Childcare benefits - worth it for small fleets?

Maybe somebody can chime in on this. Does child care really help a single parent who is a truck driver?


Our early loads require us to report to work as early as 4 or 5am. There is no child care open at them hours & you wouldn’t wake a child up so early to take the child to child care. I would also have a hard time to believe you would get somebody to wake and come over to your house at such an early hour.

Afternoon/evenings are much easier to deal with, giving many more options.

God bless any single parents that drive truck, because with how our industry is set up i know it has to be a helluva mountain to climb.

 

If you can offer child care, that would be paramount. I think that will instantly decrease your turnover. That, along with quality health insurance, are the 2 most valuable things a job can offer in my opinion. Be it assistance, or an actual child care program, that would be really good for business. I think it's worth exploring.

 

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I think it may depend on the setup of the company. Now that you mention it, if drivers gotta start at 4 am or earlier, I could see where the issues would lie. While I think it's worth the OP exploring, I also think the OP probably needs to hire drivers that fit the needs of his/her company.

 

God bless ANY single parent who works.

 

We run 5 trucks and tried a small childcare stipend last year after losing a driver for the same reason. Nothing fancy, just a monthly reimbursement cap if they showed a receipt. It honestly helped more with retention than I expected. Guys stopped calling out for last minute babysitter problems because they actually had a backup plan lined up.

Cost us way less than constantly rehiring. One new driver hire was running us 4 to 5k between downtime, ads, and onboarding. The stipend averaged maybe 300 per driver who used it, and not everyone did. For a small fleet it’s more of a stability tool than a “benefit.” If you’re already dealing with missed loads, it can pay for itself pretty quick.

 

As harsh as it sounds, don't employ people with kids. I hate employing guys with a young family, a) it's not the job for that stage of life b) even if you get a guy that does prioritise work, kids will be sick, you can't make a guy chose between a job and their kid. c) I always feel guilty when you know a guy isnt home as often as he should be for his family, I know it's his choice, but still.

Offering childcare won't help at all, find drivers that are at the stage of life where they don't want to be home, ask them to bring their partner to the Interview, you will quickly find the ones that will be happy to not be home hahah

 

Well, that's a legit move, people don't seem to get this - this is not a job/vocation/career for everyone and should not be.

What matters is the customer; if you can't serve the customer, then they will find other means to move things.

My solution is to allow latitude and increase the share that the driver gets as part of the retention plan, this allows a lot of them to put their interests first most of the time, not forcing me to put their interest first.

However, at the end of the day, the customer comes first, not the driver. I don't hire anyone to accomidate them, I hire them to accomidate the sources of revenue that keep the doors open.

 

In this day, I’d work with someone who was a solid driver, one trustworthy whose only problem was trying to shuffle their kids around.
“Family first”
Or “family oriented” company hmm.

 

I had a recent interview with a potential driver a week ago, and she asked if my company is a family-oriented company. I looked up from reading her application and said with a straight face, "No, I hate kids". She had a startled look on her face and started to get up. I just broke out laughing, telling her to go and ask the office people what we do and care about.

She was hired, she started Monday, and is being trained on company policies and procedures. then in a truck for a week, training for the customer's policies and procedures.