Rethinking Your Driver Workforce Strategy

Do you know what types of contract drivers you should be looking to engage as part of your flexible driver pool in order to maximise the operation of your business?

It’s proven that driver quality is a key component when it comes to operation success. In a recent case study that we completed with Advanced Supply Chain Group, we found that by being able to positively assign their contract drivers to work agency shifts, they were able to save 2p per mile. You can view the full case study here.

Having a flexible driver talent pool is an essential part of pretty much all transport operations, enabling them to flex up and down through peaks and troughs as well as maintaining 24-hour operations whilst navigating holiday and sickness cover.

Previously, this pool of drivers has been controlled by agencies, simply providing ‘a driver’ to fill a slot. Here at Connected2, we’re turning this on its head by providing a marketplace where drivers and transport operators are connected – providing transparency to both sides, whilst enabling a transport operator to confidently select the driver that they want to complete their shift.

With this new level of visibility and control, organisations are now able to take a much more strategic approach to their flexible driver resource. One of the first steps when working through a company’s flexible driver strategy is to consider why and when they need to engage a flexible driver for one of their shifts. In our experience, this is usually a combination of short-term fulfilment, such as when a driver is off sick, and more planned events such as upcoming driver holidays or a new contract win.

In the current marketplace, we identify 5 broad categories of drivers - all who have different needs, expectations and requirements. Therefore, when building up a pool of flexible drivers it’s important to consider which category of drivers you need to bring into this pool. For example, do you need a driver who will be available within a 24-hour period – who may be semi-retired, or driving is their second job, or do you need someone who is planned a week in advance – which may be better suited to full-time contractor.

Below is the current persona mix of our Connected2 community. Our drivers self-identify with these personas, which helps us to work with clients and make sure that they have the right mix of drivers, depending on their operation.

Full-time Contract Driver

• Regularly contract work with 5+ shifts a week
• Constantly seeking work, regionally focused 
• Targeting by traditional agencies 

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Full-time Tramper

• Wants to maximise the hours worked each week
• Usually will travel long distances around the country for work
• Constantly seeking work, nationally focused 
• Targeting by traditional agencies  

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Second Job Driver  

• Works full-time outside of driving
• Uses driving to support their primary income, when they have availability
• Will only do contract driving work when it suits them, regionally focused

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Employed Driver 

• Works as a driver on a full-time contract basis for a transport company
• Usually on a 4 on 4 off shift pattern, working the odd contract shift as and when they have available hours on their digi-card
• Will only do contract driving work when it suits them, regionally focused

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Semi-retired Driver 

• Either a previously a full-time driver OR someone who has driven periodically as a second job
• Will only do contract driving work when it suits them, regionally focused

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Striking this balance not only helps to increase fulfilment, but also helps to maintain a high driver standard.

Many agencies have chosen to focus on the full-time driver market, primarily because this makes the most financial sense to them. These drivers are essentially the agencies ‘assets’ – which they try to sweat as much as possible by maximising their hours every week to achieve a higher rate of return on investment.

Although this may be beneficial to the agency, it creates a problem with the flexible workforce where the full-time contractor wants to be working all the time, and when they are promised work which does not materialise, they feel out of pocket, disengaged and unmotivated. On the flip side of this, when you have a driver who only wants to work when it suits them, they resent the agency for constantly pushing them into more work.

At Connected2, we target the driver groups that most agencies are unable to gain access to – the drivers who want to dip in and out of driving when it suits them. These drivers are by circumstance and choice, ‘flexible’ to start with. They are able to choose the work that suits them – many like to work with a small number of companies where they know the work, the transport team, the vehicles etc, meaning they are more engaged, motivated and eager to perform, whenever you need them!

If you’d like to have a chat with our team about how we can help you to build the perfect flexible driver pool, or you’d like a free demo of our platform, please get in touch.