Retaining self-employed drivers is an ongoing issue for logistic businesses in the last-mile delivery industry. Holding onto your workforce is key to reducing turnover rates and improving business performance.
In a period where more pressure than ever is being placed on courier drivers and their services, regularly reviewing your driver retention strategies is key to ensuring you retain this talent.
Here, we’ve put together some tips to ensure you have a successful driver retention program that will help you stand out from the competition.
- Driver Feedback
A strong workforce is the backbone of any business. By asking for driver feedback, you are giving your drivers a voice to be heard and making it clear that you place a great deal of value on their input.
However, you can’t just stop there – feedback must be acted on or, at the very least, acknowledged; otherwise, it can have a harmful effect on the performance and loyalty of your self-employed drivers, decreasing driver retention.
- Think about the mental and physical well-being of your courier drivers
The logistics industry is vital for keeping the national supply chain moving, especially with the recent turmoil in the economy. Because of this, self-employed drivers have been at the forefront of the crisis.
Despite this, because of the nature of the self-employment industry, drivers don’t get the support or benefits that employees take for granted, e.g., sick pay, holiday pay, etc. While you can’t provide these benefits, offering competitive route rates and a good work-life balance is an easy way to retain your workforce for longer periods of time.
At Wise, we help you prioritise the mental health of your workforce with on-demand access to trained counsellors. The Wise app provides access to a full range of perks including 24/7 mental health support, your workforce can:
- Secure same day appointment for immediate assistance
- Unlimited consultations and support phone and in person once you meet criteria required
- Personalised self-guided programmes, ensuring you get the best support for you
- Available to family and friends
- Training opportunities
Delivery driver roles have sometimes received criticism, with the job labelled ‘a dead-end’ role, but this is not the case. This label can be easily shifted by providing drivers with regular training; the benefits of this are vastly advantageous – increased productivity, attracting a higher quality of talent, and, best of all, reducing driver turnover.
A chance to advance skills and grow professionally allows subcontractors to feel valued, leading to feelings of loyalty. If a business is prepared to deliver strong onboarding, training, and continuous development, people are far more likely to stick around.
- Promote workplace connections
Promoting healthy workplace relationships is a necessity that must be included in all workforce retention strategies.
Traditionally, workplace relationships at delivery companies can be created through employee mentoring programs. For example, ‘buddying’ a more senior driver with a new recruit.
- Ongoing maintenance of equipment
Having the correct equipment to carry out the job increases not only workforce satisfaction, but also safety.
Carrying out regular checks to ensure equipment is maintained to a high quality is standard for driver safety and should be part of any logistics business’ schedule.
Along with this, drivers should have a clear understanding of how to use all equipment and technology, including anything new that is introduced. Not only will this keep you legally compliant, but businesses that promote a safety-first approach will also have higher retention rates.
Conclusion
There is no quick fix to improving driver retention in the last-mile industry; strategies must be implemented in an ongoing manner.
Begin by considering drivers’ needs, making it clear you support their well-being, acting on feedback, and promoting workplace connections. Through doing this, you’ll create a business where drivers truly feel valued and engaged in working at their best.
Wise is an industry-leading onboarding, compliance and payments platform that helps companies that use drivers in their day-to-day operations – to save time, money, and grow their businesses.
The Wise platform helps businesses to manage their workforce more effectively, covering everything from driver retention, payments, compliance, and onboarding. Our technology is being used by over 250 UK logistics companies and endorsed by some of the UK’s largest parcel carriers, helping companies save time, money, and stress.
To discover how we can help you, head to our contact page here.
