It’s difficult enough to recruit experienced drivers—keeping them around is another matter entirely. In 2018, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) calculated driver turnover in large for-hire fleets to be 89% annually, while small truckload carriers saw a 73% turnover rate. Year after year, driver shortages and driver retention are named some of the most significant challenges facing the transportation industry.
As freight continues to move and aging drivers retire, we expect to see even higher demand for skilled drivers, more aggressive recruiting packages and increased internal attempts to improve retention. When it comes to the latter, you may find some unexpected opportunities with regard to your transportation management system (TMS).
Improving driver retention doesn’t have to mean an increase in expenditures. In fact, some of the same changes that will improve the driver experience will also allow you to increase productivity and conserve key resources like fuel.
Your choice of TMS software can play a key role in streamlining your operations, eliminating pain points and increasing truck driver retention. Here’s what a platform that properly addresses the needs of your enterprise can do for the driver experience.
4 Ways Transportation Management Software Impacts Driver Retention
1. Route and Load Optimization
Your interests align with those of your drivers—they want to do their jobs and get paid, and you want to avoid inefficiencies like excess downtime and deadhead. One of the most significant advantages of an end-to-end TMS platform is that it can drastically boost productivity on both of those fronts. And when it comes to specifically improving truck driver retention, that advantage is most obvious in the form of route and load optimization.
Trimble’s Dispatch Advisor helps fleets retain drivers through a reduction in empty miles. This load-matching optimization tool decreases the need for hours of manual matching, as well as the risk of errors associated with sorting through a large volume of drivers and equipment. The result? More drivers are matched with the right jobs and sent on the most efficient routes. This boosts equipment utilization, driver productivity and retention.
2. Driver Settlements
Slow billing and incorrect paychecks can quickly lead to a disastrous turnover rate. Ensure your drivers get paid accurately and on time by choosing transportation management software with fully-integrated accounting and billing capabilities. Trimble’s TMS offerings enable users to set up rule-based contracts that automate invoices and also provides easy-to-understand statements. Providing a clear avenue for communication and a smooth process for billing will go a long way toward keeping your current drivers happy and improving your fleet’s reputation—when it comes time to recruit more drivers, your excellent payment practice will speak for itself.
3. Accessible Information
Having access to driver-centric information such as Hours of Service (HOS) and visibility of inclement weather along their routes can help dispatch streamline communication with drivers to help them stay efficient on the road. Trimble’s transportation management software offers all of these necessary features and more, because we recognize how much transparency and clear communication can affect the driver experience.
