Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/319866
56 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JUNE 2014 C O V E R S T O R Y : P R E D I C T I V E A N A L Y T I C S company culture, Hindes says. The second checks to see if promises made during recruiting have been fulfilled and if the driver is "embedded." If those surveys show a serious lack of engagement, "those drivers go back to the recruiting department," says Hindes. Another survey is done annually, covering driver pay, quality of equipment, dis- patcher relationship and other factors. "We can actually show a carrier comparatively how they rank against their peer group," says Hindes. A key part of the surveys is the dispatcher relationship, says Tim Judge, a Notre Dame faculty member who works closely with Hindes. "People who are satisfied with their dispatchers are 57 percent less likely to leave than people who are dissatisfied," Judge says. As Stay Metrics has gained more customers, it's been able to aggregate its data so that it can discern differences among carri- ers by size. "A fleet of 50 really doesn't need predictive modeling," says Hindes. "They're a family. Where we see it most helpful is where we get to the 100-and-up stage." One Stay Metrics customer fired two dispatchers after seeing how drivers felt about them. Another fleet was about to increase pay rates, then learned that non-pay issues were affecting driver satisfaction levels more, so those also were addressed, Hindes says. Another fleet, paying 33 cents a mile plus a 10-cent safety bonus, thought the pay was high enough. When surveys showed the drivers didn't see it that way, the structure was killed, and base pay was set at 43 cents. Hindes and Judge hope to use their expanding analytics knowledge more deeply in the recruiting process so that fleets and individuals can avoid wasting time and money. "We want to identify the characteristics and traits of people who seem to be the most suited for the industry long-term," says Judge. Having more refined data also can work by identifying what's unique about certain fleets and then matching like- minded drivers, like a professional eHarmony, Hindes says. Retention improves for 83 percent of the fleets that have been in the program a year, he says. The average improve- ment is 15 percent. Stay Metrics' program pricing is based on a per-driver subscription. CASE STUDY: Load One Retention improved 27 percent with the introduction of Stay Metrics in July 2012, says John Elliott, president of Load One, Stay Metrics' first customer. Elliott says turnover has fallen to below 40 percent and has held there for months. Load One is a Taylor, Mich.-based expedited carrier with about 375 trucks, 80 percent of them owner-operators. Going with Stay Metrics meant not just getting more data LYTX (FORMERLY DRIVECAM INC.) Lytx helps fleets identify and address the causes of risky driving behavior by collecting vehicle and driver data and combining it with predictive analytics. The system interprets video recordings and telematics data before passing it to the fleet client for use in identify - ing unsafe drivers. The company's RAIR Compliance Services enables fleets to improve CSA scores through analysis of driver logs, inspection reports and driver qualifications. SMARTDRIVE This system's driving skills program applies predictive analytics to its database of analyzed audio, video and telematics data. SmartDrive has two programs, one focused on safety and the other on fuel ef - ficiency, to help identify areas where drivers can improve their skills. TRANSPORTATION PERFORMANCE INC. TPI's main product, Driver Performer, brings operations data together in a dashboard that allows managers to compare drivers by equip- ment, type of work and driver type. It also facilitates more precise analysis of safety risks and productivity, including fuel use and reten- tion issues. One sub-component is CSA Performer, which integrates driver data and FMCSA-posted inspections and crashes to help fleet managers identify at-risk drivers. To hear a podcast of predictive analyt - ics expert Eric Siegel discussing the ethics of predictive modeling and its safety and human resources appli- cations for trucking, search "itunes Overdrive Radio." OTHER PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS LEADERS ERIC SIEGEL Five-truck fleet owner Steve Wolfe says the number of surveys administered through the Stay Metrics program at Load One isn't burdensome. Wolfe says he never hears other drivers complain about the nature of the survey questions, which tend to focus on a part of the company such as dispatch. Partly because of the Stay Metrics program, company morale is excellent, says Wolfe, who's been in trucking off and on since 1976.