I think the most effective retention program model is the committee model. That’s where the CEO of an organization appoints a committee – I like to call it the Work Life Improvement Committee – that’s headed up by his #2 in the organization. That person is held accountable for retention. Also on the committee should be the top operations officer and top recruiting officer. It’s the job of that committee to identify the company’s unique turnover issues and develop appropriate solutions to those issues.

Having that level of staffing on your retention committee accomplishes three things: one, it lets those in the organization know that retention is a very high-level priority (it’s chaired by the company’s second in command); two, it keeps recruiting, operations and retention in alignment; and three, it leverages years of existing experience at minimal costs because its all internal personnel on the committee.

The Work Life Improvement Committee uses driver surveys, turnover trends and exit interviews to develop an internal turnover analysis that identifies what their company’s unique issues are. Once those issues are identified, then they can start developing solutions to those issues.

For example, your turnover trends might identify high turnover in the 0 - 60 day tenured driver profile. A driver survey might tell you that that group, the 0-60 day tenured drivers, have a consistent complaint that your company doesn’t have a mechanism to properly acclimate new drivers into the company; a trusted resource the driver can go to when they have questions or problems.

A possible solution from the WLIC may include implementing a driver mentor program. A driver mentor program would be set up where trained, experienced drivers would help acclimate the new drivers into the company culture, answer questions, and make them feel more comfortable in those first few critical months. If the new driver makes it past the 60 day mark, the driver mentor would get a retention bonus for getting that new driver acclimated to the company.

Actually, the costs associated with setting up a retention program are quite low. Keep in mind you’re using existing staff for the committee. There are some start-up costs however, in terms driver surveys and initial driver manager training, but ongoing costs are minimal. When it comes to the solutions that your committee develops to deal with your turnover issues, those costs are also minimal. With retention solutions, the value is not the monetary worth that these solutions deliver to the drivers; the value of your initiatives is that over time they improve driver perceptions about working at your company.

Carriers have to realize that retention improvement doesn’t come over night. It not only takes a lot of time to identify your unique turnover issues, it also takes a lot of time to develop solutions to those issues. Additionally, it will probably take a long time to change driver’s perceptions about your company.

There’s a direct relationship between perception and driver loyalty. Retention, at its most basic level, is building driver loyalty to your company; the more loyal a driver is, the more likely he is to stay with an organization. So a continual flow of new initiatives that resolve the drivers’ turnover issues will gradually improve their perceptions and build driver loyalty.