Lessons About Transportation Recruitment from 2024

Across the United States, there are millions of individuals working as truck drivers and in other regulated transportation roles. This workforce plays a vital role in the economy, but the demand for new drivers continues to create challenges for carriers. Recruitment is not the only issue, retaining current drivers has increasingly proven to be an area of concern for employers, too. Strategic planning is a must for carriers looking to respond to these issues in ways that drive growth and contribute to success.

What are transportation businesses doing to respond to these issues? In our blog analyzing data from HireRight’s 2023 Transportation Spotlight Report, we identified several strategies embraced by employers. These included improved referral programs, a broader presence on social media and in mobile environments, and improvements to compensation packages. Some of these trends continue while other, new efforts have also emerged.

In this post, we'll compare 2023 results to 2024’s results and review some of the lessons revealed by HireRight’s 2024 Transportation Spotlight Report to explore how the transportation industry continues to respond to the need to recruit and retain quality drivers.

Understanding the Difficulties in the Transportation Sector

In the 2023 report, survey respondents consistently identified some specific challenges they faced, such as locating qualified candidates and meeting the expectations those candidates have. The 2024 report reveals that many of these concerns remain, with talent identification and recruitment remaining the challenge cited most often by employers. Some 79% of survey respondents in the transportation space in the U.S. said that finding qualified candidates is the biggest issue they face.

Some of the other challenges identified in the survey included:

• Increasing turnover rates, especially due to driver retirements.
• Long lead times to fill open positions.
• Rising recruitment costs.
• The need for a greater focus on retention.

To respond to these issues, transportation employers continue to turn to a variety of strategies.

How the Transportation Industry Responds to Recruitment Challenges

The 2024 HireRight Transportation Spotlight Report identifies several approaches that employers in the transportation space cite often when asked about their efforts to acquire fresh talent.

Referral Programs Remain Popular

With recruitment budgets facing constrains, referral programs continue to be a popular and effective choice for finding new sources of talent. Existing employees who provide referrals save the business time and effort that may otherwise be required to proactively solicit applications. There’s good reason for employers to lean heavily on referrals, too. According to a Jobvite survey, referred candidates get the job almost 4 times as often as job applicants sourced elsewhere. Hire rates for referred candidates are about 30% compared to just 7% for other prospects.

In 2023, referrals topped the list of recruitment methods used by transportation employers. Some 62% of respondents identified referrals as their top channel. The story remained the same through 2024, with 61% of the year’s respondents continuing to rank referrals at the top of the list. Also in 2024, 22% of employers said they planned to increase incentives for referrals to drive more interest from employees.

A well-planned referral program can be a game-changer for recruitment. Employers today look to use several strategies to increase engagement with the programs, such as:

• Making the referral process easy to access and simple to use.
• Providing rewards for all valid referrals, not just those that lead to a successful hire.
• Running recruitment contests to drive more referrals per employee.
• Delivering diverse incentives beyond bonuses for referrals.

While sourcing new talent through internal referrals remains a popular choice, employers also continue to expand their efforts online.

Digital Marketing

Digital outreach to attract potential new hires online remains a core strategy for many U.S. transportation businesses surveyed in the 2024 HireRight Benchmark Survey, the source for the Transportation Spotlight report. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they were investing in the development of more refined, targeting online advertising strategies.

Reaching talent in the online spaces most likely to capture the attention of such individuals also continues to be a core area of focus. In 2023, 44% of businesses said they planned to increase investments into the use of social media as a recruitment channel. In 2024, that number ticked up to 45% as businesses continue to embrace modern recruitment channels.

The 2024 report also revealed that 42% of employers spent time optimizing job postings, while 38% invested in enhancing the recruitment pages they host on their own websites. Social media posts can drive users to those enhanced pages, which can then provide the information someone needs to make the decision to apply. A holistic, omnichannel approach can yield positive outcomes for talent acquisition.

Addressing Retention Challenges

Bringing in new talent matters, but so too does reducing turnover and increasing employee retention. Keeping employees on board for longer periods of time reduces the pressure to constantly engage in hiring and can contribute to a stronger, more experienced workforce over time.

However, the transportation industry continues to see significant pressures related to voluntary turnover. What are some of the biggest factors influencing those turnover rates?

About 51% of respondents indicated they had candidates who left positions out of a desire to make more money. Though a majority cited this as their main reason in 2024, this number marks a steep decline from the nearly 72% who cited money as a reason for turnover in 2023.

Some 32% of respondents indicated their drivers primarily cited a move towards retirement as their reason for leaving. Retirement moved into the top 3 reasons for employees voluntarily leaving an organization for the first time ever in the 2024 report. As drivers continue to reach retirement, this pressure may increase in the coming years. What are employers doing to foster stronger retention among employees who have not yet reached retirement?

Evolving Compensation Strategies

Providing competitive compensation and generous benefits are pillars of retention strategies across industries, and that's true in transportation as well. Employers continue to look for ways to retain the talent they've acquired by offering additional rewards and improved pay. In 2024, 34% of employers surveyed for the HireRight report said they pursued percentage-based annual pay increases as a retention effort, compared to only 22% in the 2023 report. Across the transportation industry, almost 25% of 2024 respondents reported increasing payments in some way, whether by a percentage or based on performance.

Businesses continue to try to meet high expectations for nuanced benefits packages, too. Fifteen percent of respondents said they were improving the benefits they offer. At least some employers see benefits such as tuition assistance, compensation for food during travel, and health and well-being programs as central to creating a compensation package that keeps employees on board.

Building a Better Corporate Culture

When employees feel valued and appreciated in their job roles, they're more likely to stay on board. That makes a positive company culture an integral part of any retention strategy. Research by WorkHuman reveals the impact of an individual's perception of their value to a business. It's seven times more likely for employees who feel they're regularly recognized for their work to stay with the business for an additional year.

According to the HireRight’s 2024 Transportation Spotlight Report, 49% of surveyed employers report regularly hosting employee appreciation events to create such feelings of recognition. Further, 40% invest in routine equipment upgrades so employees have access to safe, modern technology that facilitates their work. Nearly a quarter of employers, 23%, reported using regular employee surveys to gather feedback. Receiving direct insights from the workforce like this can reveal where and how to make investments to foster stronger retention.

In terms of such investments, training and development programs topped the list in 2024 for 36% of businesses. Thirty percent said they'd develop the use of a bonus program, and 19% would offer salary adjustments to ensure retention. Though what employees expect from their employer may change, businesses that remain in touch with the sentiments of their personnel can stay on target to keep valued employees on board for longer.

Strengthening Hiring in Transportation Remains Vital

Despite rising turnover and retirement rates and continued difficulties in staffing enough drivers, the transportation industry continues to develop new ways to respond to these challenges. Referrals remain popular and reliable as carriers continue to explore how to best use social media to reach a new generation of prospective drivers. Innovations in company culture and improvements to compensation, identified as key drivers of retention in previous years, remain valuable.

HireRight’s 2024 Transportation Spotlight report reveals that existing trends continue to drive results for businesses. Now is an excellent time to evaluate existing strategies, consider the future of the industry, and develop fresh approaches to recruitment and retention that can help equip a transportation business with a safe, trustworthy workforce.