Truck Driver Recruiting & Retention Trends for 2022

With the increasing demand for truck drivers and a dwindling supply due to a shortage of truck drivers, it seems like the main focus for companies in 2022 would be retaining and recruiting class-A truck drivers.

This supply and demand imbalance will contribute to increasing the pay of drivers and causing headaches to the companies. The turnover will also increase due to the shortage of drivers. This trend has been a constant since 2020. The pay of drivers and driver shortage issues have just gone up.

Another trend going forward would be creating a pool of driver candidates, attracting new workers to the industry, and retaining old workers.

In this post, I’ll highlight the truck driving and retention trends of 2022.

Let’s dive in.

Training

In 2021, there has been a massive influx in the demand for training truck drivers. The fleets haven’t trained in the past due to the pandemic hitting and throwing a wrench at everything. So, the fleets are increasing their training efforts because of driver supply.

Bringing back the training programs hasn’t been the smoothest process. The COVID -19 pandemic has delayed licenses and learner permit issuing at the state level, so things aren’t quite back to normal. The social distancing restraints have limited the number of students schools can take in.

They put out new entry-level driver training standards this year. And there’s also a demand for workforce in general.

So, companies that previously didn’t have training programs will also start implementing them. But to do that, companies need to ensure better working conditions, resources, and support for the trainers.

Considering Trucking As A First-Choice Career

Trucking has never been a first-choice career for a driver. Most people take on trucking after trying 2/3 different things and then deciding on trucking as their career. But now, people are trying to make an impact on this thought process. There’s going to be a lot of effort on this, this year.

As an example, you can look at the woman in the Trucking association who revealed their new driver ambassador. The new ambassador said WIT would go to shows, and they’ll also visit schools and underserved communities. They’ll offer women trucking job opportunities. So that they can stand for themselves.

So, the recent events do indicate that trying to make trucking a first-choice career will be a huge trend in 2022.

Reducing the time the driver is away from home and focusing on new routes and relays will also be a huge trend. It won’t just increase the retention rate, it’ll also make people who previously stirred away from trucking consider truck driving as a first-choice career. The trend for better, healthier work conditions, better pay, and benefits will continue in 2022 and get better.

Another way of making trucking a first-choice career is to put drivers in alternative vehicles to gain more experience. Training class B and class C drivers by putting them in alternative vehicles will give them more experience and make them better drivers. This will also become a massive trend in 2022.

Making Career Paths

A trend that seems to be plausible is making a career ladder for truck drivers. Creating room for growth in experience and pay. By driving smaller vehicles that don’t require a CDL at the start, fleets offer training and support to the new or not-so-advanced drivers. Helping them get their Class CDL.

Another trend we will see is an implementation of a career ladder. This will give a truck driver a clear career objective. This is great because you can train to get more experience with this. He might have started at a local position and then advanced to a regional position.

Companies might start their river in a standard CDL role and then help them get their hazmat endorsement. Companies might even help them develop their skills and put them in a trainer role. This won’t only help them grow, this will even help the company grow. This will also present an opportunity to increase their pay.

The best trend is companies introducing diversity in their fleet. Making the industry very fair.

Better Lifestyle Benefits

People from every industry worldwide are demanding improved lifestyle benefits, better health benefits, improved pay, increased family time, and more vacations.

With the pandemic halting all sorts of transport, many drivers got to spend their precious time with their families. And after experiencing such a thing, truck drivers now demand better lifestyle benefits. The benefits include –

  • Increased home time policy
  • Yearly vacations
  • Driver’s and his family’s health
  • 401k

Looking For Commercial Drivers

With the trucking industry’s constant shortage of drivers, the trucking industry is always struggling to find new drivers to meet the industry’s ever-growing demand. ATA has stated that to keep pace with the estimated growth of the transportation industry, 240,000 more drivers are required.

The COVID pandemic makes the already-existing retention issue even bigger. The trucking industry is encouraged to find commercial drives to tackle this supply and demand issue.

Using Technology As A Recruiting Tool

A trend that’s going to take over 2022 is the implementation of technology in recruiting truck drivers.

If you’re still using an analog filing system in this day and age, then you’re seriously lagging behind. You need to embrace new recruiting technologies to streamline the process. A lot of companies driver recruiting teams are using modern technologies like CRM, API, and ATS technologies.

They’re using these to help streamline their internal HR processes. These intricate systems are made to help your HR team to amalgamate information and smoothen the recruiting process.

These tools can help you with email marketing, job posting, interview scheduling, and candidate tracking. Most modern HR teams use this secret to make their work more efficient and streamlined. Now it’s time for you to add this to your arsenal.

Increased Pay And Bonuses

You’d think with the imbalance in supply and demand, the commodity with the demand will get paid better. But if you assumed that for truck drivers, then you couldn’t be further from the truth. For how much they work, they don’t get paid nearly enough.

According to insight from the insider, the take-home pay of a truck driver was something like $50,000. But the hours they put in and stay away from the family for so long don’t even come close to compensating for the financial and emotional struggles.

A lot of smaller companies are offering substantial driver benefits like top pay, referral bonuses, and unlimited home time.

Closing Thoughts

Predicting future trends can be challenging. But based on the patterns and history of the industry, better benefits, training, and the use of technology seem most promising.

Going through the post, you’ll get an idea of what trend to expect in 2022.