Fair and effective disciplinary action for you as a driver?

I think this is pretty much the answer to the thread. The drivers should be treated like adults and any "disciplinary" action taken against them for whatever reason should be done in a reasonable, fair, and mature way.

I'll go back to when I first started driving as a company driver for SNI. I had my very first truck, and was going home for probably the 3rd or 4th time so this was about 4-5 months in. I had taken my truck home several times, where I park is a pretty tight gravel driveway but I'd been in and out of there before no problem.

However, while I was gone the driveway got another layer of gravel put on, and it was springtime as well, so all those big thick green leaves came out and started weighing down the tree branches since the last time I left. The combination of the added height of the new layer of gravel and the drooping branches made it *just* low enough for one of the branches on this oak tree to tag the top corner of the fairing on the back of the sleeper cab and fold the corner over.

Honestly, everything on this truck was already torn to hell and back. It was an '06 Century that had gone through the paces of many new drivers. I could have bent the corner of the fairing back with some vice grips and the only way you could ever tell it was damaged was... well you couldn't, other than a little bit of chipped paint maybe.

But, being the honest guy I try to be, I called it in and reported it to safety because you know what, it WAS my fault and I DID damage the equipment. I got a call from my dispatcher later that week and this is where it starts:

This was the "starter" dispatcher that new drivers get, well this one had a bad habit of talking to drivers like she was talking to her 9 year old children, oftentimes using "we" when referring to "the driver", etc. She starts off by saying "aww that's too bad, we (as in ME) were so close to getting the 6 month bonus, but this will be considered a preventable, that's too bad". Then she goes into how I need to be more aware of the area that I'm driving in, comparing my driveway to the yard of a customer, apparently forgetting the fact that I would never, under any circumstances, take the truck into a driveway like my own, except for my own. Next up she immediately changes my loads so that I get routed into a terminal where I can do some safety training.

So I show up at the Gary, IN terminal where this safety guy sits me down and I go over what happened. I tell him I bent the corner of a fairing on a tree branch in my driveway. He then has me describe to him what I could have done to prevent the situation. Then he has me write down on a piece of paper the same thing... what happened, and what I could have done to prevent it. Next, we both sign piece of paper. At this point I'm pretty sure I'm in the principals office.

Then, he passes me off to another safety guy, who I again have to explain what happened to. This guy laughs, and you can tell he can really feel for me at this point, but he's just doing his job, so he's like ok... I'm gonna make you do the slow maneuver course on the simulator. So we do that, fill out some more papers, and I'm finally done with that whole thing.

I got my DAC report later that year and if I remember correctly it shows up as a preventable accident caused by "uneven road surfaces".

Now tell me, do you consider that to be "fair and effective" discipline?

I know I ****ed up. Totally my fault. I get that. I would have happily paid out of pocket to repair/replace the fairing. This wasn't at a customers' yard, I didn't have a trailer and wasn't under any kind of dispatch, I was in a spot that I would NEVER have gone into except for the fact that it was my own driveway.

If I was supposed to learn something from all that, I didn't. I came out feeling like I had been treated like an absolute child, and I will forever have a preventable accident on my DAC report related to the "uneven road surface" caused by a new layer of gravel and a low-hanging tree branch while bobtailing my own driveway.

So that's my story... how would you have handled that at your company?

 

First of all, you screwed up. Okay? It was your mistake. I would have probably counciled you, maybe chewed you a little, and if you hadn't had any priors I'd let it go at that. I wouldn't have put it on your DAC.

But...if you whined and sniveled to me like you did in this post, and if you tried to minimize your mistake I probably would have beat you with a rolled up newspper like the puppy you are.

Nothing personal.

 

If you top a trailer, etc, and it's coming out of your pocket, it makes you think about what you're doing. If you want to stay employed, you'll have a portion taken from your pay until the debt is satisfied. We all know ahead of time that this is what will happen. If you quit or fired, obviously it's not coming out. To stay employed, it does.

 

Make them drive for CR England for a month. That will straighten their ##### out.

 

If your going to use a progressive discipline system document, document and document. It's amazing how many people think a verbal chewing isn't any big deal.....unless it's followed by you're fired. Hang a peice of paper in their file that they have to sign and it all gets real pretty quick. A paper trail is always good if you're faced with a wrongful termination accusation.

 

When you come up with a "Company Policy Handbook", spell out what you expect for a driver/employee to do, act, behave, and drive as a professional.

Spell out that under no circumstances will going against the policy will be tolerated and immediate dismissal will take place.

You are not running a day care, or an old folks home. You want your customers taken care of, so that your business can grow. You want the equipment to be respected and well cared for. You want to keep your CSA score down, and under the radar. You want your insurance premiums to stay low. You want to avoid DOT inspections.

Termination for ANY infraction of the company policies should take place, and with hopes that all others realize, you mean business.

If you start "warning" drivers/employees of termination up front at application time, they have the chance then to walk out or want to work there. Make sure they sign the policy handbook letter, give them a copy, you file one.

Done deal.

 

That pretty much sums up a good idea but I have to ask the OP, do you have a company policy manual and is it applied equally to everyone?

ALSO just to throw this in, why don't you find a good HR company to do the work for you instead of trying to figure out things in the dark?

 

I never thought of an HR company. This is a good idea, as they WILL KNOW the laws, and legalities involved.