By Randy Grider
Editor
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Most fleets have raised pay more than once over the last couple of years to try to attract and retain drivers. They’ve also added other benefits and incentives.
Still, a majority of long-haul drivers are not happy with their pay, or to be more precise, the system on which their wages are based.
A recent study of 326 large U.S. trucking companies found truckers dissatisfied with incentive-based pay because they have limited control over the number of miles they drive.
In the study, more than 75 percent of drivers listed “not enough driving hours/runs scheduled,” which, the researchers said, indicates that drivers are not scheduled for enough miles to make what they consider an acceptable salary. They often feel their time is not utilized in an efficient manner.
Researcher Nina Gupta, professor of management in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, says the rate-per-mile system used primarily by truckload carriers is an example of the piece-rate pay system, one of the oldest kinds of pay systems.
Colleague John Delery, also a professor of management at the college, says the most likely historical reason for the existence of the piece-rate system in the trucking industry is that managers cannot directly supervise drivers. Incentive-based pay became the norm for controlling and assessing performance of the drivers.
