Fleets Eye Bonuses, Work-Life Perks Amid Driver Shortages

Fleets are hoping that improvements to driver compensation programs, improved benefits and stronger operational structures help them to retain and recruit drivers. (Volvo Trucks)

Driver retention struggles have long vexed trucking companies, but some fleet operators are mitigating that challenge by fine-tuning their driver compensation programs and structuring operations to offer lifestyle improvements.

“We’ve worked really hard over many years now to really develop a comprehensive meet-and-turn network to where we can get 90% of our road drivers home every single day,” said Greg Richardson, vice president of human resources at less-than-truckload carrier Estes Express Lines.

While the meet-and-turn structure — which allows drivers to meet at a halfway point on a route, swap equipment and then return home — is not new, more advanced technology and operational planning have greatly helped the company customize it to meet customer demand and provide driver incentives, he said.

“It’s helped us from a retention standpoint,” Richardson said, “but we’re also hoping that we’re [building] a narrative out there that being a truck driver is a good thing and that you can be home and have a good work-life balance if you align yourself with the right organization who’s really making every effort to do that.”

Estes, based in Richmond, Va., ranks No. 8 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest for-hire carriers in North America.

Replacing drivers is not only time consuming, but expensive. The cost of onboarding a single driver is estimated at $12,000, said Linnette Torres, compliance and recruiting director at truck driver staffing company CPC Logistics, which has more than 3,500 drivers in the United States and Canada.

Most drivers at CPC have been with the company for 10 to 30 years. Torres attributed this longevity to a number of factors, including competitive pay rates but also to keeping lines of communication open, which driver feedback at CPC has highlighted as an important issue.

“Drivers need to feel they’re being listened to by their managers,” she said. “There’s always somebody that drivers can go to if there’s any concern.”

Professional truck drivers ranked compensation as their top concern in 2025 at a time when driver employment levels dropped across the industry, according to a recent report from the American Transportation Research Institute.

The report suggested that many fleets elected to reduce new hiring while retaining proven veteran drivers at higher wage levels.

Driver Incentives and Productivity

To retain drivers and attract new ones, trucking executives said they offer a high base pay rate per mile, performance-based bonuses tied to safety and flexible home time.

Findlay, Ohio-based truckload carrier Garner Trucking offers its drivers a 6 cents-per-mile bonus incentive for meeting certain performance goals, said Sherri Garner Brumbaugh, the company’s CEO.

Garner has implemented an automated system that provides feedback on various safety metrics, including idling, fueling and compliance with safety regulations. The program includes incentives for safe driving, such as maintaining speed limits, avoiding hard braking and avoiding cellphone use.

At Estes, when a road mileage driver gets stuck for four or five hours on a route that is usually a 2½-hour run, the company turns that run into an hourly structure so that the compensation would be the same as the mileage structure, Richardson said.

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Richardson

Drivers who get held up at warehouses due to circumstances beyond their control are also compensated for their downtime, he added.

“For the LTL industry that has always been the case, but for the truckload industry, not so much,” Richardson said, noting that Estes has a 50-50 mix of road and hourly drivers in its 10,000-driver network.

Technologies like weigh station bypass systems are also helping to improve driver productivity and reduce stress, Richardson said.

“In a network where drivers are being paid as the wheels are turning, every time those wheels stop is costing them money,” he said. “In fact, we’re at a stage now where drivers will get frustrated if they’re having to pull into weigh stations.”

Weigh station bypass systems support driver retention by maximizing their available hours of service, said Mark Doughty, president and CEO of PrePass Safety Alliance, a nonprofit public-private partnership of state agencies and trucking industry leaders that provides weigh station bypass and toll payment technology.

“Whether they have an appointment for a pickup or delivery, or they’re trying to manage their hours of service so they can either get home or get to the terminal or find a safe place to park, having the ability to bypass weigh stations — if they’re driving for qualified carriers — gives them more predictability on that route,” he said.

The bypass program also helps to minimize potential ingress and egress challenges, Doughty added.

“Every time a commercial truck has to slow down from highway speeds and exit the highway and then merge back in, unfortunately, those are potential opportunities for accidents to happen,” he said.

Work-Life Balance

Generational changes are also causing the industry to rethink incentive programs.

Younger drivers entering the workforce tend to value work-life balance as well as opportunities to move up into leadership roles, executives said. They are, in fact, more likely than experienced drivers to leave a company that does not align with their goals or offer quick job advancement.

The first thing new recruits look for is cents-per-mile rates, said Brumbaugh of Garner Trucking, which hires drivers fresh out of driving school.

“They’re comparing me against my peers in what I’m offering,” she said.

The second thing they scrutinize is whether they can get a dedicated route so that they can be home more often, Brumbaugh added.

“That’s where you have to be transparent and find those drivers that are willing to do the schedule that we have,” she said, adding that Garner offers flexible schedules to attract drivers.

To keep young employees from heading elsewhere, it’s critical to offer solid retention programs that “inspire” them by building on work-life balance goals along with competitive compensation, Estes’ Richardson said.

While some want to be home more often, others are looking for longer routes.

“For the drivers that we do have out on the road and who are spending any time in hotels or even in their trucks, they’re doing that because they’ve asked for those jobs,” Richardson said. “It’s not necessarily because there’s not another opportunity out there.”