Welcoming attendees of the 2015 Recruitment and Retention conference put on by Conversion Interactive Agency (formerly ACS) in partnership with the Truckload Carriers Association, current TCA Chairman Shepard Dunn of Indiana-based Bestway Express emphasized the challenge of driver recruiting and retention.
He asked for a show of hands among carriers in the audience for the opening general session Thursday, Feb. 5, indicating those not on electronic logs in their fleet today. Though only three hands were raised, Dunn noted that he believed that “when this mandate comes around, there will be a huge exodus of independent contractor” owner-operators that might otherwise remain a part of the driver workforce.
Creative strategies are key to attracting the next generation of drivers to the industry, Dunn said. For many, he added, “the strategy right now is that nobody’s dealing with it.”
The carriers who are the “most responsive to change” will be the ones that survive, he said, paraphrasing Charles Darwin.
Driver pay will play part, he added, noted that he felt a minimum wage for a driver working in the industry ought to be the equivalent of $65,000 to $70,000 annually but that there are “plenty of carriers that pay more than that and they’re having the same problems” attracting drivers.
“That’s why we’re here,” he told the conference attendees. “There are no silver bullets, and no easy answers.”
Efforts among carriers that should continue:
