Companies Who are Nailing Their Truck Driver Retention Program

A truck driver retention program is a reactive response to one of the biggest issues in the trucking industry in America – extremely high driver turnover. According to the American Trucking Associations, the turnover rate at large fleets averaged 89% while the turnover rate at smaller fleets was 77% in the first quarter of 2021. These high turnover rates are adding strain to trucking companies, from having to continually recruit and train new employees to adjust truck routes based on driver availability.

This is where WorkHound comes in. Founded in 2015, WorkHound partners with trucking companies to implement mechanisms that will increase driver retention. Several companies have worked with WorkHound and have seen positive changes from increased retention rates to improved driver satisfaction. Today we’re highlighting just a few of the case studies released in the last year.

Read below to see some of their success stories and find more details here.

USA Truck Revolutionizes Company Culture

USA Truck has been in the industry for over 40 years and is one of the nation’s largest over-the-road truckload carriers. However, they were still struggling with retention rates. As Nick Wakefield, Vice President of Human Resources, explained, “We didn’t know what was causing driver frustration, and our retention was out of control.” Once they began partnering with WorkHound, they were able to learn more about the drivers’ experiences in real-time. WorkHound helped USA Truck to collect driver feedback and provide drivers with a regular touchpoint. USA Truck was then able to take that feedback and turn it into meaningful action, thereby increasing both the drivers’ trust in the company and overall retention rates.

Bay & Bay Transportation Grows Capacity

Bay & Bay Transportation is another company that has significantly grown with time, with over 400 truck drivers working for the company. The company prides itself on its family culture but maintaining that became difficult when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Bay & Bay turned to WorkHound for help. They add new technology from WorkHound to their truck driver retention program to stay in touch with their drivers in a more regular and meaningful way. According to Justin Johnson, Senior VP of Sales and Operations, “One of our biggest resources has been WorkHound. (Technology) has been critical as we have had 60-70% of our workforce working remotely… drivers have not felt any communication, service, or speed gaps during this pandemic.”

Melton Truck Increases Driver Satisfaction

Melton Truck Lines, a company with over 1200 drivers, turned to WorkHound when they needed help keeping a pulse on how their drivers were doing. Initially, they distributed one large survey as part of their truck driver retention program to all drivers on staff and made changes based on that feedback, but they wanted a tool that provided feedback in real-time. The new mechanism from WorkHound allowed drivers to voice their concerns right away which helps Melton make changes as soon as an issue arises. WorkHound also improved the company’s use of technology, particularly during the pandemic. Lisa Mason, VP of Safety & HR, noted that driver satisfaction and retention increased with individual phone calls and weekly video updates from upper management. Driver retention remains at 89% 30 days after the implementation of the real-time feedback mechanism.

American Central Transport (ACT) Reduces Driver Turnover

In all job descriptions at ACT, “taking stress off the drivers” is a duty for all employees, and the company highlights that they have an open-door policy. However, ACT found that these words lacked meaning for drivers who were on the road thousands of miles away from headquarters. WorkHound was implemented to provide instant feedback and serve to increase communication between upper management and the drivers. ACT also uses it as a way for drivers to share feedback about ACT’s office personnel, moving beyond providing feedback solely around the basic duties of their jobs on the road. With WorkHound’s help, annual driver retention increased by 30%. 

We’re proud and grateful for these partners who are doing great work for their drivers, but they aren’t alone. WorkHound now serves 55,000+ drivers from across the industry and you can find more of these success stories on the resources page here. If you’d like to join this community of trucking companies and add WorkHound to your truck driver retention program, get in touch. We’re happy to talk through what drivers want.