DRIVERS' SHORTAGE * USA & Canada - What are you doing to retain drivers?

Keeping drivers requires a personal touch - "Retention is a culture"

Banff,ALB,CAN -Today's Trucking -1 May 2008: -- While finding good qualified drivers may be difficult, some days keeping them around may seem just as tough. But if you do not have a retention program in place, you might actually be ahead of the game... It's no secret there is a shortage of qualified drivers in the workforce and unfortunately the numbers are just getting smaller, while the cost of replacing a driver increases... Driver retention is a critical issue, especially considering the price tag attached to replacing a driver. Rael Kalley, president of Strategic Pathways, estimates the cost of replacing a driver - calculating all direct and indirect costs - at about $9,000. Estimates from around the room ranged from $8,000 to $12,500 per driver, but regardless of the actual cost the consensus was clear: a carrier's inability to retain drivers is bad for the bottom line... But for the employees you want to keep - or need to keep, for financial reasons - there are three retention essentials: don't tell staff you value them, show them; make the 'platinum rule' part of your culture, treat others as they would like to be treated; and employees aren't mushrooms, so don't treat them as such...