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TALKING TCA<br />
Next Gen Executives<br />
TCA’s young leaders take the spotlight, drive the future of trucking<br />
Jason Douglass<br />
For Stokes<br />
Trucking’s Jason<br />
Douglass, driver<br />
retention is key to a<br />
company’s success<br />
By Kris Rutherford<br />
Jason Douglass of Stokes Trucking knows the importance<br />
of driver retention.<br />
The 36-year-old, who serves as director of<br />
recruiting and retention for Tremonton, Utahbased<br />
Stokes Trucking, began his career in the<br />
industry as a driver for a plumbing company before moving<br />
into warehouse management and dispatch, sales, safety<br />
management, and, finally, recruiting.<br />
Because he’s actively worked in so many facets of the<br />
industry, Douglass has first-hand knowledge of many of the<br />
challenges faced by employees. As a trucking executive, he<br />
also knows that many motor carriers are struggling to retain<br />
drivers and experiencing high turnover rates.<br />
While finding qualified drivers is vital, Douglass says the<br />
“retention” portion of his title is the main focus at Stokes —<br />
and that’s exactly the way he likes it.<br />
“Our turnover is super-low,” he told Truckload Authority.<br />
“Anybody can bring drivers in. The importance of my role is<br />
to keep people with the company.”<br />
When he was recruited by Stokes in 2022, he was impressed<br />
by the company’s culture and the mindset of working<br />
to retain valued employees.<br />
“Our cultures matched,” Douglass said. “Stokes’ culture is<br />
clear on its social media pages. It’s like we instantly clicked.”<br />
Currently the company, which specializes in transporting<br />
refrigerated foods, employs 55 drivers and operates 50<br />
trucks and 112 refrigerated trailers — and it is working to<br />
expand. Drivers average 2,800-3,200 miles a week, with<br />
routes designed to allow drivers to enjoy home time weekly.<br />
Of course, he says, driver retention begins with smart<br />
recruiting and hiring.<br />
“If you recruit the right people, you don’t have to recruit<br />
as much,” he explained, adding that he’d rather have an<br />
empty truck than hire the wrong person to drive it.<br />
So, one might ask, how can recruiters make sure they find<br />
the right people? While there’s not a one-size-fits-all answer,<br />
Douglass shared his basic strategy.<br />
When interviewing prospective drivers, he says, the first<br />
few questions are friendly “get to know you” queries. Once<br />
he knows a little about the driver’s personality and goals, he<br />
says, he works to find out exactly what the driver is looking<br />
for in a company. Next, he asks about previous employers.<br />
In some cases, he says, a previous company’s culture<br />
simply wasn’t a good fit for a specific driver (or vice versa).<br />
“There are some people, some companies that I know are<br />
just bad fits,” he said. “Then there are companies I know<br />
have the same hiring criteria as us.”<br />
In short, he says, the initial interview needs to go far<br />
beyond the driver’s skills and qualifications.<br />
“Between those questions, I can pick up red flags. For<br />
instance, a recruit might ask if we do hair follicle drug<br />
testing,” he explained. “If they wince, that’s probably the<br />
biggest red flag I see.<br />
“I start asking qualifying questions,” he continued. “I get<br />
32 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA MAY/JUNE 2024