Connecting the dots: why do we ask that?

Published on August 26, 2024

The Best Fleets to Drive For^® program is designed to evaluate (and celebrate) industry-leading approaches to workplace culture for drivers. The questionnaire portion of the competition is designed to give us a critical look at how companies operate and determine how fleets are keeping their drivers front of mind.

Now, some of the questions we ask are obviously related to that: compensation, PTO, and definitely the section on work/life balance. If you asked most fleets (and certainly most drivers) what a driver-centric company looks like, those items would probably spring to mind most often.

Some questions, however, don’t seem to relate as directly to the driver experience—and occasionally some people wonder “Why do we ask that?”

Anyone who has gone through the program knows that the questionnaire is broken down into seven groups (Compensation, Benefits, Performance and Recognition, HR Strategy, Operational Strategy, Development and Career and Work/Life Balance). Within these groups, the questions we ask are probing for different kinds of information. You can think of the questions in those seven groups as falling into three broad categories:

1. Direct value for drivers
2. Indirect value for drivers
3. Innovative culture and responsiveness

As we mentioned above, there is a subset of the questions we ask that have a direct connection to improving the workplace experience for drivers—

• reimbursements or clothing/PPE giveaways,
• minimum guaranteed pay structures,
• support for parking solutions
• in-cab creature comforts

and so on. If you were to ask a set of drivers which parts of their work environment affect their job satisfaction the most, these are the kinds of things that they would likely mention. In fact, in the driver survey portion of the program, these direct value issues are often cited by drivers in large part because they are easily identifiable and front of mind.

However, just because a company is providing many of these direct value items doesn’t mean they are doing everything they can—and they may be unintentionally sabotaging the driver’s experience in other, less visible ways while still looking good on the surface. That’s why we don’t limit the evaluation to the results of the driver surveys, and why we ask certain questions that target different areas of the organization.

Our question on cybersecurity is an excellent example: “Does the company have a policy for protecting against cyberattacks?” On the face of it, this seems to be a question about business continuity—so what does that have to do with drivers? Consider this though: if your company is hit by ransomware and your entire payroll system is frozen, will your drivers get paid on time? Likely not—and that will affect your people.

In a driver survey, does cybersecurity appear on the list of immediate things drivers value? No, but getting paid on time does. So when we ask about your cybersecurity policy, we’re looking at one of those non-obvious places where a less-than-robust plan will, down the line, affect the driver’s workplace experience. Similarly, we may ask about

• leadership training for managers (because having a boss who doesn’t know how to be a leader is misery-making), or
• how you evaluate your recruiters (are they just trying to fill seats or is there a focus on retention?)

These are organizational areas that have down-line effects on the driver experience. Some companies are on the lookout for these areas of improvement, and some are not. And that’s why we ask that.

The questions in the third category are intended to target a fleet’s ability to innovate and respond to change. One of the most important things that will ultimately affect your drivers is your fleet’s ability to adapt and evolve, to look for new and interesting ways to identify and meet changing needs.

What we’re really looking for are some indicators of a growth mindset—ways fleets are thinking about constant improvement. Driver advisory boards, environmental impact, or efforts to improve the overall image of the industry are all indicators of how open and willing fleets are to try new things or think about how the company itself is organized. These are the kinds of insights that will tell us if a company sees itself as adaptable, nimble, and responsive to change, or stuck in a we’ve-always-done-it-this-way mentality. Because when the industry and driver needs change (that’s when, not if), drivers are more likely to have a better experience at those companies that already have responsiveness built into their DNA.

Note: many of the programs and initiatives that put fleets on the Top 20 list 10 or 15 years ago were new then, but are simply part of the trucking landscape now. A failure to adapt, evolve and look for new possibilities means a company can get stuck doing things that drivers no longer need, or are no longer looking for in a workplace.

In the end, the questionnaire (and the interview, and the driver surveys) are designed to give a full spectrum analysis of your company not just to give us a look inside your organization, but to give you that as well. The self-reflection required to get through the process and the list of industry-leading practices that the competition produces are things you can put directly into your professional toolkit and take back to your company to see where you can improve. Not only does that make for a better work environment for drivers—it can also help you run a better business.

And that’s why we ask that.