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Stobart woos drivers with flexitime
Page 5
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• Haulage giant Eddie Stobart has broken with tradition by asking drivers to virtually name their hours in a bid to woo good staff.
As part of a culture change at the company in the run up to the introduction of the Working Time Directive, an advert for drivers was placed in the Sun last week, specifying minimum earnings of £24,000 a year and the promise of varied shift patterns, part-time and casual work.
So far the advert has drawn around 500 applications. The company usually advertises locally, but decided to extend its net in order to attract more interest.
Resource manager Neale Burdon says he carried out substantial research into why some drivers preferred working for agen
des. "They told me they liked the flexibility of working when they wanted to, so I took those comments on board," says Burdon.
He also took account of the demands and restrictions of the Working Time Directive, which will reduce the average working week to 48 hours.
Now Eddie Stobart drivers will get the best of both worlds—a guaranteed job and flexible hours, says Burdon.
He expects to recruit between 50 and 100 of the drivers who have applied, but fears losing them to other desperate hauliers. "I have to act quickly on this, because there will be another haulier coming along soon with a new advert in The Sun," adds Burdon.