Truckload Authority - August/September 2018

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER | TCA 2018
Tracking The Trends
Staying
Power
14.6%
7 to 12
months
Time Drivers Spend Working
for New Carrier
17.6%
1 to 2
years
Recruiters and dispatchers
play a pivotal role in
preventing driver turnover
Y
By Klint Lowry
You never get a second chance to make a first
impression.
Stay Metrics could have used that bit of sage wisdom as
the title of its latest white paper. Instead, the analytics firm
banked on its reputation throughout the trucking industry as a
specialist in the areas of driver retention, engagement and training,
queueing up interest in the document by posing a couple of coverpage
questions:
“Is Early Turnover Damaging the Business? How and What Can
We Do to Stop it?”
The report is based on a statistical premise that would come
as a surprise to no one in trucking: The industry has a turnover
problem. It reached a “historic high” of 95 percent in the third
quarter of 2017, the report says in its opening statement.
It’s also not exactly a revelation that most of that turnover —
72.6 percent — occurs within the first year, with almost half of
those in and out the door in three months or less.
“Considering the costs of recruitment and retention,” the report
states, “one may wonder, what do we know about the leavers and
what can we do to stop them from leaving?”
A research team led by Stay Metrics Chief Science Officer
Timothy Judge set out to satisfy those questions, and along the
way asking and answering others: Do early-stage job leavers
share any common characteristics? Do people who leave early
leave for different reasons than those who stick around a while?
Most important, is there a way companies can forecast and prevent
some of the turnover?
The team drew upon findings from previous research and combined
it with data obtained from Stay Metrics’ orientation surveys, which
have been given to 62,000 drivers at seven days and 45 days into
their employment; and its in-depth Annual Driver Survey, as well as
driver turnover data provided by its 100-plus clients.
Some interesting patterns emerged from the data, some of them
more surprising than others, said Stay Metrics CEO Tim Hindes.
“Every carrier’s different in terms of what the issues are, but
there are some common issues,” Hindes said, “and what the hope
is, is that the carriers glean through this and that they understand
things like recruiter satisfaction and what that has to do with
retention.”
22.4%
3 to 6
months
Less than 3 months
35.6%
4.7% - 3 to 4 years
1.8% - 5 to 6 years
Statistics compiled by
Stay Metrics for a recently
released research report
give a breakdown of how
long professional truck
drivers stay employed at
carriers. This pie chart
shows that nearly threefourths
last a year or less,
with more than 35 percent
quitting within three
months of getting hired.
9
8
7
6
5
1.3% - 7 to 9 years
1.7% - 10+ years
4
3
2
1
16 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2018