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water, setting it on the dash and seeing who keeps the most
water in the cup. That’s probably the most unique part.”
Stickling is pleased that the scorecard system was created
in-house.
“We think what our folks built is as good as anything out
there, and it’s a big part of what we do now,” he said. “Drivers
embrace that scorecard because it ups their pay and
makes them feel successful at work. That was one of my
first big projects — and still probably the most fun I have
been involved with at Nussbaum.”
Stickling’s assertions are supported by the carrier’s driver
turnover and retention numbers. Nussbaum’s 550 rigs remain
fully seated, and the company currently enjoys a low
35% turnover rate. This keeps things moving for the company’s
over-the-road, irregular-route, nonlocal customers.
However, Stickling says the company’s primary success
factor — technological wizardry aside — in holding onto
great help relies on something far more fundamental.
“I think one of our ‘secret sauces’ that we start with is,
‘How do we think, what do we believe, where is our heart
at as we’re working with people?’” he said. “This isn’t new,
but our recruiters have a very long list that they go through
with drivers that covers the good (aspects of the company),
because we have plenty of good here — but it also covers
the bad and the ugly.
“It’s using real numbers,” he explained.
“We say, ‘Here’s real home
time; here’s what it is, here’s what it
isn’t. Here’s pay ranges. By the way,
this is our true 40-60 percentile average.
We’re not selling you on the top
20%.’ Then we go through a bunch of
other things, and we send the applicant
the stuff in writing after the fact. We try
to have no surprises.
“Our recruiters are incentivized not
just on making a hire; 60% of their
commission comes from retention,” he
continued. “That means they’ve got to
wait for a little bit, but it’s worked really
well for us as a company.”
Nussbaum also benefits by taking the
approach of driving as just one part of
a truck driver’s career, not the end-all,
be-all by itself. Doing so changes how
management relates to drivers at every
step of the employee life cycle, and it
also changes how drivers see themselves
and their long-term possibilities.
“Our industry, unfortunately, seems
to be good at saying, ‘OK, you’ve got your CDL. Nobody
cares. Just drive,’” Stickling said. “I make sure I’m the first
one who meets our new drivers. I tell them there’s three
things about working at Nussbaum: I talk about ownership,
because we’re employee-owned. I talk about positive impact,
which we believe is our company’s purpose. And third,
I talk about personal growth. We’ll walk them through that,
and I’ll write out a list of things we have to try to give room
for personal growth, career growth.”
The company’s programs — from the in-house Certified
Red technical academy to master trainer certification to
Road Captain mentors — are all designed to help those who
are willing to perfect their craft and take advantage of future
opportunities. Underpinning each program is a sincerity of
intent that Stickling says people appreciate.
“This is a human who’s in the truck, who we’re working
for and who is working for us,” he said. “I don’t care what
your program is. It can be the best design in the world, but
if you don’t care about people, it’s not going to work. That
means you’ve got to be patient and you’ve got to offer those
things where we’re trying to get at driver fulfillment and career
growth and let that build up over time.
“That sounds like kind of a soft squishy thing, but if you
don’t have that, you’re not going to be as successful as a
company as you could be,” he concluded.
Jeremy Stickling, incoming
chairman of TCA’s Safety &
Security Committee, presents
token of appreciation to outgoing
chair, Shelly Seaton of Landstar,
at the conclusion of the 2023
Safety & Security meeting.
TCA SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 31