Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/661417
2 www.studentdriverplacement.com April '16 G uaranteed pay for truck opera- tors is becoming a more com- mon driver reten on tac c for fl eets, says the Na onal Transporta on Ins tute's Gordon Klemp. And for good reason, he says: It works. "Clearly we can quantify the fact that there's a growing number of people providing guaranteed pay to improve retention," Klemp says, citing improvement in driver turnover rate at small fl eets as evidence. "Guaran- teed pay improves turnover and is not expensive, if you do it right," he says. Klemp spoke Feb. 26 in a confer- ence call with investors and reporters in an update on driver pay, hosted by Stifel Transportation and Research Group. Though driver pay increases often are cited as the key component for improving driver retention, Klemp says evolving compensation packages — not necessarily pay increases, per se — are becoming more widely used as retention tools. He pointed to hourly pay for truckers and incentive-based pay as growth areas. Incentive pay, he said, "is a catalyst not only for high- er wages, but for cost reduction. Safe drivers are a lot more cost effi cient for carriers than one who has an average or less than average safety record," he said. Moreover, he says, fl eets are shoot- ing themselves in the foot fi nancially if they can't shore up their turnover rate. "I can't come up with a model that comes up with driver turnover costing less than $5,000 a driver," he says. Klemp's colleage, Leah Shaver, says fl eets need to embrace those costs at a core level. "Everybody [should] know what turnover costs," she said. "Shippers, employees — everyone needs to know how vital a driver is and focus on retention." Shaver said the industry needs to focus on drawing more women into truck driver jobs, potentially even truckers' spouses, and make trucking an aspirational career for children. |Feature | Analyst: Guaranteed driver pay a growing retention tactic, regs to further tighten driver market By James Jaillet This chart from Klemp shows driver pay's connection to driver turnover rates comparing three fl eets