Driver Performance Management: Increase Driver Productivity

A vehicle cannot run without fuel. It needs good quality fuel, along with proper care and maintenance to run smoothly on the roads. But, what happens when you do not have professional drivers to drive your vehicle expertly? Your transportation and logistics business would go nowhere without proper driver performance management. Without professional drivers, your business can go down the drain.

It’s proven that a trucking company is nothing without good drivers. It is a no-brainer that an expert driver can make a decade-old vehicle run smoothly on the road, whereas a terrible one can make the latest vehicle cry gallons of fuel.

While your vehicles might be the backbone of your trucking business, drivers are its soul. As an effective truck owner and fleet manager, it is your responsibility to take care of the backbone as well as the soul of the business.

At the same time, improving driver behavior, driver performance, and ensuring fleet safety should also be a prime focus for any trucker and fleet manager. Taking care of these aspects can prevent road accidents or injuries, promote driver and road safety, and reduce costs associated with improper vehicle use.

So, how do you improve driver performance and productivity of your fleet? How do you save your vehicles from harsh and uneven amateur driving threats? The solution is simple—deploy modern technology into your fleet operations.

By integrating effective and robust technology into your fleet operations, you can improve driver performance and boost productivity. Let us understand how the implementation of technology and automation in the transport industry can help fleet managers improve driver performance without compromising valuable time or resources.

How Technology Helps Truckers and Fleet Managers?

Truck owners and fleet managers deal with a plethora of problems associated with long-distance transportation of freight and goods. However, they can overcome many problems by implementing advanced software in the form of a fleet management system.

With the help of software, truckers and managers can understand the pain points of each driver and eventually help them improve their driving behavior. By closely monitoring each driver’s individual performance, fleet managers can provide them with accurate performance-based feedback and develop and implement appropriate driving training programs.

Based on the statistical information received from the software, fleet managers can also conduct driver performance enhancement programs. This way, drivers obtain the required information to increase efficiency, and fleet managers can get optimum results to increase profitability.

Driver Performance Management: Ways to Improve Driver Productivity

We cannot deny that driver performance management is crucial to every transportation company’s success. When you monitor and analyze your vehicles and drivers with the help of software, you can gain insights into data that can help you improve driver performance, ensure fleet safety, and increase productivity.

Drivers can primarily benefit from the use of fleet management software and telematics. Implementing modern technology in your transportation company can promote positive driving practices, provide real- time training to the drivers, and considerably improve their working conditions.

Advanced technology tools such as fleet management software and telematics can help drivers instantly become aware of certain harmful driving practices they have been following. Keeping that in mind, they try their best to improve their driving skills.

The first step towards improving driver performance is to correct them as soon as their harmful driving behavior becomes apparent. Some poor driving practices include harsh cornering, distracted driving, improper braking, driving when exhausted, overspeeding, overtaking, sudden acceleration, risky driving, etc.

Typically, it becomes quite a task to monitor the drivers’ harmful driving practices, and sometimes these practices go unnoticed until they lead to major accidents or injuries. However, with real-time statistical data derived through implementing technology, drivers can be aware of their poor driving practices and try to improve them to perform better in the future.

Another most effective way to improve driver performance management is by providing training opportunities to the drivers. Positive driving practices can be promoted by giving proper training to the drivers.

Some software helps trucking companies by providing them feedback and driver performance reports after completing a trip. These reports can be derived weekly, monthly, or as per the fleet manager’s preference.

The more advanced and efficient software seeks the help of artificial intelligence to train drivers in real- time. This increases driver productivity in two ways, such as:

Advanced coaching system also sends alerts to the drivers of threats while guiding them on the best routes. More or less, the coaching system acts as a personal driving robot, assisting drivers at every point in the journey.

Proper training is essential for drivers as it helps them perform better while knowing about the risks. Simultaneously, it is also valuable for fleet managers as it helps them lower operational and maintenance costs due to fewer road accidents, thereby increasing productivity.

The transportation industry is hit by a major blow in the form of a severe shortage of drivers. It is projected that the driver shortage will hit 160,000 by 2028. Besides several other factors contributing to the driver shortage, some of them include a lack of motivation and a lack of a positive work environment for the drivers.

Indeed, poor communication, mismanagement, and prejudiced criticism without solid evidence can create a hostile work environment even for the best-performing drivers, worsening their working conditions.

This is where the use of advanced technology comes in. Effective fleet management software helps companies create certain channels to fix these problems. For example, it can address the problem of poor management by giving fleet managers a more accurate and efficient way to monitor, track, and communicate with the drivers.

Advanced software also provides managers with sufficient data on road and driver performance, helping them make better decisions. Most fleet management software has a built-in communication system, sensors, and cameras for evidence-based reporting.

With all these features combined, fleet management software helps companies enforce better working conditions and a positive work environment for the drivers, based on objective evidence and feedback.

As a result, this motivates the driver to improve their performance and be more productive, thus helping companies achieve better driver performance management.

Enterprise TMS for Truckers!

For efficient trucking, truckers and fleet managers also use smart transportation management software (TMS) such as LoadStop. This particular TMS helps companies solve all fleet management challenges.

In fact, most fleet managers are using TMS to reduce costs related to the trucking business, simplify complex trucking operations, improve fleet efficiency, ensure customer satisfaction, and gain real-time supply chain visibility into their fleet.

LoadStop—one window smart TMS—helps trucking companies gain real-time connectivity with hours of service. Fleet managers can track driver HOS with accuracy and ease.

Al, cloud-based transportation management software helps increase driver productivity while complying with the HOS rules. You can improve driver safety and allocate drivers more efficiently using real-time data.

About the Author: Sara Naveed

Sara Naveed is a creative and digital content writer who uses her creative skills to develop and edit professional web content. Being a writer has always been her dream. She earnestly hopes people appreciate her writing—an asset she deeply covets. Using her 8+ years of working experience, she writes for trucking industry experts who are always looking for better technological solutions to their problems.