Private fleets sharpen focus on driver satisfaction

From Transport Topics.

In light of the many supply chain disruptions and market shifts of the past few years, shippers have been working to improve the efficiency and reliability of their private fleet operations, starting with an even sharper focus on attracting and retaining professional drivers.

As always, success for any trucking operation begins with the person behind the steering wheel. And that maxim has never been truer than in the years since the outbreak of COVID-19 with widespread labor shortages across much of the economy.

Private fleets, much the same as for-hire trucking companies, redoubled their efforts to boost driver satisfaction and gain an advantage in the trucking industry’s highly competitive labor market.

Some of those initiatives are now producing results.

“We threw everything we could resource-­wise at driver applications last year, and in the first quarter we started seeing dividends for the stuff we did last year,” said Bryan Langston, president of Dot Transportation, the trucking subsidiary of food service redistributor Dot Foods.

Langston attributed the company’s improved hiring results and lower turnover rate to its multipronged approach to bolstering its workforce.

Last summer, Dot Transportation began establishing its own in-house commercial driver license training schools, starting with its Maryland facility. The company has since opened driver schools and training programs at several other locations.

See the complete article online at Transport Topics.