You have seen it before. A driver leaves your company for someplace else only to find out that the other company is really no better than yours, maybe even worse. He or she may consider returning to your company. This provides a good pool of drivers that you can hire back to cut down on driver turnover. It helps that they know the ropes and have been there before, but there is still a right way to do a rehire campaign.
We break it down into four important steps for you:
1. Review files for everyone who’s ever left the company and take an honest assessment if you would have them back.
Not everyone who has ever worked for you was a great driver. You don’t want just anybody to come back to work for you, so you need to narrow it down some. Get dispatch and managers who were in contact with the drivers involved in this decision. Look into issues surrounding dispatch being the reason a driver left especially; dispatch may be more willing to admit a mistake after the fact.If you don’t conduct exit interviews at your company, start doing that right now. You will never know how to improve if you don’t find out the reasons drivers leave and driver turnover will be a constant reality for you. Only then can you compare the reasons a driver left to what it’s like now at your company. Ideally, that issue was fixed and this time it won’t be a problem.
3. Get in touch with them.
This could depend upon the size of your company, but the best way to talk to a driver you want to rehire is over the phone. The personal touch will mean something to them. If you run a big company and won’t be able to call all of those people, be sure to hammer them with emails, texts, or stuff in the mail. Let them know you want them back and that this time will be better.
This encompasses everything from sending them links to articles and your social media pages to pictures of your last company event or monthly competition. You want them to actually see that you’re striving for a driver-centric culture and that drivers are number one.
Start incorporating these efforts into a rehiring process. Reach out to former drivers and find out why they left your company. Even if they have no interest in returning to your company, they can help you realize where you need to improve. With that information, you can launch a strong rehire campaign where you cater to a driver’s grievances and address as many of them as you can.
Chances are fair a number of former drivers will be willing to give you another shot. Earn that chance by working on your driver-centric culture and meeting drivers’ expectations of your company. You can bring back drivers you know and trust and also eliminate some driver turnover all at the same time; it’s a win-win.
Struggling to bring in driver candidates?
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