Last week, Idelic hosted the webinar, “Building a Culture of Retention: Onboarding and the Pre-Hire Process,” where our presenters discussed how fleets can revamp their onboarding and pre-hire processes to smooth their drivers’ transition to working behind the wheel and keep them around for the long haul.
During the webinar, which you can watch a full recording of here, our presenters highlighted three things every fleet should understand about improving retention:
#1: High Turnover Doesn’t Just Cost Money, It Costs Focus
Turnover in the industry is incredibly high, which has forced many fleets to pour their time and attention into recruiting and onboarding drivers. This doesn’t just take money away from a fleet’s core business areas, it also takes focus away from them. Executives in all departments have to spend their energy thinking about their fleet’s turnover when they should be thinking about what they do best: delivering freight.
#2: The Three Qualities of a Successful Hiring and Onboarding Process
The fleets that are most successful at retaining drivers have a consistent message about their safety, job expectations, and culture that is:
- Well Communicated
Every member of their fleet understands the message they should convey to drivers, throughout their full tenure.
- Aligned with their culture
The message they push accurately reflects the experience a driver will have on the job and is true to their fleet’s culture.
- Unified
All members of a fleet, from their recruiters to their managers, trainers, and executives, need to deliver the same, unified message to drivers and potential hires.
#3: Onboarding is at Least a Year-Long Process
Today, many in the trucking industry look at onboarding as “orientation and the first day.” This could not be further from the truth. Onboarding is an ongoing process and occurs every time a driver has a “first” at a fleet: their first paycheck, first inspection, or first incident. A successful onboarding strategy is one in which a fleet has a plan in place for every “first” a driver experiences.
The Tool You Need to Improve Your Onboarding
Implementing a proper pre-hire and onboarding plan can seem difficult, but with the right tools, it doesn’t have to be.
The Idelic Safety Suite® is the most comprehensive driver management platform in the trucking industry and is the premier tool for onboarding and retaining drivers. With Safety Suite, fleets can create the high-engagement onboarding plans they need to retain drivers and instill safety-first values into every member of their fleet. They can also share data between their recruiting, onboarding, and dispatch teams, ensuring all members of a fleet push a consistent, unified message throughout each driver’s full tenure.
If you’d like to learn more about how Safety Suite helps fleets retain drivers for the long haul, watch a 2-minute demo or sign up for a deep dive here.