Using Fleet Management Software to Retain Drivers

The benefits of GPS & telematics software for fleets is massive in the way of ensuring the ROI of your fleet through preventive maintenance of vehicles, safety, and optimization of your resources, but the most important benefit is how it assists your most valuable assets: your drivers. 

Drivers are in short supply, and retaining your people has never been easier and more important. Here are six ways you can use fleet management software to make sure the work your drivers do is protected and that they feel valued, safe, and healthy at their jobs. 

Boost Communication  

One way to make sure you keep track of ideas, issues, and suggestions that drivers provide is to give your manager the tools they need to keep track of it. Driver information, schedules, routes, and driver/management communication can be kept in one place with fleet management software that provides ample space and workflows to do so. 

Optimize Schedules 

To keep drivers focused, safe, and happy on the road, give drivers the time they need at home. Tracking their hours on the road allows you to give them the amount of time at home they need to rewind, relax, and rest. 

Fleet management software can help achieve this by helping managers design, communicate, and track driver schedules so that everyone gets the rest they need and deserve. 

Keep the Vehicles They Drive Well-Maintained

Nothing can frustrate you at work more than when your tools don’t work. For drivers to do their best work, they need vehicles that respond when they need them to. That means keeping up with preventive maintenance schedules for every tire and engine component in each vehicle in your fleet. That’s a big job! 

The best way to stay on top of it is to give your managers the tools they need: fleet management software that notifies them early of preventive maintenance and creates work orders automatically.  

Provide Coaching & Certifications  

Drivers who are given the opportunity for certification and growth in areas that can lead to promotions, wage increases, or even just personal advancement and curiosity become better people—and better people are better drivers. 

Cameras, telematics, and GPS tracking devices in fleet vehicles should be used to determine opportunities for increased safety and coaching of drivers. 

It should be well-communicated and documented that these systems are in place not to micro-manage them but to assist them. Coaching, not punishment, is how you show that you mean what you say about these systems. 

Create a Reward System 

Telematics and GPS tracking can provide fantastic driver data that covers areas that need improvement, but it can just as easily create opportunities to reward drivers for positive data, too. Create a rewards program for drivers who go for a long stretch without:

• Speeding
• Sudden Acceleration/Braking
• Distracted Driving

Creating reward programs that provide real value rewards to your drivers is key to retaining them. 

Tighten Routes 

Dispatch should always have the tools they need to route drivers around traffic, construction, and accidents to save fuel, yes, but also to save on driver frustration. As well, no one likes to go the long way toward anything—that includes drivers who don’t receive the fastest or best route to their destinations. 

To make sure they’re not driving more than they need to, use fleet management software with GPS tracking and telematics so that dispatch, management, and drivers have the information they need to choose the best path forward.  

It’s important to remember that your drivers are people first and drivers second. Using fleet management software to help keep them safe, secure, and happy goes a long way toward making sure they stay with you for the long haul. 

Nexxo Fleet offers the most comprehensive, responsive fleet management software available with next level customer service to provide you with everything you need to keep your drivers happy. Want to see how we do it? Schedule a demo today.