Declining trust, dissatisfaction with pay structures, and rising stress suggest drivers might be preparing to leave the industry when the market improves, reports TruckNews.com.
The publication reported on warnings by Jane Jazrawy, CEO of CarriersEdge, who pointed to shifting sentiment in Best Fleets to Drive For survey data during an education session in Charlotte, N.C.
“It’s not great,” Jazrawy said. “Drivers are feeling the stress that you’re feeling … that anxiety is definitely there.”
While many fleets have avoided large-scale turnover in the current downturn, Jazrawy cautioned that the stability may be temporary. “As soon as the economy starts showing signs of any sort of life at all, drivers are going to be going,” she warned. “It’s going to be a little crazy.”
The latest Best Fleets to Drive For evaluation results build on last year’s theme of growing disconnect between drivers and carriers, particularly around compensation, communication and workplace culture.
OTA has been reporting for years how a growing number of unscrupulous carriers are exploiting workers and abusing labour standards, which is leading to increasing dissatisfaction in the industry.
While declining pay and miles are a clear driver of dissatisfaction, Jazrawy emphasized that frustration is increasingly tied to how work is structured — what she described as “pay-adjacent” issues.
Drivers are not only reacting to lower earnings, but to how fairly those earnings are distributed and explained.
But the real issue is not dissatisfaction alone, but also lack of transparency. Jazrawy broke it down, saying that only about 31% of drivers are satisfied with how routing works, while another 17% say they simply go where they are told and do not question the system. At the same time, roughly 27% of drivers say they have no understanding of how routing decisions are made at all.
Additional responsibilities are also becoming a source of friction when compensation does not match expectations. Survey results show that satisfaction with whether additional work is fairly compensated declined by about 4.1%, reflecting growing concern over unpaid or underpaid tasks such as training, waiting time, and administrative responsibilities.
Full article here.