WorkHound Driver Feedback Report Identifies Top Trucking Trends

Annual feedback report analyzes 100K comments from drivers to identify central themes and opportunities to improve retention

WorkHound, a leader in employee feedback management for frontline workforce industries, announced the results of its Annual Driver Trends report. The report compiles employee feedback data from 99,967 anonymous comments collected from 32,600 truck drivers across 109 carriers, providing an in-depth analysis of driver concerns, challenges, and key trends within the industry. 

“The trucking industry continues to face inflationary pressures, record-high fuel prices, and ongoing supply chain disruptions,” said Max Farrell, co-founder and CEO at WorkHound. “Coupled with the long hours and often stressful working conditions inherent to truck driving, burnout and turnover rates have reached an all-time high. On the heels of a year filled with unpredictability, retaining employees remains a top priority for carrier companies.” 

To simplify the data, the report categorized driver comments into 13 standard themes. Within the themes, researchers also measured sentiment. The top positive themes were Praise, People, and Home Time. This feedback included messages of gratitude, often recognizing the perks drivers appreciate, showing a clear indication that company culture is an important factor. For the first time in the report’s history, Praise was the leading theme, accounting for 24,000+ comments, or about 24% of all feedback.

Across all the comments, several key themes emerged that support shifting dynamics in the trucking and logistics sector, including:

• Driver praise was the highest-mentioned theme for the first time in the history of the report, meaning most of the driver feedback expressed something that was going well for drivers. To me, this indicates that not only is driver satisfaction on the rise, but drivers are more comfortable sharing feedback pertaining to their experiences rather than simply using anonymous feedback prompting as a way to vent, share frustrations, etc. The feedback indicates drivers are happier with their jobs now than they were a year ago.

• Some 62.89% of drivers’ comments around Communication were negative. When we consider that Praise was the leading theme of the year, it is fair to infer that drivers’ negative comments surrounding Communication are not just frivolous complaints. It comes as no surprise that nearly a third of negative Communication comments contain People as a subtheme. There are plenty of places for communication to break down, and the report shows that when communication issues like these persist, turnover will increase.

• 58.15% of the comments about Logistics were negative comments. Logistics is a difficult field to master, and it’s one that is constantly influenced by outside factors. Logistics issues were exacerbated by numerous macroeconomic factors this year, such as consumer spending changes resulting in surplus inventory, decreased container imports, higher fuel prices, and decreased freight volumes.

The top negative themes were Communication, Pay and Logistics. This type of feedback pointed to complex pay, unclear training, and other issues that made drivers’ jobs more difficult. The top negative themes often overlap, highlighting confusion about compensation and job dynamics. This illustrates the need for carriers to improve communications, especially for new hires.

While anonymity is a pillar of the WorkHound platform, if employers believe they can resolve an issue through direct employee contact, they can reach out to request the driver’s identity. If the driver chooses to reveal their identity, WorkHound data shows that fast action leads to better retention rates. In aggregate, companies using WorkHound retained 11,843 drivers last year for at least 30 days post-reveal, accounting for an 87.8% post-reveal retention rate.

WorkHound additionally found that companies who regularly contact their employees following a negative submission have higher overall satisfaction scores. This suggests empathetic engagement positively impacts relationships and, in turn, retention rates. With this in mind, the company is adding a 2-way anonymous messaging feature to its platform, allowing managers to chat with workers to resolve issues in real time. 

Farrell continued, “WorkHound’s Annual Trends Report sheds light on the critical issues faced by the industry’s most valuable assets, its drivers, and the invaluable benefits reaped by providing your workforce with a platform to express their thoughts, concerns, and needs.”Click here to access the full WorkHound Annual Trends Report.

Category: Driver Stuff, Featured, General Update, Management, News, People, Safety, Training