Faced with a growing driver shortage, the trucking industry has made a shift towards tech-oriented recruitment strategies in a bid to attract younger drivers, according to recent reporting from Trucks.com.
A recent report from employee background check firm HireRight states that trucking companies have made a distinct shift towards social networking recruitment and away from more traditional methods such as job boards and trade publications. According to these figures, over 60 percent of trucking companies with more than 500 employees are now using social media to hunt for employees – a 13 percent increase from previous data.
“They’re using [social media] in new ways,” said Stephen Spencer, a managing director of HireRight, “taking pictures of things like company events or maybe even showing a picture of the beautiful sunrise while driving across Wyoming.”
Additionally, companies are adjusting benefits in order to attract younger workers. HireRight has noticed a trend in which spending on wellness benefits has increased by six percent annually. Other changes, such as driver appreciation events and flexible work arrangements that are popular among millennials have also been on the rise in manufacturing and construction sectors.
The American Trucking Associations (ATA) estimates that the industry is currently short 48,000 drivers. Under current conditions, the driver shortage could rise to nearly 175,000 by 2024.
Read the full article from Trucks.com here.