Driver Turnover Caused By Poor Communication - Copy

Strong, clear communication is an important aspect of keeping employees happy. And fleet drivers who are unsatisfied with their dispatcher are over 50% more likely to leave their current job.

A recent study conducted by the Stay Metrics research team discovered that the turnover rate is 57 percent higher for drivers who felt dissatisfaction with their dispatcher.

The study, headed by Timothy Judge, a University of Notre Dame professor, looked at the responses of approximately 2,000 drivers that worked at 12 separate fleet companies.

The responses showed that the dispatchers who increased the likelihood of driver turnover were the ones marked by drivers as “dissatisfying.” And while the drivers who were dissatisfied tended to turnover more frequently, those who said they were “very happy” with their dispatchers were not any more likely to stay than drivers who were “neutral.”

So despite the fact that drivers were twice as likely to turnover if they were dealing with dispatchers that scored the highest in dissatisfaction, they also weren’t any more likely to stay at a company with better dispatchers than merely having average ones.

Stay Metrics will continue to accumulate data from satisfaction surveys and in order to use the figures to create a profile of the type of dispatcher that drivers are most satisfied with.

Once this is established, carriers would be able to examine their monthly dispatcher rankings from top to bottom, according to Kurt LaDow, vice president of operations for Stay Metrics.

This new system would take the data and provide each dispatcher a ranking. Dispatchers who are on the bottom of the list may not be appropriate for the position or require further training, while those with a higher ranking could be encouraged to share their methods and procedures with their peers to improve the overall quality of service for the carrier.