CDL Driver Retention is JUST as Important as Recruiting!

In today’s modern recruiting environment, there are always new ways to do things: new ways to engage with drivers, new ways to operate more efficiently, and new ways to keep your drivers on the road. Sometimes, however, just because something is new doesn’t mean it hasn’t always been there – it just means it’s time to look at it in a new light.

This is the message Wendy Bartz is sending in her new LinkedIn video post on maintaining a consistent balance between driver recruiting and retention. Driver retention isn’t new by any means, but the incredible rise of competition for qualified drivers in the trucking industry now means retention is on par with recruiting regarding the attention it deserves.

In her recent video post, industry thought leader Wendy Bartz discusses some critical factors and considerations of treating retention as the new frontier of recruiting, including:

• Prioritizing ongoing conversations with recruiters, driver-facing team members, and drivers themselves to move strategic initiatives forward.
• Make a point to schedule regular conversations and meetings about optimizing retention – remember, this shouldn’t be a one-and-done conversation!
• Review your current ATS to ensure your driver data is yours and ONLY yours. If you find it’s not, then take advantage of other competitive solutions at your fingertips. Your ATS, CRM, and third-party partners like Workhound are available to help take your recruiting and retention to the next level.
• Reach out and check in on drivers to see what they like or what they don’t like about driving for your organization. Then, build action plans around this feedback.
• Set clear levels of expectation and accountability for people who are managing drivers to be responsible for these conversations. These expectations should go from direct managers all the way up to executive-level leadership.
• Create an exit interview process with drivers who do leave. Identify patterns, common concerns, and questions, then build retention strategies around these issues.

Ready to get started?

If you’re wondering how to get started treating retention like recruiting, it all starts with a conversation! Keeping retention top of mind, identifying where changes can be made, and building a foundation of retention across your organization is a great place to start. You can learn more about increasing retention and focusing on your drivers with DriverReach here. 

⭐Make sure to follow Wendy Bartz on LinkedIn for more recruiting wisdom!