Commercial truck driving is one of the most dangerous jobs in America. It’s also one of the most important, with drivers across the nation responsible for transporting over 70% of the United States’ freight.
Each year, Truck Driver Appreciation Week provides the perfect opportunity to recognize and celebrate the tireless commitment of commercial drivers around the country. Here at Drive My Way, we’ve noticed that many of our clients have found creative and thoughtful ways to uplift their drivers with fun gifts, exciting games, and heartfelt messages.
Keep reading to find out how our clients are shining the spotlight on their drivers this appreciation week, and how to keep the recognition going all year round.
Goody Bags, Prizes, and More!
Presents don’t have to be limited to birthdays or the holiday season any more! This September 10-16, many companies will provide their drivers with unique merchandise, useful tools, or fun swagto show their appreciation. A personalized gift is a thoughtful way to reward drivers for their hard work and show that you care.
Company merchandise is a great way to show drivers how important they are to the mission, such as Go-To Transport’s tumbler.
This year, drivers at Go-To Transport can look forward to receiving a fun collection of company merchandise from display tables set up at their locations throughout the country. A Go-To tumbler, pen, and personal thank you card will be available to every company driver that stops by throughout the week. Drivers will also be able to choose between either a baseball cap, beanie, or a hoodie, depending on supplies.
Drivers for NFI Industries are sure to enjoy choosing from a wide range of fun gear this appreciation week too. With locations across the country and over 4,500 drivers and contractors nationwide, NFI has stepped up by offering company hats, shirts, duffle bags, lunch boxes, and more!
Meanwhile, Schwend, Inc. is utilizing its four locations across the South to set up stations for drivers to receive goody bags and door prizes this appreciation week. Prizes will range from Schwend merchandise to tickets for a weekend vacation!
At each location, Schwend will also be setting up a breakfast and lunch serving station, where drivers can receive a home cooked meal each day of appreciation week. But for any driver that isn’t able to make it to a company terminal, there’s no need to worry! Schwend will offer to cover a few meals throughout the week for any driver out on the road.
Do Something Nice
You can never say ‘thank you’ too often. For many commercial truck drivers, they don’t hear it enough. This Driver Appreciation Week, show your team how much you care by sending out a thoughtful message or organizing an exciting event.
The management team at Go-To Transport has been busy working with their marketing division to create a video of thank you messages for drivers to go on company social media pages. Hearing words of appreciation directly from management helps keep drivers invested in the company mission by highlighting the direct impact they have through their hard work.
At NFI, it’s clear they know food is the way to everyone’s heart. Besides offering catered breakfast and lunch throughout the week, the company will be holding BBQ cookouts and picnics with food trucks, snow cone trucks, and raffle giveaways to celebrate their hardworking drivers across the country.
At Schwend, their late summer employee appreciation picnics act as an extension of Driver Appreciation Week each year with cash prizes, CB radio giveaways, games, and more. Held at their Jasper, TN, and Dade City, FL, terminals, the picnics are open for all Schwend employees, but focus on drivers and their families.
Truck Driver Appreciation Week is an annual reminder of the dedication, sacrifice, and commitment of commercial drivers across the nation. It’s a time to recognize and celebrate drivers, and to highlight the incredible contributions they make each day to the economy and our way of life.
Drive My Way is proud of our clients and the efforts they make each year to acknowledge the hard work of their drivers.
If your company celebrates Driver Appreciation Week in a unique way, or you’d like to be featured in more stories like this in the future, be sure to reach out to us on social media!
If you’re dealing with high application abandonment, try putting yourself in a driver’s shoes. Most drivers don’t want to spend their limited free time filling out lengthy and complex applications. In fact, this is usually 
Since drivers spend most of their time on the road, they mainly search for and apply to jobs using their smartphones. In this mobile-first world, recruiters and fleet managers need to make sure they’re able to communicate and interface with drivers this way. Otherwise, you risk a large number of drivers abandoning your application.
While you, as a recruiter can create what you think is the most efficient, painless, and all-around great application experience, you won’t really know how it is until drivers start applying. Even when they do start, it can be hard to gauge what’s working and what’s not since gathering data around job application abandonment can prove to be difficult.
When speaking with driver candidates, be sure you’re an expert on your company and the particulars of the job. Know what the day-to-day will look like and give honest answers. Don’t sugarcoat things if you know that your company might not have the world’s best benefits or if the pay might not be at the top of the scale. 
This may sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many recruiting departments lack a cohesive plan for how to bring drivers into their organization. While each hiring plan will vary from carrier to carrier, all of them should have two things in common. They should be measurable and repeatable.
Comprehensive CDL Recruitment Solutions
Almost every carrier has some sort of Facebook presence by now. Whether that Facebook presence is actively helping you reach drivers is the bigger question. 
The most important part of strong communication with drivers is good listening. This means you actually take time and effort to hear drivers’ concerns and then address them. Good listening isn’t just reactive. Don’t just wait for drivers to come to you with their concerns. Be curious enough to inquire about their needs and questions.
Sometimes, the medium is the message. Choosing the proper communication method can make the difference between having successful conversations with drivers or leaving them frustrated. Some issues are too long or complicated to discuss over text or email. Calling drivers’ cell phones is the most popular way to communicate with drivers for a good reason.
This one cannot be overstated. None of your communication strategies and methods are going to work if drivers don’t feel that you’re treating them with respect.
It’s not breaking news that print media is on the decline. While ads in newspapers and magazines may have been the primary advertising channel decades ago, readership has gone down significantly. 
You’ve seen these ads everywhere: Ones with 20-30 bullets listing out every facet and minute detail of a job. But the more information available for prospective hires, the better, right? Think again. In that very early stage of the job search, driver candidates are usually just looking for a few pieces of key information so they can decide if they want to learn more about the position. 
To simply call social media popular anymore is a gross understatement. It’s become so entwined with people’s lives that we almost can’t imagine life without it. This is why it’s important for carriers who are looking to reach more drivers through their job ads to build up a presence on these social media sites. 
Like most everyone, truck drivers are all over social media. It’s where they connect with other drivers, share tips for being on the road, and discuss current happenings. It’s also where they look for jobs and research carriers. 
