Driver Introduction Feedback - Open Space

The supply chain and logistics sector is a key industry in society - always has been and always will be, as driving forms a critical distribution link between all parts of the network.

DRIVER FEEDBACK.

Through our discovery phase, where we've been speaking to drivers and getting feedback on various factors, we have found that Sleep, Nutrition and Mental Health have all been raised as challenges faced by the driver community. While many of these struggles stem from systemic issues within the industry, such as parking, facilities and shift work, it's also been identified that there are areas where different choices and behaviours such as physical activity, nutrition and open discussions - venting can be made to help improve these areas.

Wellbeing is multi-faceted, with all parts interconnected, spanning four key areas; Sleep, Nutrition, Physical and Mental Health. 

• 1 of 6 deaths are the result in physical inactivity (Source: Public Health England. Physical Activity : Applying All Our Health)
• On average sugar intake is double the recommended account (Source: NDNS. National Diet and Nutrition Survey)
• 1 in 4 people experience mental health issues each year (Source: The Princes's Responsible Business Network and Business in the Community (BITC). Mental Health at Work 2019 Report. Time to Take Ownership)
• Mental Health is the #1 source of illness in the UK 
• 3 out of 4 suicides are by men under 45 (Source: Suicides in the UK : 2018 Registrations. Office for National Statistics)
• 40-49 is the age group most at risk of suicide

Alongisde this, Professional Driving is a key industry under pressure, displaying a number of issues that need to be addressed.

• Long hours seated
• Long periods of self-isolation 
• Often poor diet
• Lack of regular and quality sleep
• Ageing driver population with 13% of the population aged over 60, and only 2% are aged 25 and below (HGV training network, 2017)
• Increasing driver shortage

THE SOLUTION.

The first key step towards delivering a support network and initiating charge is to capture and display measurable feedback loops, which is why here at Connected2, in partnership with OpenMind, we've built a platform designed to capture, track and correlate these feedback loops with key metrics for both the driver community, businesses and policymakers.

FEEDBACK: HOW IT WORKS.

Initially, companies will be invited to join the program, allowing them to invite the driver to enrol into the community. 

Then, all enrolled drivers will be sent a welcome email and be asked to complete a short survey. This survey usually takes under 2 minutes to complete on a phone or handheld device and will be sent out once a month. The survey is to be completed during working hours (not whilst driving).

There are no right or wrong answers to the questions and the information provided will help to produce patterns and trends across the driver community. Once these patterns and trends start to emerge, we can then start to work with the driver community, businesses and policy makers to help increase positive outcomes and address challenging areas. 

All data points captured will be done in a controlled way to keep drivers anonymity among peers and line managers, whilst at the same time as giving the community a voice. 

OPEN SPACE: HOW IT WORKS

Connected2 have partnered with OpenMind (https://openmindwellbeing.co.uk/), a wellness platform focussed on making a positive impact to the UK workforce, to create a Transport and Logistics first driver focussed wellness platform - Open Space.

WHAT IS OPEN SPACE?

Open Space is an initiative that champions the voice of drivers, facilitating open discussion in a safe space for drivers' individual and collective voices to be heard.

During our discovery phase, we were able to work with the Connected2 Driver Community to conduct 1-2-1 interviews, group discussions and interactive live polls. We found that drivers were interested in the following 3 key areas of support, delivered in a safe space, without any repercussions on their ability to work:

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Peer 2 Peer Support
By creating a convenient, safe space for drivers to meet, share opinions and frustrations we found there was sufficient interest in creating an Open Space for peer to peer support to take place.

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Systemic Issue Discussion
During the safe space discussions we found an interest in discussing systemic issues across the market.

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Wellbeing Support
‍Drivers were also interested in receiving practical wellness advice and topics to support them across Physical, Financial and Mental Health.

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The Open Space program consists of voluntary 45 min sessions with optional participation levels. Sessions will be run at various times throughout the month and drivers can join as many of them as they wish to do so. All sessions will be planned in advance and chaired by industry professionals to ensure balanced and productive discussion takes place. Discussion topics will be captured and summarised while retaining driver anonymity. 

Each month Open Space will also run a community participation activity e.g. Physical (stretching, yoga, chair yoga). Mind (Meditation & Mindfulness) accross live sessions over zoom, with supporting active polls, follow up surveys and any applicable supportive content.

These sessions will champion the voice of the collective driver community, facilitating open discussion in a safe space for drivers. During these forums drivers will be able to learn about and share various aspects of wellbeing and then work through strategies to help put them into practice.

Alongside these chaired sessions, we will be able to give drivers access to a blog and articles repository containing content to support in ‘reminding’ positive habits. We will also signpost the community to existing resources in the open marketplace to help continue the support.  

We hope you like the programme and we would love to hear any feedback you may have - hello@connected2.io

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Our commitment around feedback, anonymity and trust

We have a commitment to protecting the trust, anonymity and wellbeing of the drivers participating in the programme.

All information received from drivers will be collected and managed with the strictest confidence. We will not share the information relating to an individual driver, all data is anonymised and aggregated to identify trends and recommendations on how to better support the driver community as a whole and drivers communities linked to specific companies.

We have to remember the purpose of this programme is support drivers; in addition to demonstrating the positive correlation between driver wellbeing and driver performance.