Why Addressing Parking, Pay and Detention Time Helps to Recruit and Retain Quality Drivers

Positive company culture never goes out of style – carriers that focus on company culture now will build a foundation that will serve them well into the future as they look to attract and retain drivers.

Jh45 Adobe Stock 744340898
JH45 AdobeStock_744340898

It’s always challenging to start a new year during a freight market downswing. As we head into 2025, the challenge to recruit and retain quality truck drivers still looms large over the industry in wake of the freight recession that has plagued the industry over the last several years—even as many carriers slow their growth, or purposefully shrink their fleets.

The start of the year often brings change, making it the perfect time for fleets to focus their efforts on driver recruitment and retention to stay competitive in the freight marketplace.

Today’s recruitment and retention challenges

Today’s recruitment challenges are manifold, but two of the most pressing issues the industry faces are driver age and lifestyle.

Unfortunately, the transportation industry must deal with age concerns on both ends of the spectrum: older and younger drivers.

Many drivers are at or nearing retirement age: as of 2019, the average age of an over-the-road trucker was 46 (compared to the median age of the U.S. labor force at 41, according to the Census Bureau). The average age of new drivers in training was 35, as per the American Trucking Associations.

Conversely, the trucking industry isn’t attracting younger recruits to the career fast enough either: many young people have already started a profession or are on a path to it by the time they meet the age requirement of 21 or older to become an interstate driver.

Even so, there are promising programs aimed at increasing the pool of younger drivers, such as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program, which is open to select drivers ages 18-20. However, many carriers have expressed reluctance to join the program due to its stringent requirements.

Another major deterrent to both current and prospective drivers can be the lifestyle – long hours away from home, greater difficulty sleeping and making healthy food choices on the road, increased stress and more. The industry must focus on creating a better work-life balance and offering programs to create work environments that foster driver wellbeing and allow for sufficient home time.

Effective strategies

In this competitive job market where drivers have their pick of just about any carrier to work for, effective companies are tuned into what drivers actually want and aim to provide the best possible environment to recruit new drivers and retain the ones they have.

Flexibility in scheduling home-time requests is one of the top ways carriers can help drivers maintain a work-life balance. This is an important area where fleets must practice what they preach: when home-time requests are approved, it’s essential that they’re honored in order to maintain driver trust. Although the trucking profession can be unpredictable, carriers should do their very best to route drivers home on time to avoid irritating – and ultimately losing – them.

Smart carriers also think creatively to address drivers’ top concerns, as identified in industry surveys like the American Transportation Research Institute’s (ATRI) Top Industry Issues report. For 2024, ATRI reported drivers’ top issues included parking (No. 1), compensation (No. 2), economy (No. 3) and detention time (No. 4). While carriers are limited in what they can do to ease driver concerns about the economy, many other issues can be addressed.

Truck parking has long been a difficult issue for the industry and has recently received attention in Washington: $200 million has been allocated for expanded truck parking across the United States in 2025. Because this is drivers’ top concern (even more than pay), carriers should invest in finding solutions to ease the stress of finding parking – perhaps navigation systems that identify upcoming truck stops and parking locations or assistance with paying for reserved parking spots.

Driver pay has also been a long-standing concern, and with the current freight recession and ongoing economic uncertainty, many carriers’ hands are tied when it comes to raises. It’s crucial to think strategically in these cases: consider focusing pay raises for lanes or areas where drivers are most needed or most profitable for the business. Safety and performance bonuses are also a great way to incentivize and retain good drivers.

And last, while dwell and detention time is finally getting the attention it needs in order to be solved, carriers should be holding shippers and receivers accountable to the detention terms laid out in their contracts, and then reimburse drivers for that detention time when their wheels aren’t moving. According to the FMCSA, in addition to frustrating scheduling headaches, long detention times also lead to greater safety risks due to fatigue – making it important that both fleets and drivers are compensated fairly for unexpected dwell time spent.

Ultimately it comes down to culture

Good company culture also goes a long way when it comes to recruitment and retention, in addition to building a pipeline of future drivers who are interested in the profession.

Both experienced and newer drivers want safety, fair compensation and a pleasant work environment. Putting it succinctly, desirable carriers treat drivers with the care and respect they deserve.

Safety must be treated as a trucking company’s cornerstone value, embraced and promoted by all areas of the business, not just the safety department. Good, safe drivers want to work for safe carriers with good CSA scores – they know they will have fewer roadside inspections to deal with on the job.

When it comes to compensation, carriers are moving away from the one-upmanship approach of the past – shifting from offering large sign-on bonuses that led to a great deal of driver turnover and instead focusing on bonus structures that incentivize and reinforce safe, positive driving behaviors.

This approach is a win-win; drivers receive more take-home pay, and carriers retain drivers who help improve the company’s profitability. These bonuses should be structured in a way that is easy to understand and attainable – for example, a safety bonus that is paid when specific safety metrics are achieved (e.g. below a certain threshold of triggered events). Or performance bonuses based on miles driven or service metrics, such as on-time delivery.

These days, drivers are also more accepting of technologies that help keep them safe on the road such as fatigue warnings, following distance alerts and more, but that doesn’t give fleets or technology providers the green light to implement poor-quality solutions.

Technology must be intuitive and user-friendly, making a driver’s job easier and providing real value. It’s important that the technology improves or enhances communication and provides drivers access to important information like training, pay stubs, forms and more. Technology that adds frustration will result in driver churn.

Positive company culture never goes out of style – carriers that focus on company culture now will build a foundation that will serve them well into the future as they look to attract and retain drivers.

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