NTI’s Leah Shaver talks with Kameel Gaines of driver recruiting service Rig On Wheels about how carriers should approach driver recruiting in the current market, the vital role that communication plays in all aspects of running a thriving business, and how the industry can recruit younger people and more women into trucking.

If your fleet has evaluated pausing driver pay raises or implementing a pay freeze, here are a few considerations to make internally before making that critical decision — because it will have ramifications.  

For 2023’s National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, NTI’s team assembled a few tips, strategies, and approaches your fleet can use to carry the focus on driver appreciation through the entire year, every year, and to continue to make your opportunities a secure and rewarding career choices for drivers.

NTI’s Leah Shaver talked one on one with TCA President Jim Ward last week on the Taking the Hire Road Show on FreightWaves, where the two discussed what TCA carrier members are saying are their top issues and priorities currently, what regulatory and policy changes TCA is working on at the state and federal level, Ward’s outlook for trucking changes that will take place in the coming years, and how the industry can grow interest in trucking careers in younger generations. 

Guaranteed pay has been a growing incentive for recruiting and retention. But is it right for your fleet? 

After four full economic quarters of a downward trending freight cycle, driver pay has settled into a pattern of incremental upward movement both quarter to quarter and year over year, finding a more historically routine rate of growth after two years highlighted by surges. Here are three key trends in the latest driver pay data.

What are the top 2023 driver pay trends that should be on your fleet’s radar? How can fleets navigate the current sluggish freight market from a personnel and compensation standpoint? What are driver seeing and experiencing with their paychecks this year? NTI’s Leah Shaver joined the Taking the Hire Road podcast last week, hosted by DriverReach’s Jeremy Reymer, to discuss those point sand more. See the full episode here.

How can your fleet support your independent contractors without wading into legally murky territory around driver classification? NTI recently spoke with attorney Doug Grawe about what fleets can do and the ptifalls to avoid in helping your ICs navigate the current slower freight cycle. Here’s his advice to motor carriers.

Tying fuel network compliance and cost savings to driver pay is a critical area where fleets can engage with their drivers, use internal marketing programs to communicate with drivers, and provide an opportunity for drivers to take home more money without increasing payroll expenses. Here are strategies for your fleet to use in the current freight market.

Fleets that hire, recruit, and welcome inexperience drivers through their doors see the value in creating opportunities in trucking for this cohort of professional truckers. NTI talks with Roadmaster about the value to all fleets to recognize the opportunity to shape long-term driver retention by hiring industry newcomers. Watch the interview here.

What’s next for The Women in Trucking Association as Jennifer Hedrick, incoming president and CEO, takes the helm? NTI’s Leah Shaver, a longtime member and three-term board of director at WIT, had the chance to sit down one on one with Hedrick this week to ask her just that, as well as to learn more about what’s next for WIT short term and long term as Hedrick becomes only the second leader of the 17-year-old association. 

The number of fleets offering layover pay has hovered around 75% since NTI began tracking layover pay prevalence in 2015. The flat-rate amount paid for a layover in that time, however, has nearly doubled.