How can your fleet balance driver recruiting and retention needs while still focusing on bottom-line results in a softer freight market? NTI’s Leah Shaver detailed the six top driver pay strategies fleets can leverage in the current freight cycle to focus on drivers while also helping boost your fleet’s profitability in a free DriverReach webinar last week. Strategies explored include: Running a cost-benefit analysis on gauratneed pay, cross-training recruiters to focus on sales and retention, focusing on bonsues around fuel savings and productivity, and how to approach pay conversations internally and with customers during slower times.

“Many complaints related to pay can be resolved quickly and easily if drivers feel they can voice concerns and they know who to voice concerns to,” said NTI’s Leah Shaver. “If they don’t feel they can voice concerns and they don’t know who to communicate to, such as a terminal manager or driver manager who can quickly elevate their concerns to the right person in payroll or HR, then their frustration turns into resentment, and they’ll jump to another carrier or leave the industry outright.” Read more data notes and advice from NTI in this article in FleetOwner, which explores recent trends of drivers’ concerns about their paychecks and how fleets can navigate them.

NTI’s Leah Shaver chatted with CRST Chief People Officer Jenny Abernathy on the Taking the Hire Road podcast about the trends and themes that Abernathy is looking at for the year ahead and how the whiplash effects of the past few years are guiding the fleet’s recruiting and HR strategies in the coming months. That includes pivoting from the “recruiting at all costs” mentality from the past few years and instead putting an emphasis on retention. Abernathy also discusses the unique nature of hiring and retaining teams, how the industry can reach and engage with generational cohorts Millennials and Gen Z, and why fleets of all sizes should consider adding a Chief People Officer to their C-suite, among much else.

What are the driver pay trends that should be on every fleet’s radar? NTI teamed up with Drive My Way to share five key structural changes ongoing in driver compensation plans, based on in-depth analysis of NTI’s survey data and in ongoing conversations with motor carriers and private fleets across the industry.