Hiring and keeping talent is about understanding what employees want – telematics can help
If you’re having trouble attracting, hiring, and retaining the people you need, you’re not alone. The labor shortage has hit seemingly every industry hard. Companies that operate fleets are no exception.
The ongoing labor challenges have left many companies struggling to answer the question, “What do employees really want?” As many companies have discovered the answer isn’t as simple as “more money.” Instead, it’s a combination of things that cut across company culture, how the company shows it values employees, and the tools and support it provides to help employees be successful.
A telematics solution isn’t a recruiting or retention tool, but it can support your efforts to build and maintain the workforce you need to operate your fleet.
Let’s look at some of the ways telematics can support your recruiting and retention efforts.
Providing reliable, well-maintained equipment. As drivers and operators will spend their workdays using the equipment you provide for them, the experience they have with that equipment will go a long way toward shaping their view of the employer.
Does the company show that it really values employees by providing them with equipment that’s well taken care of and works as it should? Your telematics solution can help you ensure that you do by providing the inspection capability needed to track performance, and manage needed and preventative maintenance to keep your equipment running – and your employees feeling positive and engaged.
A commitment to safety. When a company doesn’t prioritize safety, the results – accidents, injuries, citations, lawsuits – are never good. One cost that companies may not realize is the negative impact poor safety can have on its employment brand. People want to work for a company that values keeping them safe and that also is committed to doing the right thing.
While, if their implementation is not communicated properly, dashcams and driver behavior monitoring and alert capabilities can strike a sour note with some drivers, the role these tools play in reinforcing the company’s commitment to safety is usually viewed as a positive.
Valuing their time. Employees value efficiency as much as companies do. They want to feel that the time they spent at work is utilized in a way that adds value. For drivers, that means not wasting their time sitting in traffic or having to drive out of their way to visit customers or make service calls or deliveries.
The efficient routing capability provided in a telematics system helps you make better use of employee time by providing routes that get them where you need them to be as quickly as possible. The dispatching capability, enabled by the instant message and voice communication features in the telematics system app can also help to minimize drive time even as schedules change throughout the day.
Minimizing the number of tasks they have to complete. Automation is one of the true superpowers of a telematics system. Not only does it remove human error from processes and tasks that previously needed to be done manually, but it also helps to reduce the workload on employees, freeing them up to focus on the core duties of their jobs.
Digital inspections can free drivers from having to conduct inspections manually, while forms built into the telematics app can make creating work orders or invoices quick and easy – and let drivers or technicians get back behind the wheel and on their way to help other customers. Nobody likes paperwork, and the less of it you require your employees to do, the happier they are going to be.
Every Little Bit Helps
Admittedly, what people look for and want from a job differs from person to person. Ultimately, there are only so many variables you will be able to control.
But every little bit makes a difference. And if your telematics solution can help you improve your employment brand and maintain a culture and environment in which you can attract – and retain – great people, you will have a leg up on your competitors struggling to find and keep the people they need.