If you’re relying on an “open-door policy” or even online surveys to get feedback from your drivers, you’re probably not doing enough, according to Mark Murrell, co-creator of the Best Fleets to Drive For program and president of CarriersEdge, which offers online driver training.

Since the Best Fleets to Drive For program was founded in 2008, Murrell has been talking to some of the best trucking fleets in the country when it comes to driver retention, and sharing what he learns from those best practices with other trucking fleets.

"One of the things that we have said for years and years and years to fleets is to ask drivers what they want, ask drivers what they think about things," he told HDT in an interview.

"We hear over and over from fleets that they've got an open door policy 'any driver can talk to us.' 

"But that's a very passive approach. Basically, 'I'm going to sit here and wait for you to come and tell me something. But it doesn't really work anymore. It's a starting point, but it works way better to actually be proactive and go out there and ask drivers what they want.

"The fleets that do that have a much better response," Murrell says. "Not only are they making that effort, which is generally well received by drivers, but it also allows them to get to people that aren't necessarily going to come into the office and say something."

How To Find Out What Truck Drivers Want

Murrell explains that before the COVID pandemic, the Best Fleets to Drive For program saw a range of different ways trucking companies were communicating with drivers — online and offline tools, personal communications, driver meetings, and some automated methods.

But the pandemic pushed fleets to rely more on virtual methods, and it has largely stayed that way, as fleets rely on automated, online surveys.

"We found this year when we were evaluating the Best Fleets to Drive For that nearly every fleet was doing online surveys as a way of collecting feedback from their driving force — to the point where it’s almost too much," Murrell says.

“Drivers are starting to get survey burnout. They get too many surveys, and the participation rate has started to go down. The quality of the feedback has started to go down.”

Fleets need to use a variety of approaches, he says.

Why The Personal Touch Is Vital For Truck Driver Retention

Yes, some online surveys are useful, both anonymous and ones where the driver is identified. But fleets also should be using other methods of outreach, such as phone calls and town hall meetings.

“Pre-COVID, we would regularly see people doing town halls at different terminals or just getting together with their drivers kind of informally and saying, ‘I want to get your feedback on this. I'm really curious what you think about this thing,'" Murrell says, which "can work really well.

“We are starting to see the seeds of this coming back.”

One method is management outreach calls, for instance, where managers will get a list of different drivers every week to call and check in with.

“It's not that difficult to work into the schedule, and it can be a really great way to take the temperature of what's happening in the workforce.”

“All of those things ends up being the most effective way to collect good feedback and make sure that you get it in a timely fashion in a way that you can actually use it.”

What Do You Do With Truck Driver Feedback?

Collecting driver feedback, whether it’s online surveys or other methods, is just the first step, Murrell says. You have to do something about what you learn.

You can’t address every complaint. In the beginning, fleets can pick the lowest-hanging fruit and start from there.

“But the third part of it that people often miss is actually sharing that back to the workforce,” he says — telling the drivers what the company is doing about what it’s hearing.

You have to close the loop and let drivers know what you're doing in response to their feedback. Explain to drivers what you're changing as a result of what you heard.

“When people see that there is something happening, that they've made the effort to tell you something, you did something with it, and you can see that that change is happening, that becomes a bit of a flywheel," Murrell says. 

"They will then give you more feedback and speak up more often and give you more ideas and it can be something that really builds on itself nicely.”

What To Tell Truck Drivers When You Can't Fix The Problem

What about things you can’t change?

“Even if you can’t do something, you still have to communicate back,” Murrell says. “And sometimes that can be a more valuable discussion.”

Sharing with drivers why you’re unable to make a change can lead to a discussion, he says, coming up with ideas about other things the fleet might be able to do to address the issue.

“One of the things that the Best Fleets have found is that sharing with drivers the things they can’t do, why they can’t do it, or the failures, talking about those things more openly builds a lot more trust," Murrell says.

Conversely, he says, if there’s a problem that comes up every time you do a survey, and you never do anything about it, drivers start to get suspicious.

At the end of the day, drivers don’t expect fleets to be perfect — but they do expect them to care, to try, and to explain. 

Whether it’s a town hall at a terminal or a quick phone call from a manager, small gestures can lead to big insights. And those insights, if put to work, can make all the difference between losing a driver and keeping one.