Truck drivers have always been in high demand. The pandemic highlighted the need for these specialists even more by showing how much people rely on them. Trucking companies must adjust their recruitment and retention strategies to attract and retain drivers. While increasing pay can work well, high salaries alone can't keep drivers committed.
With the truck driver turnover being almost 90%, employers are struggling to find new ways to retain them. These employees tend to shop around within the industry to find companies that offer better benefits, perks, and work culture.
That's where a professional employer organization (PEO) for trucking companies comes in. By collaborating with a reliable HR outsourcing partner, your company can provide better benefits, keep the focus on employee needs, and decrease truck driver turnover rates significantly.
Here is how.
The Value of PEOs for Trucking Companies
Since the demand for truck drivers isn't about to decrease, trucking companies must beef up their recruitment and retention tactics. Even those with a HR department that focuses specifically on this problem, can benefit from working with a PEO. They can offer you various benefits, such as:
Helps Streamline Recruiting
Finding great drivers for your company is crucial to improving operations and preventing churn. You may want to review your hiring process if you constantly lose drivers to the competition.
A professional employer organization can show you how to improve truck driver recruitment, streamline existing tactics, and come up with new ways to bring the right workforce to your doorstep:
- Find new drivers – since PEOs work with many companies and industries, they have a broader recruitment network.
- Negotiate salaries – a PEO can evaluate the company's needs, payroll, benefits, and opportunities to guide your HR team through salary discussions and help make a competitive offer.
- Work on compliance – a PEO studies all recruitment compliance issues and helps you focus on diversity, offer a reasonable salary, provide the right benefits, and much more.
- Improve onboarding – 80% of new hires plan on leaving the job after poor onboarding. A PEO can streamline onboarding and keep truck drivers happy and engaged.
A PEO can help make a great first impression on the new drivers and demonstrate the benefits and stability of your organization early in the hiring process.
Offer Competitive Benefits
With hundreds of trucking companies fighting for a qualified workforce, salaries don't play as big of a role in recruitment as they used to. When choosing a company, truck drivers pay attention to other factors—a major one being health, retirement, and wellness benefits.
Not all trucking companies have the opportunity to provide robust benefits packages. High premium costs coupled with complex administrative work prevent trucking companies from exploring better options.
A PEO can help you offer competitive benefits by:
- Using economies of scale and offering their clients' employees top-tier benefits and workers' compensation packages at a reasonable price.
- Handling all administrative work that comes with benefits administration, enrollment, compliance, and everything else that makes top benefits possible.
When choosing between an employer that provides a high salary without top-notch benefits and an employer that offers a competitive salary with top-tier benefits, talented drivers will likely choose the latter. Meanwhile, caring for your drivers' health and wellness can easily drive retention.
Provides Training and Development Services
Truck drivers' satisfaction and well-being at the company depend on the quality of training you provide. You don't just improve their skills by arranging regular training and development opportunities for your workforce; you also keep them happy, which reduces turnover.
Today, only 44% of employees are satisfied with training opportunities. Truck drivers who don't get sufficient training can put their health and well-being at risk.
A professional employer organization can arrange driver training during onboarding, find new development opportunities, and streamline safety training. Creating a culture of safety helps drivers develop positive habits and minimize accidents.
Supports Drivers to Improve Work Culture
Many trucking companies don't pay sufficient attention to work culture since their employees are deskless. Meanwhile, truckers who don't feel valued and supported in the workplace tend to look for other employment opportunities.
When a PEO handles administrative tasks, your HR department gains valuable time to focus on the work culture. Meanwhile, a PEO can help set up communication and recognition processes that contribute to driver loyalty.
Tapping Into the Value of PEOs for Trucking Companies
Since the current struggle for a qualified workforce isn't likely to subside, trucking companies must review their approach to recruiting and retaining truck drivers.
Working with a PEO takes care of many issues that employers can't solve on their own. From top-notch benefits to an improved workplace environment, a team of HR specialists can help you recruit top talent and position your trucking company as the employer of choice.
