The Truckload Carriers Association is accepting nominations for its 2011 Best Fleets to Drive For contest and survey, an annual evaluation of the best employers in the trucking industry.
Now through Oct. 31, 2010, company drivers and owner-operators may nominate their trucking companies by completing an application form.

CarriersEdge, which provides online driver quality improvement solutions, will be conducting the survey for TCA. As in previous years, the company expects that the survey data will reveal a wealth of carrier success stories in areas such as benefits, professional development, driver and community support, safety record, and company culture.

One of TCA's goals is to ensure that this information gets to the general public, where it can serve as a tool to combat the truck driver shortage.

"Best Fleets to Drive For promotes the positives," said John Kaburick, chairman of TCA and president of Earl L. Henderson Trucking Company. "It shows that there are a lot of good opportunities available right now in trucking. When people who haven't previously considered a trucking career learn that carriers are offering unique bonus systems or perks like gym memberships, that could be just the incentive they need to give those companies - and the trucking industry in general - more serious consideration."

Another goal of the survey is to focus attention on promoting the companies that are already doing a good job, and push others to follow in their footsteps.

"Being listed as a Best Fleet to Drive For has a cascading effect," said Mark Murrell, president of CarriersEdge. "Companies represented in the survey get a lot of positive PR, which results in more drivers wanting to work for them. Other carriers want the same competitive advantage, so they strive to implement similar or better features within their own companies."

The recognition is good for driver morale, too. "We couldn't have won as a Best Fleet without our drivers speaking up, asserting that they like what we are doing and are happy driving for us," said Richard Bailey, president of Boyd Bros. Transportation, the overall winner in last year's Best Fleet for Company Drivers category. "Such word of mouth is a powerful thing and goes a long way toward improving driver satisfaction."

The survey is open to all for-hire trucking companies with 10 trucks or more, whether TCA members or not. These are evaluated against a broad range of criteria reflecting current human resources best practices. Nominations must originate from one or more company drivers and/or owner-operators affiliated with the carrier. Initial information provided by the nominator will be further corroborated through interviews with the company's management and an additional random sampling of the company's drivers. Top finishers will be identified as Best Fleets to Drive For, and the highest scoring fleets in each of the Company Driver and Owner-Operator categories will be named that category's overall winner.

To complete an application form, go to www.bestfleetstodrivefor.com.