Ace the early days of driver onboarding
The “early days” are what we call the active onboarding phase – aka orientation – the time when onboarding is traditionally understood to begin. They’re also the most crucial for compliance management and for setting up long-term driver retention.
So how do you show your drivers they’ve just become part of something great? Let’s take a deeper look at how you can make that happen, and three key steps to get you there.
Make it welcoming
Your orientation plan should have an “official” welcome baked in. Your new driver’s immediate supervisor (or better still, the person above them) should send a warm and friendly welcome email or text message, make a phone call, or even better, say hello in person.
Things your message should contain include:
- An enthusiastic message of welcome
- A clear focus on the driver and how excited you are to have them on your team
- A focused list of what the driver can expect in the coming days
- All the links, directions and logins they’ll need in order to complete the next steps
Most importantly: keep your message consistent at every step along the way, and make it clear you’re glad they’re joining you. You're lucky to have them, not the other way around.
Avoid the say and spray
If you’re unfamiliar with the “say and spray” effect, it’s this: unloading an enormous amount of information on someone, devoid of personalization, in a very short time span, while allowing little to no time for a response.
A lot of orientation sessions fall into this category, unfortunately. Most companies don’t intend to swamp new hires with boilerplate information. It’s often the result of wanting to ensure new drivers have all the information they need, without enough consideration of HOW the information is delivered. We’re all busy and in a hurry to get things done, after all.
Here’s how to make your active onboarding time more effective for everyone joining your team.
- Get input from everyone in your company before finalizing your orientation sessions. You’ll make sure all ground is covered, nothing is unnecessarily repeated, and that everything is on message.
- Break each session or meeting down to a specific topic. Some overlap of information is unavoidable, of course, but you can ensure each session is focused on one important thing.
- Refer back to your key messages and make sure each session is aligned with it. Consistency of messaging is vital in all things.
- Slow and steady wins the race. People retain – and more importantly, understand – new information better when it’s spread out over a period of time. Space your orientation sessions out over several days. Allow for a break between sessions each day, too.
- Welcome and encourage feedback during orientation. Everyone learns differently. Feedback helps your team find out if you’re being unclear, or if more time needs to be devoted to a topic.
- Customize the information you’re presenting to the audience. Is everything you’re teaching important the that specific group?
Make it super efficient.
No matter how long or short an orientation session is, it should be sharp and to the point in order to make sure key information comes across. It should also be simple for drivers to attend, no matter where they are.
- Before a new session begins, review all content and make sure the relevant topics are included. New content can be added, if necessary, the most important parts can be emphasized, outdated content can be removed, and irrelevant parts can be skipped. Once everyone has signed off on the content, you’re ready to begin.
- Consider remote orientation sessions. Pretty much any session that’s classroom-based can also be taught online. This means drivers can attend from the comfort of home if they prefer.
- Go digital. Prerecorded orientation sessions are a fantastic timesaver for both you and your new drivers. Drivers can complete them on their own time (with a set deadline, of course) and can submit them from their laptop, tablet or even their phone. A secure online portal can track when these sessions are completed and can be signed by digital signature as well.
- Keep communication rolling! Acknowledge receipt of every document, thank drivers for completing digital sessions, and make sure you’re checking in every day to make sure they’ve learned what they need to know. This also lets you keep up their enthusiasm before they hit the road.
The early days of onboarding are the most important for driver retention. Make this orientation period welcoming, effective and efficient, and you’ll have happy, informed drivers ready to hit the road.
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