Hi Gayla,
March of 2025 ranked as one of the most active months for driver hiring over the past five and a half years, according to pre-employment screening data published by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Through the first three months of 2025 (the latest data available from DOT), this year’s monthly average hiring numbers outpace all other years since the beginning of 2020. Guess what? That was true even *before* factoring in March huge hiring numbers, accounting for just January and February, typically slower hiring months.
This is a trend that has persisted even through the alarmingly tough freight economy over the past three years. Despite challenging freight rates and trucking capacity leaking from the market, driver hiring numbers have continued to climb. 2024 outpaced 2023; 2023 outpaced 2022; and so on.
That hard data also tracks with what our team at NTI hears from motor carriers and private fleets on an almost daily basis — drivers continue to churn and turnover remains a real struggle for fleets of all types and sizes.
I don’t have to tell you this, but turnover is expensive. It exhausts critical time, energy, and financial resources from our companies, and it’s a plague that we can’t seem to beat.
Right now, it’s easier to find drivers to replace the ones that leave us, which is part of what’s driving the elevated hiring numbers — an ongoing game of musical chairs.
Here’s my hot take: Working to retain drivers doesn’t mean you have to go broke, overspend, or put your company on the line. (Though my other hot take is that not investing correctly in retention is way more expensive to your company than falling into the churn-and-replace trap.)
Now’s the time to hone your messaging, define your values, and communicate clearly, consistently, and effectively to your drivers, your techs, and everyone across your organization. Focus on what your fleet can control, rather than the waves of variables lapping around the industry.
We don’t have to be tone-deaf to the challenges our industry faces, but we can establish and communicate clear expectations to drivers about safety, performance, productivity, and of course incentives to promote those. Approaching this market via a team perspective puts us in that mindset: Let’s all focus on what we can control and work together to see through it.
In this so-called “longest challenging” freight recession, retention efforts and messaging to your drivers is about validating the human being who is working hard for you. In the grind that we’re all in, everyone who works for us is showing up to lock in behind the wheel, and that’s worth recognition and reminders.
I've outlined a few recent NTI resources below to help you accomplish that, and you can dive into all of NTI's resources here.
Never stop selling and re-selling your company, your values, and why drivers chose you. Recruiting doesn’t stop when the seat is filled. Remind drivers why they chose you, what they like about you, and why they want to stay. Use those same communication channels to promote all forms of compensation available — including and especially incentives that tie into those.
Key in on advocacy, transparency, dependability, and reliability. I wrote earlier this year 5 great lessons I’ve learned in my 5 years of engaging with drivers on SiriusXM’s Road Dog Trucking Radio.
The Age of Engagement: How to use meaningful conversations to propel your fleet’s culture around driver recruiting and retention.
What are the bad habits and bottlenecks in your fleet’s recruiting and retention programs that you can address now before the next hiring surge begins and those habits are exposed?
Add check-ins around safety, health, and personal finances: From planning for safety critical events to helping drivers eat better and save money on the road, there’s no shortage of ways we can step up to boost drivers’ success and satisfaction in their livelihoods.
Until next time, be safe and well.
~Leah
Leah Shaver
President & CEO
The National Transportation Institute
LShaver@DriverWages.com
