One of the most prominent trends in the trucking industry right now centers on driver wellness. As the industry continues to grow and recruit new drivers, carriers across the country are making strides toward a better, healthier trucker culture.
Here at Lily Transportation, our drivers are family, and we take care of our family. Here are some of the most crucial ways that our company prioritizes driver wellness:
Communication is Key
Employee wellness programs are built around trust and communication. You want your drivers to know how valuable they are, and one of the many ways to show them is to provide a variety of wellness programs.
“While there is no single best way to design a workplace wellness program,” Heavy Duty Trucking says, “launching various driver-health oriented initiatives can help fleets cut the cost of healthcare as well as life and disability insurance, reduce turnover and boost recruitment.”
One of the ways that Lily promotes driver wellness is via communication boards installed at the distribution centers our truck drivers pull into. These “boards” display weekly wellness tips and focus on topics like healthy eating, better hydration, quick-and-easy exercises, stress management, and more.
Implementing healthy habits into the already busy truck driver schedule can seem daunting. But there are plenty of ways that drivers can sneak a healthy meal or even some quick exercises for truck drivers into their daily routine.
Build a Positive Trucker Culture
Culture is crucial to any company’s success. Building a positive culture in an industry involving so much travel might sound like a stretch, but it doesn’t have to be! “‘We find that when companies adopt wellness programs it becomes part of their culture,’” a truck driver professional said to Heavy Duty Trucking. “‘In addition to promoting healthy living and a longer driving career, wellness programs can definitely add to a company’s family atmosphere.’”
Just because your drivers don’t spend much time in the office doesn’t mean you can’t support a positive, healthy trucker culture with them. At Lily, for example, as part of our employee wellness programs, we host regular Quarterly Wellness Challenges—supported by our healthcare provider, Blue Cross/Blue Shield. These challenges award drivers with “Safety Points” for driving safely and prioritizing wellness on the road.
Anything a carrier can do, no matter how small, to support and encourage its drivers to stay healthy and safe on the road will pay off in the long run. “By implementing driver-oriented wellness programs,” TruckingInfo.com says, “fleets are likely to see accident rates drop, which lowers operating costs and liability exposure. And driver satisfaction goes up, which cuts turnover and attracts new hires.”
Driver Wellness is a Journey, Not a Destination
Promoting driver wellness isn’t one of the passing trends in the trucking industry. Instead, it’s a journey that carriers and their drivers should embark on together, striving toward new developments and improvements.
Better driver health and wellness doesn’t happen overnight. When trucking wellness is built into the culture of a company—like it is at Lily—it’s only a matter of time before drivers and their carriers start to experience genuine progress and success.
