlooked, and that training and career development equally matter.
Skills for Logistics (SfL) chief executive Mick Jackson also underscores the importance of training as an aid to keeping staff motivated and happy. -And if you think training is expensive try recruitment," he warns
Jackson says SfLs research suggests that two of the biggest benefits of training, in addition to better staff productivity, are reduced absenteeism and reduced 'churn' This was certainly true with Cannock, Staffs-based Winfield Transport. which cut staff turnover from 36.89 to 12% and became one of St Ls case studies, although things have since changed slightly (see panel, left).
Multiple benefits
Other companies that have benefited from SfL-inspired training initiatives include Carlisle general haulier William Armstrong, which increased staff retention by 50% through the introduction of apprenticeships and Leggett's Transport (see panel, right) What has taken the edge off the immediate concerns1 over driver retention is the economic downturn The RHA's Pott says is it not so much recruitment as redundancy that is on everybody's lips as the recession begins to bite.
But that won't alter things in the medium and long term. When things pick up. the driver shortage is likely to return, particularly as the typical British truck driver is middle-aged or nearing retirement Recruitment of younger drivers is not what it was, so it is possible that many experienced drivers will be nearing the end of their working lives as the economic recovery kicks in.
When that recovery begins. It is likely to be firms that keep their drivers happiest, in every respect, that are in the best position to benefit Retaining drivers may have been knocked off the top of the agenda for now, but it is likely to return even more forcefully in the next few years. II There are few better illustrations of the reversal of the driver shortage than the change in approach at Bury St Edmunds firm Leggett's Transport. Like many other firms. Leggett's has been keen to retain good drivers — and it had an imaginative training scheme to help do that.
It provided HGV training for those who wanted to join the business but could not afford it. The Leggett's scheme worked by providing the HGV tuition in-house and. once the test was passed employing the driver but deducting £25 a week from their wages to pay for the training If they stayed a year. that money was returned.
Operations manager Barry Hynard says. It worked well and provided some people with the chance to get into the business, which was a good thing. But we've stopped it now because we just don't need any more drivers. The situation has reversecr