The Professional Driver Agency (PDA) says equipment and compensation remain the most-mentioned concerns for truck drivers polled during the second quarter of 2020.
PDA, which seeks to help trucking companies curb turnover while providing accurate and actionable information that helps address drivers’ concerns, collected data from more than 30,000 calls with truckers during Q2. And, as in Q1, equipment and compensation were the most frequently raised issues, with equipment concerns raised by nearly 30% of the drivers called, and compensation issues mentioned by 28% of drivers.
“While equipment issues almost mirrored Q1 data as the driver’s top concern, the most glaring issue to us in Q2 was driver issues surrounding compensation,” said Scott Dismuke, PDA director of operations. “The biggest concern for drivers regarding their compensation in Q2 was miles. We believe this data backs up other industry numbers that showed a slowing of freight as a result of the economy shutting down early in Q2.”
Dismuke notes that miles issues were up 8% from Q1. Among drivers stating they had compensation issues because of miles, the two biggest complaints were “loads not available” and “inconsistent miles.” COVID-19 concerns also caused personal issues to jump into the top three issues in Q2; however, the driver feedback on COVID-19 fell off sharply in June.
“It was clear in our data that drivers were far more concerned with COVID-19 early in Q2,” Dismuke said. “COVID-19 issues fell by 76% from April to June as the economy began to reopen and infection numbers decreased.
“However, as infections are again on the rise in most of the country, PDA will be monitoring our data early in Q3 to see if this starts to go back up as a concern of drivers.”
Additional Q2 data suggests that the driver’s most common concern about COVID-19 is more economical than health related.
“As we broke down Q2 COVID-19 data, the driver’s biggest concern was low freight volumes and miles reductions,” Dismuke said. “Again, we see that same concern in the compensation data for Q2 and we expect to see these issues decrease in Q3 as the phased reopening of the economy continues. The question here is how this will be affected by the recent spike in cases, which is causing some states to press the pause button on reopening.”
Dismuke notes that communication with drivers still is key during this time. “Communication should always be a priority,” he concluded. “Whether it’s about COVID-19 concerns or reassuring them about open lanes and freight, the more the driver feels in the loop, the more comfortable they will feel in your truck.”
Click here to see PDA’s full Q2 data download.