We recently heard from two truckers in our forum that a company’s retention and turnover rates had an influence on their decision-making process. It’s easy to see why they’d be upset about it on the surface. According to this logic, one firm must be “good” and the other “poor” if drivers are departing at a high rate while remaining longer at the latter. The answer is no.
Unfortunately, this is a auto vehicle lighting & electrical common perception among potential truck drivers, and as a result, some excellent employment possibilities may be overlooked as a result. They have no idea how the trucking business works.
People who claim things like, “Company B has a 90 percent turnover rate while Company A only has a 20% turnover rate” make me shudder. This individual has got to be shaken! Because they don’t realize it, they’re comparing apples and oranges.
High turnover rates are caused by what?
It is possible for large carriers to employ and educate unskilled drivers since they are self-insured. A variety of factors might contribute to novice truck drivers failing to complete their first year in the industry. Some are dismissed because of a string of mishaps, others are forced to return home because of personal or family obligations, and yet others may just feel the responsibilities are too much for them to bear.
Carriers with larger fleets have a greater turnover rate since they are the ones who employ and train the majority of new drivers. So, does it mean they’re terrible businesses? No, there isn’t.
Many insurance companies need a motorist to have at least a year of driving experience in order to get a lower insurance cost. The individual who made such statement on the forum failed to mention that the firm only employs drivers with two years of experience because of its high turnover rate. To put it another way, the organization exclusively hires experienced drivers who know precisely what to anticipate on a daily basis and have the expertise to make judgments and manage the work on their own. As a result, they are more likely to prevent a mishap.
Drivers’ Accounts of Leaving Their Employers
Even though the firm has done nothing wrong, we’ve seen a lot of new drivers quit recently. No, they weren’t savage slave drivers intent on draining a novice driver’s energy. None of the wacky claims you may find on review sites about them holding back the driver’s salary were true.
Personal concerns prompted each of these drivers to resign or quit the industry completely in each of these situations.
First, there was Don, who laboriously compiled spreadsheets to determine which firm would be the most suitable for his needs. In the end, he decided on CFI and planned to remain for the whole year required to complete his contract. Then, after attending their school and going through their training, he opted to leave for a firm that was closer to his home after a few months due to family sickness. He did the right thing and informed his employer of his intention to leave, and he was totally committed to honoring his contract. CFI, the training, and the dispatchers didn’t faze him. He was unable to continue as an OTR driver for long.
As a result of Prime Inc.’s funded CDL training, Britton and Kim became the next two participants. Kim has completed her training and now has her own vehicle of her own. After a few weeks, she’d had enough of the hassle of trying to locate parking and figuring out where she was going to go. She was overjoyed that she had finally accomplished her lifetime goal of getting a commercial driver’s license (CDL) and starting a career in trucking. She got to see a lot of the nation during her trip. However, even after almost two decades on the job, she still felt more at ease in her position as an attorney than she did behind the wheel of a tractor trailer.
To paraphrase what she said to me, “In a legal company, stress is predictable; you know what to do and how to manage it. ” The stress of driving a truck is unpredictable and ever-changing. There is no such thing as a typical day.