When will the leaders in this industry get it through their thick heads that we have far more of a driver retention problem than we have a driver shortage problem. There’s also a driver attraction problem.
All these conferences have CEOs, and various executive officers, senior management placeholders, head honchos of the police, NHVR and various industry organisations and reps from the unions (perhaps) none of which (virtually) in my opinion have their lives on the line day in day out at the coalface.
Firstly, stop treating those at the coalface as cannon fodder. Start respecting their (especially current) knowledge base for what it is.
Stop thinking that you know better than they, simply because you are “higher up the corporate tree” and, for God’s sake, stop treating the drivers like Neanderthals.
Some of the very smartest people in the entire industry sit right behind the wheel and not behind a desk. Value their knowledge and experience.
Most of us out here know just how tight the margins are and we realise that if the company isn’t effective, efficient and, above all, profitable, none of us have a job, so maybe, just maybe, listen to those at the coalface who are most at risk.
In addition to paying them well (and as an industry on an across the board basis the industry fails here) you might consider visiting humanity upon them.
It may surprise some of you all, but drivers aren’t just scum, verbal punching bags or stupid. Even the least intelligent drivers know when they’re being had a lend of, much to your surprise, I suspect. More on this towards the end.
Liaise with drivers, don’t demand
When (for example) an interstate driver is away from family, friends, ANY SOCIAL LIFE AT ALL for five to six days and nights a week, remuneration needs to be competitive with competing industries (mining, cold stores et al) if you want to retain current drivers and attract new folks to the vocation – and it IS a vocation and not just a job.
Try asking and liaising with your drivers instead of demanding. Start considering them as individuals. I know that industry leaders would prefer that we were merely conveyor belt operators, but that’s not in the foreseeable future (despite technological “advances”) so start to recognise they have individual personalities and do things in individual ways – after all, if something goes wrong and the brown, smelly stuff hits the fan, you expect them to make (and correctly) individual solutions to whatever the issue is. You don’t get one without the other.
By and large, my exposure to the coppers and NHVR these days has been pretty positive and better than it used to be, many years ago, however consistency of attitude and application of the law would be a good thing and more emphasis, perhaps, could be given to educating drivers, say, with logbook (sorry, work diary) infringements and other interception such as minor road worthiness, etc.
In this modern day and age of roadside internet connections, warning or education could be done at the interception and annotated (as necessary) against their record so that anybody trying to have a “lend of the system by playing dumb” could be drafted from those genuinely …..confused.
Remember, too, that you will most likely be going home to your family and the bloke you are intercepting probably WON’T be, so if he’s a bit sharp or short, there may be additional pressures upon his mindset than you are aware. De-escalate is the key should he/she be a bit stroppy and, should he/she continue to be an arse, treat them accordingly.
As a general rule, this industry does bugger all “in house” training…. and relies almost solely on the good intentions of existing drivers to ensure new starters are “brought up to speed”. I know there are exceptions in the biggest of the big, but as a general rule this is the case.
Virtually every company is happy to “steal” operators from other companies and hope that they are suitably competent. The cost of equipment damage that ensues as a result of this “policy” must be enormous, however it seems to be deemed less than employing “in house” driver trainers/assessors” … something that I find puzzling at best.
It seems that this industry doesn’t institute things very well unless compelled or mandated, so, perhaps legislation compelling coalface training for more than a certain number of drivers should be mandated. I can hear the executives growling already.
Crashes and fatalities on the rise
We have seen in recent months and years how “successful” our current systems that are in place for attracting people into the Australian road transport industry are, with increasing numbers of crashes, injuries and fatalities particularly this year.
I don’t have the facts and figures as I don’t have the time or energy (and am fully employed out here with my arse on the line) to research the statistics, however anecdotally it would seem there has been a significant increase this year.
There’s no doubt that some can be attributed to disgustingly poor maintenance of the road network – worse in some states than others. Governments do not manage our taxes very well and a few short years ago put all our state government coffers perilously low, but that’s a whole other story.
With the amount of scrutiny via the likes of Safe-T-Cam and roadside interceptions, it’s hard to account for it as being due to increased time constraint pressure …. or unlikely to be, especially considering that I started out in an era when there was real, genuine and ridiculous levels of pressure and pathetically short time frames in travel and when the actual (rather than allowed) speeds were ……significantly quicker.
Without identifying any individual accidents, some of the factors that are so much better, today, than in the past is the general road network quality (not talking maintenance here).
We now have so much divided road, whilst I can remember when probably less than one per cent of the inter-capital network was so.
Even the Hume Highway back when I started was poor or NO shoulders, single lane with a few passing lanes, narrow and rickety bridges and that’s about all, so it makes one wonder how there are incidents under such conditions.
It seems to me there are little more “driver distractions” this year and in recent years to prior to that, so it’s hard to justify blaming that. My personal feeling is that it has far more to do with the lack of ensuring competency levels and “fast tracking” than almost any other factor.
Driver education of the public at large is woefully inadequate. I commend a couple of companies that have had involvement in public education campaigns, but nowhere near enough is expended upon that.
I drive a road train (which is no big deal in itself) but the number of clueless general (public) motorists out there that cause me to take some sort of avoidance action is ridiculous – it happens multiple times every day where they either overtake when they shouldn’t, merge when they shouldn’t or, even, try to UNDERTAKE me in the middle of round-abouts, for example.
Gratitude goes a long way
Lastly, to retain current, although ageing, drivers and to attract new potential drivers you need to find a way to pay commensurate with both the risks involved in what is a truly dangerous occupation as well as competing industries…. such as FIFO employees in the mines.
The fact is you are directly competing with companies such as this for their services and more directly than most executives in this industry realise, I suspect.
Treat your drivers with respect and respect their knowledge. Granted that many drivers are opinionated, and some almost obnoxiously so, but most of them have far more current knowledge of their day to day experiences than everyone in the office. Dispatch staff in particular should be aware of this and visit their attitude accordingly.
Occasionally, and when warranted, acknowledge excellence…. even as simply as with a “thank you”. You would be surprised how little courtesy and gratitude is passed to the driver across the board.
You catch a lot more willingness with gratitude than ever you will with smart-arsed comments.