Drivers are the backbone of your business. They navigate busy roads, deliver vital goods, and represent your brand.
But commercial driving is a demanding, risky, and lonely job. That’s why driver shortage is at an all-time high. In fact, according to a report by the International Road Transport Union(IRU), driver shortage will double globally in the next four years.
Therefore, you must find ways to improve driver morale to reduce attrition. And to make your job easier, we share the top five driver management tips below to keep your team motivated and engaged and boost safety and efficiency.
Table of Contents
1. Regularly Communicate with Drivers
There are several benefits of regular communication with your drivers. It reduces the confusion about deliveries and enables drivers to report issues that impact their schedules.
You can address safety concerns promptly and offer support in challenging situations.
Open communication allows drivers to raise concerns and suggest improvements, making them feel valued and heard.
So, they will be happy to work with you and perform better. You can also reduce turnover and improve operational efficiency.
Here are some ideas to help you communicate with your drivers effectively:
- Hold frequent team meetings.
- Provide well-defined delivery instructions.
- Share company goals and opportunities for drivers.
- Implement an Open Door Policy to encourage drivers to come to you with questions, concerns, and suggestions.
- Actively listen to your drivers and address their concerns.
- Use instant messaging apps, internal forums, or a delivery route planner app for seamless communication.
2. Provide Well-Optimized Routes
Optimized routes offer several benefits.
Your drivers won’t get stuck in traffic, so they won’t be frustrated. They can complete more deliveries per shift and make more money. They will have a work-life balance and free time to improve their well-being.
Your drivers will be happy. Your customers will be satisfied because they will have timely deliveries. Ultimately, it’s good for your business because you can increase driver and customer retention and improve profitability.
You can use Waze or Google Maps to plan a route with up to 10 stops. But, for multiple drivers, you need an advanced route optimization solution like Route4Me for multi-stop route planning.
Route4Me’s route planner can help you optimize multi-stop routes, considering traffic, weather, time windows, roadblocks, turn restrictions, and more constraints.
You just need to upload the delivery addresses and set some parameters. Route4Me will automatically create the most fuel-efficient routes based on your chosen parameters. The best part is it just takes a minute to generate efficient routes.
You can even plan unlimited routes and schedule for months in advance.
Below are several features Route4Me’s last-mile optimization solution offers to make routing and scheduling seamless and efficient.
- Cloud-based data helps you plan, track, and manage routes anytime, anywhere.
- Recurring routing plans and dispatches your regular routes daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.
- SmartZone routing splits the list of customer addresses into small zones (virtual territories) of addresses.
- Mixed fleet routing optimizes routes for various vehicles.
- Re-optimize routes with a few clicks.
- Add or remove stops mid-route, and Route4Me recalculates instantly.
- Geocoding autocorrects addresses entered into the system.
- The Mobile app helps drivers receive optimized routes and delivery instructions on their phones.
Want To See For Yourself How Route4Me Can Help with Driver Management?
3. Prioritize Driver Safety
Safe drivers are more focused, attentive, and efficient. Plus, drivers prefer working with employers who prioritize their safety.
But it’s not just about the drivers. Prioritizing driver safety is good for your business, too.
Your strong commitment to driver safety can improve your brand image. Also, it helps you reduce vehicle maintenance costs, insurance premiums, medical bills, or potential lawsuits due to accidents.
Here are some critical steps to ensure driver safety.
- Periodic vehicle maintenance is a must to prevent breakdowns and ensure optimal performance.
- Use a commercial GPS tracker to monitor reckless driving.
- Implement a strict no-phone policy while driving.
- Provide comprehensive training on defensive driving and road safety regulations.
- Reward drivers who drive safely.
- Regularly review your safety program and improve based on data and feedback.
Route4Me’s multi-stop route optimization software can also help you bolster driver safety.
It helps plan routes that exclude unsafe areas. Route4Me also has a Driver Breaks feature to enable you to add breaks into the routes to avoid driver fatigue.
Furthermore, the software offers in-app voice-guided navigation to ensure drivers can navigate without looking at their phones and stay focused.
The best part is that Route4Me has a built-in GPS tracker. So, you don’t need to purchase or use a different system for vehicle monitoring. Route4Me even offers a speed alert to check your driver’s speed limit.
4. Invest in Team Building Activities
Team-building activities can build trust between drivers and facilitate better communication and collaboration on the job. It can reduce conflict and create a more positive work environment.
Also, fun and engaging activities can boost morale and motivation and make drivers happier and more productive. And happy drivers mean better customer service, leading to a positive reputation for your business.
Some team-building activities can even help your drivers sharpen their critical thinking skills, which can be beneficial in managing difficult situations on the road.
Here are several types of team-building activities you can implement:
- Outdoor activities like scavenger hunts or picnics.
- Volunteer activities to create a sense of purpose.
- Board games and puzzles to develop critical thinking skills.
- Team sports to boost team spirit.
However, to make your team-building activities more effective, ask your drivers first about what activities they would enjoy.
Start one or two activities that fit your budget and evaluate how your drivers respond. However, choose activities that align with your business goals.
Mix up the activities to make them fun, engaging, and enjoyable. Make sure they are collaboration-focused and not competition-focused because the goal is to build or strengthen relationships and not to single anyone out.
Also, remember to track the impact of your team-building efforts. You may use surveys or monitor customer satisfaction and productivity changes to evaluate.
5. Reward and Recognize Drivers
Recognizing and rewarding your drivers will make them realize you value their association. This will motivate them to go the extra mile. They will happily work with your company for extended periods so your recruitment and training costs will decrease.
Recognizing performance, achievements, or positive behaviors in driving or with customers will encourage your drivers to repeat them. This will improve delivery times and make your customers happy, too.
Now, the question is how to identify your top performers.
Route4Me’s route optimizer software can help here. It offers a reporting and analytics feature that enables you to analyze valuable data such as total stops completed over planned, fuel expenses, time taken at each stop, and more. You can leverage such data to determine the top performers and reward them accordingly.
You can provide monetary rewards such as performance-based bonuses or gift cards. You can also offer non-monetary rewards such as extra time off or personalized gift baskets.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Driver Management
What is the meaning of driver management?
How to manage a team of drivers?
Final Thoughts about Driver Management Best Practices
Driver management isn’t just about logistics; it’s about people. Treat your drivers respectfully, value their input, and prioritize their well-being.
Implementing the driver management tips in this article can create a positive work environment, reduce turnover, and optimize your delivery operations.
Want To See For Yourself How Route4Me Can Help with Driver Management?
