Driver managers are the employee group that has the most influence over driver retention. From a driver’s perspective, the driver manager is the face of the company. What a driver manager says, what he does, how he treats the driver; all influence the driver’s daily life, his level of compensation and even influences his home time.

Therefore it very important for driver managers to be trained in the soft skills, not only for improving retention, but also for improving productivity and policy compliance, such as adherence to the company idling policy and turning in logs on a timely basis.

Soft skills refer to those positive, motivational and sympathetic characteristics you use when interacting with others. In the case of driver managers, soft skill training begins with building awareness and appreciation for the driver’s job.

Truck drivers, like other professionals, tend not to respect managers that don’t understand how the people they manage perform their jobs. So it’s important for driver managers to be trained in exactly what a driver does.

My recommendation is you white-board driver manager thoughts on what a driver’s daily life is like – from pre-trip to post-trip, and everything in between. Once you’ve listed all the points that driver managers think are part of a driver’s daily routine, bring in an experienced driver and have him audit and correct their list. That should then be followed up with a discussion between your driver managers on all the additional things that were added to the list.

Driver managers also need to be kept informed about everything that has to do with retention. Keep in mind that, as far as drivers are concerned, driver managers are the face of the company. If a driver goes to a driver manager with a question or problem that the driver manager can’t answer, he loses credibility with that driver.

The driver manager needs to be seen as an authority within the company; you want your drivers to feel confident that they can go to their driver managers to get every problem resolved and every question answered.

The second point is, having informed driver managers communicating with your drivers provides a clear and concise message on policy and company communications. So it’s very important to keep your driver managers in the loop about retention developments.

The change you’re after is an improvement in driver perception about the working conditions at your company; perceptions and loyalty are directly related. The concept of the Work Life Improvement Committee is that you continually introduce driver friendly programs that constantly remind the driver that you care about his welfare and you’re trying to improve his working conditions. Over time, you’ll find that your drivers have more loyalty to your company and fewer drivers are leaving.