1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192 
Stopping the tide...
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
STRESS MANAGEMENT, better wages and family-friendly employment conditions should be used to help stem the tide of driven quitting the profession.
In a survey by Skills for Logistics (SfL) 70 Scottish road transport employers and more than 200 former and current drivers were interviewed to find out why skilled personnel are leaving the industry in droves.
While some drivers leave to move into the traffic office or management, most leave the industry altogether, warns Sheila McCullough. SfL policy manager for Scotland.
Most worrying is the fact that younger drivers, aged 25-40 years, are most likely to leave the industry, she adds: "Younger drivers have higher expectations of wages, terms and conditions of employ ment and seem more likely than older drivers to change career if these expectations are not met.
"Poor basic pay, long, inflexible working hours, and spending nights away from home are all reasons put forward for leaving," says McCullough, "particularly by drivers with children, who feel the job is difficult to combine with modern family lifestyles."
Job stress was also found to be a key issue with former drivers. Many felt that some stressful aspects of their job were within their employers' control and could easily have been tackled by streamlining paperwork and treating employees fairly.
McCullough says the data gathered in the survey will be used to seek ways to retain experienced drivers with qualifications that are expensive to acquire.