100% OWNER-OPERATORS. 30% TURNOVER. HOW? | Brake Check

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Welcome back to The Loading Zone.

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Today's deep thought, trucks have big wheels.

Charles Graystein (0:24)

We're live on Brake Check, right here on FreightWaves. I'm Charles Graystein. Today, we're in Louisville, Kentucky, at Mercer Transportation. It's Drivers Appreciation Week. And we wanted to see what's the secret sauce to having so many happy drivers inside your organization. We're gonna talk to drivers, we're gonna talk to the office staff, we're gonna see what makes this place truly special. Cause we're in Mercer Town, right here. But we're also gonna ask you to like, subscribe, and follow FreightWaves for your top FreightCasts, Freight News, and anything, well, that's freight related, because you wanna know and stay ahead of whatever's happening out there, which there's a lot. It's a 12 hour news cycle, being completely honest. But first, we're gonna go to a message from Apex Capital at apexcapitalcorp.com.

Apex Capital, where you find better options, better solutions, and better service. Check them out at apexcapitalcorp.com.

It's Drivers Appreciation Week. We're at Mercer Transportation as our first stop, and I'll tell you, I couldn't think of a better place to get to the bottom of our question today. How do you show appreciation? And I think we have to start by defining appreciation. So we got Chasity here. Chasity, you're in the recruiting. You're over the recruiting department.

Chasity Hebner (1:33)

I am. I am.

Charles Graystein (1:34)

That's fun. How's the last three years been?

Chasity Hebner (1:37)

Well, it's starting to look up. It has been a little bit slow, but it is starting to look up. I've been here for about 20 years, and I love what I do.

Charles Graystein (1:45)

So 20 years at Mercer?

Chasity Hebner (1:47)

About 20 years, yes.

Charles Graystein (1:48)

Wow. I'd have been 12 years old.

Chasity Hebner (1:53)

All right, let's say about 10 Am I giving my age away right there?

Charles Graystein (1:58)

So Chasity, what's the secret sauce with Mercer? How do you show appreciation? And what do you think appreciation means when you're talking from a driver's perspective?

Chasity Hebner (2:07)

Man, we care about our drivers here. When we say Mercer is a big family, it's a big family. When we bring new guys in, they fill that atmosphere. I love hearing the guys in orientation say, man, I've never been to a company like this. We understand what it's like for those guys to be away from their families out on the road, doing what they do every day.

We're the reason these guys have a paycheck. At the end of the day, they are part of our family.

Charles Graystein (2:33)

Well, I think it's understanding, too. Those guys and girls out there on the road are the reason that we have checks.

Chasity Hebner (2:40)

Oh, yes.

Charles Graystein (2:41)

If they stop showing up, nothing moves. And then there's no need to recruit if nothing's moving. I think for me, because I come from the recruiting background, I think it really gives you a overall health check of the company that you're at being in recruiting, because you get to hear what they heard on the road from other drivers. You get to hear their experiences from their research.

And then you get to hear their experience once they're in the organization. And it changes dramatically from the time of orientation to the time that they're in the truck to three months later. Like, there's a progression in that opinion. So how do you set the expectation correctly so they're going to find success because they have aligned their expectations with yours?

Chasity Hebner (3:20)

You know, when with recruiting, you hear a lot of stuff about different companies with the way they're recruiting handles conversations. One thing with Mercer, we're straight up with the guys. You know, when they come over here, we want them to come over and be happy. We want them to retire with us.

So we'll just give them averages. I love when a guy comes back two, three months later, I give him averages and he's like, man, you lied to me. I'm making double what you told me. That's what it's about.

Charles Graystein (3:47)

That's why it's an average. There's an above, there's a below, and then there's the average. Depending on who you are as a driver or worker or the situation, depends on where you fall on that average.

Chasity Hebner (3:57)

But you love to see guys come back through and they're doing great. It really makes you feel good.

Charles Graystein (4:02)

And I'm sure you hear the horror stories. I know I did in my time in recruiting, and one of the worst things I heard is how many times a driver was lied to, how many times a driver was misinformed, how many times a driver was promised a bill of goods that not necessarily represented the reality of the situation. So when they come into an organization, whether that organization is going to do the same thing or break the habit and live up to what they say, mean what they say, say what they mean, there's a trust building exercise, and the recruiter's job is to build that trust as quickly as possible. What's that look like to you?