Quick Dock Turnarounds Boost Driver Morale To Improve Job Retention

  2021-05-03-Driver-Retention-BL

One reason why drivers quit the profession or leave their employer for another one are delays at the loading dock. When the driver has to sit around a long time for the truck to be loaded or unloaded, he or she can’t make their rounds and get home at night. With the nation facing a shortage of truck drivers, the logistics industry has to do something about this issue to keep men and women behind the wheel of rigs.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US trucking industry already faces a shortage of more than 59,000 drivers. That shortage is only expected to worsen in the coming decade as more drivers retire. The American Trucking Associations has estimated that the industry will need to hire about 1.1 million new drivers over the coming decade.

Recruiting and retaining drivers poses a major challenge for trucking companies, which move about three quarters of freight shipments in the United States. To make truck driving a more attractive career, motor carriers are going to have to take steps to boost pay, improve working conditions, and minimize on-the-job dissatisfaction wherever possible.

The Frustration of Dock Delays

One of the driver’s biggest complaints involves detention and delay at customer facilities as a truck waits to be loaded or unloaded. These delays can sometimes last several hours. This loss of time eats into the driver’s hours of service (HOS ) limits,” the number of hours a truck driver may work per day and how often under federal safety regulations. 

In addition, dock delays can also impact a driver’s compensation, if they are paid by the mile, and prevented by HOS rules from making additional pickups or drop-offs. No matter whether the drivers are paid by the hour or the mile, dock delays are one of their biggest job complaints as these holdups prevents them from getting home on time.

The Solution to Truck Delays

When receiving companies use estimated time of arrivals (ETAs) calculated on the basis of real-time information on the truck’s whereabouts in transit, they can better plan their labor resources at the warehouse or plant to load or unload a vehicle, providing a faster turnaround time for the driver. 

Trucking companies can provide predictive ETAs by joining the project44 Advanced Visibility Platform, which automatically keeps the receiving company informed about a delivery in progress. The platform updates the receiver with predictive ETAs and provides alerts about possible delays if the driver encounters traffic congestion, roadwork, or bad weather on en route to the receiver’s facility. Because of the automatic updates on the progress of the journey, a driver also does not have to make manual calls to update the receiving company on arrival times.

No Cost for Truckers To Join project44

Participation in the project 44 network is free for trucking companies. Onboarding is also easy as a trucking company only has to integrate its data once with the platform to communicate with all its customers.

Because project44 lets a trucking company collaborate with shippers and receivers through its platform, they can all work together to avoid excessive dock delays. When trucking companies work with their supply chain partners to minimize dock waiting times, it improves driver morale by removing one of the biggest job frustrations that turns drivers against this line of work. 

Making A Trucking Company A Preferred Workplace

A trucking company that earns a reputation for keeping drivers on schedule and bringing them home at night becomes a preferred place to work. Using an advanced visibility platform to reduce dock delays is one step that trucking companies can take to help keep drivers behind the wheel.