It’s time for the Weekly Report. Watch our full video for all the latest driver recruiting data. The story of the week – to improve retention one fleet has instituted guaranteed pay rates based on driver activity, as well as providing more flexibility for driver home time.
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We provide the Weekly Report in numerous formats every week. Which one is right for you? Watch the latest reports on our Recruiting Resources or YouTube pages, use our Numbers at a Glance section for quick visual references, download the Weekly Report PDF (available below), read the transcript, or listen to the audio version of the June 16, 2021, Weekly Report below.
Numbers At A Glance – June 16, 2021
[one_half]
Truck Driver Searches |
| WoW: ∇ Down 7% |
|---|
| MoM: ∇ Down 10% |
| YoY: ∇ Down 11% |
Load Volume |
| WoW: Δ Up 14% |
|---|
Volume by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van Δ Up 13% |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated Δ Up 15% |
| WoW: Flatbed Δ Up 14% |
Spot Rates |
| WoW: ∇ Down <1¢ per mile |
|---|
[/one_half]
[one_half_last]
Clicks On Truck Driver Postings |
| WoW: Δ Up 3% |
|---|
| MoM: Δ Up 23% |
| YoY: Δ Up 39% |
Truck Postings |
| WoW:Δ Up 24% |
|---|
Truck Posting by Segment |
| WoW: Dry VanΔ Up 10% |
| WoW: Refrigerated Δ Up 5% |
| WoW: Flatbed Δ Up 36% |
Rates by Segment |
| WoW: Dry Van ∇ Down 6¢ per mile |
|---|
| WoW: Refrigerated ∇ Down 12¢ per mile |
| WoW: Flatbed Δ Up 2¢ per mile *Record level* |
[/one_half_last]
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June 16, 2021 Driver Recruiting Insights
Would you like to have your own copy of the trucking industry data? All of the information covered in this week’s report for June 16, 2021, is available for your convenience in PDF form below.
Click the image to download the June 16, 2021, Driver Recruiting Insights PDF.
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Weekly Report – June 16, 2021 Transcript
Welcome to the weekly report, for Randall-Reilly I’m Joshua Miller. Let’s get going and dive right into the numbers.
THIS WEEK IN JOB BOARD SEARCHES AND CLICKS
Truck driver searches were down 7% WoW, 10% MoM, and 11% YoY. But clicks on driver postings were all up: 3% WoW, 23% MoM, and 39% YoY.
Last week’s trend continues as click rates increased yet again. Searches were down among all four major driving segments (company, owner-op, team, and trainee/inexperienced drivers), while clicks have now increased WoW in eight of the past 10 weeks. Clicks on company driver postings had the largest increase in clicks while clicks on team driver posts saw the largest decrease percentage-wise WoW.
THIS WEEK IN FREIGHT
Load postings were up 14% WoW, which is almost back to the levels we saw pre-Memorial Day, though they did still come in about 5% lower than the week just prior to the holiday. Load postings for all three major segments trended positively as dry van was up by 13% WoW, refrigerated was up by 15%, and flatbed finished with an increase of 14% WoW.
Truck postings were also on the rise as truck availability increased by 24% WoW and reached the highest levels, we’ve seen in seven weeks. In addition to that, the ratio of loads to trucks dipped to its lowest level in nine weeks as availability increased for all three segments. Dry van was up 10%, refrigerated 5%, and flatbed saw a sharp increase of 36% WoW.
Spot rates dipped ever so slightly by a little less than 1¢ WoW. And although the rates did drop by just a smidge this is still the third-highest average CPM rate ever, behind only the previous two weeks’ average rates.
Dry van fell by 6¢ while refrigerated dipped by 12¢ WoW, but flatbed trended upward with an increase of 2¢ WoW setting another record level.
NOW FOR OUR STORY OF THE WEEK
Pay consistently comes up as a common gripe among drivers and is often listed as an area that fleets need to address in order to retain more drivers. But is better pay alone enough? Well, one fleet, who shall remain nameless, is learning that contrary to popular belief – higher pay doesn’t always equal more hires and better retention.
Last fall, the fleet instituted “traditional” pay raises and expected to see positive returns from the move in their retention numbers. When that didn’t happen, they decided to talk to the drivers to try and come up with a better solution.
The result? The fleet is now instituting guaranteed pay rates based on driver activity, with the added flexibility for drivers to get home more often. Essentially the way it works is as long as a driver is doing what they’ve been asked to do they will receive a guaranteed minimum pay level. This guaranteed minimum level gives drivers peace of mind in knowing that their pay will never drop below a certain point. Should the driver choose to take on more than that base level of assignments or spend less time at home and more time on the road … they earn more.
With shippers and warehouses struggling to find dock workers and forklift operators, many drivers have found themselves waiting for loads even more than usual. Making sure drivers are compensated for these nonproductive hours spent waiting, through no fault of their own, has been a big sticking point among drivers for many years, but even more so recently. This guaranteed pay structure has begun to help address that issue.
In addition to that, allowing drivers to take a more active role in choosing how often they get home while still knowing exactly how it will affect their pay has helped to increase those retention levels. It has also shown them that some of their drivers are willing to take less pay for the trade-off of being home every night or at the very least home a lot more. For those drivers who get home the most, the guaranteed pay structure allows them to earn roughly $50,000 a year while more active drivers average around $70,000 with the ability to earn significantly more than that.
It would seem that by giving their drivers security with the minimum pay guarantee, and a choice with clear expectations attached, meaning the ability to spend more time at home while making a little less money, the fleet has found success and a recipe for keeping drivers around.
And that does it for this week’s report. Come on back and see us next week as we cover the latest and greatest driver recruiting data and tackle a new story of the week. You can find all of our Weekly Reports on our Randall-Reilly blog as well as our YouTube channel along with a lot of other cool video content.
Speaking of video content, an all-new Digging Deeper dealing with recruiting efficiency is up now and we’ve also got a new episode of Listening In that will be debuting soon. If you’ve never checked those out, I encourage you to do so; Digging Deeper is more of a conversational interview show with our very own Dave Arsenault doing the interviewing while Listening In has Randall-Reilly’s VP of Sales, recruiting, Seth Becker literally … listening in to driver recruiting calls and then letting you know how he thought it went and giving tips on what the recruiter could have done better.
The latest episode for Listening In will be the first in a series where Seth will deconstruct several calls each episode at various points in the conversation with the ultimate goal of showing you exactly how to build the “perfect” driver recruiting call.
So, head on over to our blog or YouTube page and watch Digging Deeper, and keep your eyes peeled for the new Listening In. I’ll also make sure to post on our social media platforms when that becomes available. When do start to poke around on the blog and YouTube page don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share it! We look forward to seeing you back here next Wednesday morning for another all-new Weekly Report, until then have a great week everybody.
