Keith A. Hamblin
February 12, 1995
I don't know if you hands have noticed it or not but our bosses have had quite a stir going for the last couple of years.
As far as I can tell it must be some gigantic conspiracy to take over the world or something because it is certainly not what they are calling it..
Operation Driver Retention is the code name but you and I both know that driver retention is not the real goal of this mission.
Oh sure, they talk about the thousands of dollars it costs to replace us if we decide to ride for another brand but this has got to be a ruse the perpetrators are using to throw the C.I.A. and others off their trail. Case in point; How many times have you been told that truck drivers are a dime a dozen. I know I have heard it dozens of times from former employers. Key word being FORMER. Actually I even heard it once from a dispatcher at my present company but He didn't last long for SOME reason...
Industry wide our companies are spending millions, probably billions of dollars on consultants, advisors, studies and human resource departments; supposedly to figure out how to keep you and I from trading saddles.
I have been discussing this issue with numerous drivers. On the C.B., in the truck stops and through E-mail. Out of all those drivers only one of us has ever been asked what it would take to keep us at the same company. I'm not certain but I believe she was a plant by the conspirators to confuse mine and the C.I.A.s' suspicions. I asked her that very question and she looked at me like I was not quite sane, which only increased my suspicion.
If their only concern was really just to keep us driving for the same company, then I find it hard to believe that the captains of our industry would be willing to throw out all that cash for advisors and studies without even asking us.
It used to be that when you asked for a raise, you would get told that a raise would mean a rate increase and that your customers would drop you. Now we can't get a raise because all of the profits are going to pay the advisors who are trying to figure out how to keep us..
I have figured out one thing for sure from all of this. I would never make a good business man. I guess I'm just too simple minded and can't understand the intricate wisdom that takes food off of our tables to figure out why we are dissatisfied.
Of course I can't speak for every driver but if you are seriously interested in keeping those drivers on board, then I don't believe you would be too far off base using the following guidelines.
(1)...Drivers are Men and Women. Trucks are machines. It takes about 20 minutes to fuel a truck. Men and Women take a while longer. Preferably 48 consecutive hours per week but a minimum of 24. (HINT) Refueling of men and women is considerably less effective if performed a thousand miles away from homes and families.
(2)...Slavery was abolished over a hundred years ago in a small skirmish called THE CIVIL WAR! Perhaps you have heard of it. When you hire a driver, you are not buying that driver. You are agreeing to pay a certain fee for their expertise and SOME of their time. Usually this arrangement also includes a certain amount of driver loyalty but loyalty is like respect, Earned and not owed. If you treat a driver right and occasionally you get in a bind and need a little more help, then usually that driver is going to have no problem helping you out. If however you are coming to that driver consistently and saying "Hey, I know your on your way home but this customer just called and now You are going to deliver this load!!" You are going to lose the loyalty very fast. I know from experience on both sides of that desk that if a driver is pleasing the customer, not damaging your equipment and is turning in the paperwork correctly and on time, then you are getting the better end of the deal no matter what you are paying.
(3)...We have lives outside of the truck. As you are rushing home to eat dinner and get ready for that little league game remember that my kid is on the same league. He understands that I can't watch him play every single game but he needs me there once in a while as much as I need to be there. My daughter still hasn't forgiven me for missing the daddy daughter dinner after you and I promised I would be there but HEY! that emergency load got there on time as usual.
(4)... Last but most definitely not least. It is bad enough and on most drivers minds that if anything happens to anyone in our family, we are not going to be there. What will make this a whole lot worse is the fear that something bad will happen and we won't be able to afford to fix it. I am talking mainly about health insurance but use your imagination. There are other things you can do to help and don't tell me you can't afford it because I know better. I have worked at numerous places where Health Insurance was either not available or was so cost prohibitive that no one but management could afford it. Our kids are already sacrificing one parent to the road. It is not unreasonable to ask that they don't have to sacrifice the other parent to a job just so we can buy insurance. Either give us the insurance or pay us enough to buy it ourselves. I have a friend who has been working for the same company for six years. He has not had a raise since August of 91. The new drivers coming in are making the same on their first day as he is after all those years and miles. He cannot afford insurance so he just prays he will never need it. Since 91 the cost of living has sky rocketed to the point where he could easily lose his house anytime. Ask yourself, Does that driver owe his company any loyalty?? I say if he gets a better offer he would be a fool not to jump on it. Loyalty to the company is one thing but that is a two way street. Any person worth having on your payroll is going to be loyal to family first and company second. If you expect more than that then I am surprised you have kept even one employee..
Well I will stop my whining for now. If nothing else I have clued the C.I.A. into this huge conspiracy so I have done at least some good. Keep that Lexus dry and send me a post card from that next cruise and remember, even the money in your wallet came by way of a truck......