Drivers are the heartbeat of any business that operates a fleet. They manage the fleet and ensure that services get delivered on time. 

There's a biting shortage of good drivers, and the only way to combat this problem as a fleet manager is retaining those you have in your pool. Here's why driver retention is good for your company's bottom line:

A High Turnover of Drivers Affects Your Profit

. For starters, it helps you minimize recruitment and onboarding costs for new drivers.

It's costly to spend money recruiting and hiring new drivers only for them to quit after a short time. If drivers leave as soon as they get engaged, revenue margins will be adversely affected.  

Losing Drivers Amounts to Skills Drain

Whether your fleet calls it enterprise knowledge or institutional knowledge, you stand to lose years of cumulative experience if your company is a revolving door of drivers.

If an experienced driver you trained quits before passing some of his/her skills to a less experienced driver, essential skills have been lost forever. It will take a lot of time and resources to replace such a driver. Likewise, training new hires, rather than focusing on their primary roles, drains older drivers.

Driver Retention Improves Teamwork

The profitability of any fleet company depends on its drivers' camaraderie. However, it's challenging to achieve this if there's a high turnover of drivers. New drivers will have a hard time gelling with those that you already have.

If drivers keep leaving, it will be difficult to develop the strong bonds needed to form a united team. By focusing on driver retention, you get to build a tight-knit group that will stick together for the foreseeable future.

Your Loss is a Competitor's Gain

The fleet industry is highly competitive, both on the business front and on the talent acquisition front. Drivers who leave your fleet company are more likely to join a rival fleet.

It's easier to move to another fleet company than another industry due to the seamless onboarding process. When this happens, you'll not only losing an experienced employee, but your loss is a competitor's gain.

Drivers are the Face of Your Company

Drivers do the donkey work for fleet companies because they are the ones who interact with clients. Therefore, they are the face of your company. If you keep swapping drivers, it doesn't paint a glowing picture of your fleet and the company's work culture. By retaining your best drivers, you maintain momentum and gain the trust of clients who prefer working with certain drivers.

Your clients have undoubtedly been interacting with your drivers for some time. When the people they deal with keep changing regularly, it points to weaknesses in your company and doesn't spell confidence in the company. Ultimately, your revenue margins will be affected.

Improving Driver Retention With Fleet Management Services

Indeed, it's OK to lose drivers to other companies from time to time. However, if your driver turnover is high, your reputation and revenue will take a hit. As a fleet manager, it's advisable to do everything you can to retain your best drivers.

If you run a fleet company in North Carolina, you can improve driver retention by outsourcing fleet management services from Wilmar Inc. We offer a range of top-notch services meant to optimize fleet operation and drivers' job satisfaction.

These include fleet analysis, fleet selection, vehicle leasing, and fleet maintenance and repairs. Contact us today to craft a strategy for propelling your fleet forward.