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In the trucking industry, there are several ways to recognize the efforts of the nearly 4 million men and women who contribute to the ongoing success of this important industry. The American Trucking Association (ATA) does this each year with National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, taking place from September 9th to 15th this year. There are some specific ways you can embrace recognition, which happens to be our value of the month, within your own circle of trucking professionals.

Let Your Employees Design a Recognition Program

Whether you are an owner operator or you only have a handful of drivers, everybody appreciates well-deserved recognition. One way to do this is to let your drivers design their own recognition program. After all, it’s the people maintaining and driving your or their trucks who are likely to know what matters most to them. The specific recognition can involve spotlighting drivers with:

  •  A track record of completing trips on time
  • A history of lending a hand to fellow drivers to help complete difficult loads
  • An ability to earn positive feedback from clients to help secure more loads and long-term contracts

Specify Your Reward Criteria 

If you are going to do something like have a “driver of the month” to recognize a specific member of your company, make sure you specify what the criteria are for this honor. Otherwise, you might have some drivers whispering about favoritism (even if this isn’t the case) or feeling like they have no shot. But if you have clear criteria, everyone can feel like they could be the driver of the month at one time or another.

Reward Everyone Meeting Your Criteria 

Another option is to avoid singling out one driver each month and simply acknowledge everyone who meets the specific criteria. For instance, you could use your monthly newsletter to list all of the drivers who had perfect safety and on-time delivery records for the month. Or you might mention the ones who never missed a scheduled day of work, never had a late delivery, or had a problem free loads that month. The more ways you can acknowledge and recognize people, the better!

Recognize Behaviors, Not Just Outcomes 

It’s great when everyone in your company is arriving on time and completing their hauls in a timely and efficient manner. But also extend your recognition to specific behaviors that have a positive impact on your trucking operations. For example, you may recognize drivers who:

  • Have a consistently positive and pleasant attitude
  • Do meaningful things to help others when not working (e.g., volunteering, adopting pets, raising funds for good causes, etc.)
  • Routinely admit to their mistakes or oversights and make an honest effort to correct them

At Pay4Freight, we constantly recognize the hard work that’s done every day by everybody working in the trucking industry. Take a moment to explore our website and learn more about our programs and services.