Heavy Duty Trucking, January 2018

HDT JANUARY 2018 48 WWW TRUCKINGINFO COMduring a recent Stifel Equity Research conference call But one of the biggest challenges is how drivers are paid They often have to fight for their correct pay weekly Office staff doesnt dont have to deal with this issue as their salaried pay is predictable and expected and so they may not grasp how important this is to a driver He said part of the problem rests with there being no great payroll system designed for trucking which often means drivers may receive reports from two systems and struggle to reconcile them Drivers surveyed also complained that recruiting promised one level of pay but they were set up at a different rate According to Farrell other pay issues managers should be well versed in include how reimbursements are handled confusion over different payroll systems and explaining complex formulas for detention pay and toll and scale reimbursements Yet another potential pitfall that can send drivers packing is how frequently pay is raised A study by ERE Media which offers services to professional recruiters found that looking across all industries 35 of new employees would look to switch jobs if they did not receive a raise within 12 months By comparison Driver iQ which provides employment screening of truckers found that 70 of its fleet customers schedule a pay raise within the first year while others set them for sometime within the first three to six months Some of the carriers make a distinction based on driver experience when determining pay increases while others factor in DOT violations Driver iQ also points out that truckload fleets have historically limited their estimates of the costs of driver turnover to just recruiting costs leaving out retention costs But respondents to a survey indicated that their retention costs included incremental pay increases training and seniority benefits And included in other were both the cost of recognition awards and of delayed sign on bonuses which of course are another form of driver pay Certainly the biggest challenge for a given long haul fleet is figuring out how much to raise pay and in which manner to do so to both help find and keep drivers Also worth pondering especially when recruiting is climbed 456 and companies such as McDonalds hiked hourly pay a whopping 94 That puts driver pay in perspective Klemp said Its become less attractive over time putting a real damper on growing the driver pool over the years And now with a superheated freight market the only place driver pay can go is up All the signs are there for the reading Klemp said GDP growth remains in the 3 range and as a result blue collar jobs are going unfulfilled in many employment sectors He noted that housing build times are stretching out by months due to the labor shortage and hourly rates for laborers and semi skilled workers are increasing rapidly Little wonder then that NTI projects driver wages will continue increasing into this year A study conducted by WorkHound which provides fleets with actionable insights on driver retention found that drivers not only want to be paid well but also are very concerned about the confusing and uncertain aspects of getting paid Not surprisingly for example they get turned off when carriers calculate their pay based on household goods or practical miles vs the actual physical miles the driver tracked A lot of people expect drivers to complain about wanting more money observed Max Farrell WorkHound co founder and CEO grabbers Weve seen the re emergence of 10000 sign on bonuses with 40 paid out in the first four months And established drivers team can command a 20000 sign on bonus based on location thats paid out over 12 months Turning to demographics and the expectations of a new generation of job seekers Klemp said that not only is the average age of truckers rising NTI data pegs it as north of 52 but also fewer young workers will consider trucking no matter the pay Millennials are totally disinterested in truck driving as a career he said Its physically demanding work with higher than average injury rates because you are doing things the human body young and old alike doesnt like to do Klemp pointed out another downside to trucking that doesnt help make it appealing to younger drivers the irregular nature of driver pay especially in for hire which makes it difficult to lead a regular life Yet another negative is that trucker pay largely has not kept pace with inflation He said that from 2006 to 2017 net growth in for hire truck driver income was a very low 63 During that same time pay for private fleet drivers rose 165 which compares favorably to the inflation rate of 185 Also during that same time minimum wage Phil Byrd president of Bulldog Hiway Express second from right seen here with several senior drivers says the carrier wants the pay and compensation packages it offers to hit the bulls eye for as many drivers as possible DRIVER SERIES PART 1 PHOTO BULLDOG HIWAY EXPRESS