b'20American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comTwenty first century recruitment and(PROFESSIONALScontinued from page 18)practice specializing in trucking says of the driver shortage, I think there was a debate for a long time retention strategies required to tackleabout is there really a driver shortage, or is there just a driver retention problem? Were these drivers just new post pandemic labor landscape moving from one carrier to the other? Were the car-riers just churning the same driver?While driver turnover is a well-known legacy of By Brandon Fried, Executive Director, Airforwarders Association, Special to the AJOT the trucking industry, there is a shortage of drivers, and wages have risen to induce more candidates to A recent U.S. Airforwarders Association membertruck driver shortfall hit 80,000 drivers in 2021 andget behind the wheel.surveyindicatesthegloballaborshortageisput- will grow to over 160,000 by 2030.Insomerespects,theshortagemightbean tingpressureonoperationsandtheirabilitytoUS Bureau of Labor Statistics figures indicateinterpretation of numbers. Marilyn Surber, a trans-meet ongoing customer demand. At the same time,thatworkersintheUnitedStateswholefttheirportation leader at Tenstreet, a company that con-although cargo shipments declined in recent monthsjobs voluntarily rose by 152,000 to a record highnects truck drivers to carriers through software and due to adverse international events, predictions ofof 4.5 million this past spring. The most significantmaintains data on truck drivers, says: we [Ten-increasing volumes amid industryreasonsworkersgaveforquit- street] have more than a million drivers that are on optimismleaveforwarderscon- tingincludedatoxiccompanyDriverPulse[thedriversapp].around40,000a cerned about service and capacityculture (62%), low salary (59%),day recently are goinginto Driver Pulse. during the next anticipated ship- poor management (56%), and a The reason for the large difference between the ment surge.lack of work-life balance (49%).numbers? Simply put there are a lot of CDL drivers Last month, the airline indus- In addition, about 20% of non- doing other jobs in other industries like construction. tryexperiencedunprecedentedretired US adults reported chang- And this isnt unique to truck drivers, other supply flight cancellations and delays dueingorleavingtheiremployerchainprofessionalsalsodropoutofthebusiness to a shortage of pilots and supportvoluntarilyin2021asopposedonly to reengage with the industry at a later time.workers. Airport ground handlingto opting for redundancy or suf- Still, no matter how it is counted, there is a need companies also report significantfering contract termination. for drivers.challenges in recruiting qualifiedMany causes are contributingPageSiplon,CEOofTeamOneLogistics,a workers to provide freight supportto the lack of supply chain labor.company that has 750 commercial drivers within its services for their airline customersFirst, the pandemic changed pri- ranks, acknowledges, drivers are hard to come by. at the major gateways. oritiesformanyworkersglob- But views the challenge of hiring and more impor-ally. Parents who once worked intantly retaining drivers in a holistic way. F orwArderc oncerns officeshavegrownaccustomedI think a lot of the challenges that companies US trucking volumes are begin- Brandon Fried to the flexibility to stay at homehave is beyond just the wages, Siplon says of the ningtostabilize,butforwarderandsupervisechildrenwhenrecruiting process for truck drivers.concernsremaindespitemoretruckaccess.Theschools may not be open. Also, pandemic-relatedI believe what weve been successful at and it pandemic is most often cited as the main cause fordeaths have had tragic implications, with over 1 mil- is really effectiveIts just listening. It starts with the supply chain woes, but other reasons for con- lion Americans and over 15 million globally perish- the recruiters. You only have one type of operation, cern remain. For example, driver shortages make iting. Finally, industry competition continues to causeand you only offer what your company can offer increasingly tricky for forwarders to depend on anlogistics and transportation companies to competeIf a driver wants to be home every night, a lot of abundant capacity supply in the months ahead. The(STRATEGIEScontinued on page 26) (PROFESSIONALScontinued on page 29)FUELING PEOPLE,DRIVING YOUR BUSINESSWe help solve your workforce challenges, so you can grow your business.WE DELIVERExpert RecruitingIncreased Growth Enhanced CultureImproved RetentionSafety & ComplianceOngoing TrainingRisk ManagementHR ProductivityRobust Bene tsREQUEST YOUR FREE CONSULTATION TODAY:770-284-9150teamonelogistics.com'