How a large shipping company overcame industry's biggest problem, driver retention
Western Flyer Express was founded by Rodney and Randy Timms in 1996. They began with 4 trucks and 4 reefers and have grown the company into a fleet of more than 600 trucks and 1300 trailers servicing customers with many different needs. As the company grew, the drivers were predominant and accounted to be 60% of their workforce
According to a recent survey of 24,000 drivers, more than 30% of drivers quit within the first 3 months. Additionally, approximately 50% leave within the first 6 months. The average cost of turnover per driver was around $4000 to $8,234. For a company with drivers as the majority of the workforce, these issues were a priority and cannot be ignored at any cost. To fray this driver retention problem they started searching for a solution which will address the complexity of driver relations and retention.
“We understood that stopping your drivers from marching out that door starts with putting greater importance on what you can do to make them happy in the workplace,”. Said Rodney.
Rodney found Driver sync an exclusively tailored app which aims to reduce employee turnover - both during the highly vulnerable first year of employment and over the long term - by gathering employee feedback from new and existing employees about their workplace experience.
Driver Sync simplified the process for drivers to provide feedback to their Fleet Manager and Company Management on the problems they encounter from anywhere and anytime using their mobile, independent of geographic location and time zone allowing the company to handle retention issues in real time. Driver Sync aims to act as a bridge between the management and drivers by helping Western flyer to get immediate visibility of things which they wouldn't have known if it wasn't part of their system.
Driver Sync has helped Western Flyer save over $100,000 for hiring and training new drivers, also the turnover has decreased by15% within a year of its implementation. Driver Sync’s success cannot be constrained to just numbers, it has helped Western flyer understand the underlying problems of drivers and the average time and effort required to solve them.It increased the confidence in drivers of being heard and appreciated
Saved in costs
Decrease in driver turnover
Decrease in the avg time to close a feedback ticket