Innovative recruitment and retention tactics are being deployed to enhance and prioritize the driver experience

HireRight (NYSE: HRT), a leading provider of global background screening services and workforce solutions, announced today the release of its 2022 U.S. Transportation Spotlight Report, based on responses from U.S. Transportation professionals who participated in HireRight’s 15th Annual Benchmark Survey.

The report shares information about respondents’ recruitment, background screening, and retention activity over the past year. It also presents aggregated data from HireRight revealing the most common charges found during criminal record checks and the substances most often discovered in positive drug test results.

The survey data this year shows that recruitment challenges may have directly led to a reduction in the overall headcount last year for many Transportation companies. Twenty-nine percent of respondents said their company workforce decreased in size last year, with the most common reasons being the inability to find and hire qualified employees and employees not returning after extended leave. Additionally, 47% of respondents experienced higher than expected resignation rates, 42% had higher than normal “new hire” turnover rates, and 25% reported having positions going unfilled for over six months.

Looking ahead, 88% of respondents believe that finding qualified job candidates will remain a top recruitment challenge in 2022, and 76% expect it to be a major challenge for the following three years. To drive their recruitment efforts this year, 48% of respondents are increasing internal referral incentives, 43% plan to use social media more, and 41% plan to revamp their compensation and benefits packages.

The survey also found that:

• Online job boards, employee referrals, and social media continue to be the most effective recruitment channels. Additionally, nearly a quarter of companies plan to make investments in paid social media and search to bolster their recruitment efforts.
• Three in five companies have had drivers leave to make more money elsewhere, nearly two-fifths have experienced drivers moving jobs to spend more time at home, and a fifth saw drivers leaving due to increased workloads.
• Investments are being made to help automate screening and monitoring processes, such as ongoing motor vehicle record (MVR) monitoring and arrest and criminal record monitoring.
• Many companies plan to keep employees engaged by acknowledging milestones, offering surprise perks such as free lunches and gift cards, and launching employee reward programs.

“This past year has been particularly difficult for the transportation industry with the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and, of course, the labor shortage,” said Dr. Todd Simo, Managing Director of Transportation at HireRight. “Providing a better overall experience for drivers is vital, as U.S. transportation employers are all competing for a limited pool of qualified candidates. This year’s survey found that companies are introducing innovative new recruitment and retention activities, such as incentive-based pay plans, reward programs, and wellbeing initiatives, to both attract candidates and to improve overall job satisfaction and employee engagement in their existing workforce.”

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