Opinion: Reviving the Code of the Road
b>By Ray Haight
i>Chairman
rofessional Truck Driver Institute
Recruiting and retaining qualified drivers is a colossal problem. On both sides of the border, turnover in trucking is well in excess of 100%. Our core workforce is aging. We’re having a difficult time recruiting new drivers and an even harder time keeping those we already have.
Why is the trucking industry experiencing such a high turnover and attrition rate, and what can we do to attract new populations to trucking?
At the age of 10, I began spending parts of my summers driving cross-country with my father in his truck. At 18, I took the next logical step and began driving on my own. For the next 10 years I drove a truck and learned what I now call “the code of the road.”
I quickly learned that truck driving was a craft like any other, and I looked up to older drivers for advice. They taught me that drivers were a road “family,” and when you were in a position to help a fellow driver, you did it without question. Even driving through most of North America at a young age, I was confident that if I needed a hand on the road, I would get it from a fellow truck driver.
Beyond respecting fellow drivers, I also was taught the importance of respecting and maintaining my equipment so it would not let me down.
The third principle I learned on the road was the importance of a work ethic. Drivers respected their employers, appreciated their jobs and went the extra mile if asked.
My experience was not so different from that of most drivers of my generation. Many of my peers were either second-generation truckers or grew up on farms, where it was becoming more and more difficult to earn a living. We were proud to be truck drivers and took our profession very seriously.
But in the years since I left the cab for the office, things have changed swiftly and dramatically.
First, the industry’s labor pool changed. A decline in second-generation truckers and in truckers from farming backgrounds was followed by an increase in urban drivers less accustomed to working with heavy equipment but drawn by the higher-than-average wage level.
Due to a lack of driver-training standards, many of these candidates were trained by substandard schools and given just enough information and experience to pass their commercial driver license tests. This must stop.
By no fault of their own, these drivers were not equipped for the demands of life on the road, and companies, unable or unwilling to respond to changes in the industry, left them to flounder on their own, leading to record turnover.
The industry must adjust to this new reality — and adjusting is not as hard as many think. It requires common sense and a sense of our own history.
Here are some techniques that have worked for us at MacKinnon Transport, where for the past four years our turnover has been less than 30%.
• New drivers and owner-operators go through an extensive screening process to ensure they are qualified.
• New drivers and owner-operators state in writing, before they are hired, exactly what their expectations of our relationship are. We do the same. If we cannot find common ground, we do not move forward.
• We offer continual opportunities to upgrade driving skills, plus social awareness and community involvement programs, wellness programs, lifestyle training and an employee assistance program.
• We mentor each new person with a peer for one full year.
These ideas are not difficult to implement, and the drivers themselves have one of the biggest roles to play. If we give them the tools to do it, they can revive the code of the road.
Just as trucking companies must adjust to the new labor pool, training schools need to review the way they teach this new type of student. Schools could and should add to their curriculum and include a taste of the history and lineage of trucking.
I am proud to be the chairman of the Professional Truck Driver Institute — PTDI. Our curriculum is designed to cover every element necessary to prepare a driver for success in this industry. Schools with certified courses can feel confident they are training well-rounded students who are prepared to take the road as professional truck drivers.
Things have changed a lot since I first took the wheel of a commercial truck, but the soul of trucking has not. Helping our drivers find their place in the rich history of this industry — and take pride in their future — is not just nice, but necessary. Try some of my suggestions and I think you’ll agree that the key to retention is not in a company, tool or technique, but in our past, our pride and our professional drivers.
Ray Haight is executive director of truckload carrier MacKinnon Transport of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
This opinion piece appears in the March 6 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
