There’s no easy way to put it: 85% of employees are not engaged at work, and the global economic impact is staggering. In fact, it equates to $7 trillion in lost productivity.
It doesn’t matter if you’re part of a large organization or a small business. If you’re in any occupation requiring fleet management, you want to avoid a sudden drop in productivity, set a balanced work-life schedule, and keep the momentum at an all-time high. Why?
More productive drivers and workers = fewer drivers and workers needed.
Fewer drivers and workers needed = decreased costs.
Decreased costs = more profit to spend and invest in other high-ROI initiatives.
While this might sound simple, increasing your team’s productivity and employee engagement can be a challenge. It’s a problem most fleet managers face and one that DECKED understands.
Luckily, we can approach this together. In this article, we’re going to look at the benefits of increasing employee productivity, and we’ll share some tips to help you get more out of your team.
Benefits of Increasing Fleet Employees’ Productivity
Fleet managers have to create an entire work environment and company culture that get the very best out of workers and drivers. It’s hard work, but building a better workplace for each individual and increasing their productivity is paramount—here are just a few reasons why.
Fewer Vehicles
If each vehicle is running at maximum efficiency and the team is exceeding goals, it might be possible to produce the same workload using fewer vehicles. Fewer vehicles equals less overhead costs for the business. It’s important to compare running costs of each vehicle to the revenue they produce and solve any discrepancies before they start causing losses.
Whether your fleet is made up of big-rigs or motorbikes or any vehicle size in between, utilizing a high number of them is costly. Having the ability to get the same amount of output from fewer vehicles immediately and substantially lowers the cost of your bottom line.
Increased Profitability
Organizations whose workers are highly productive and engaged can stand to see a 19.2% increase in operating income. All this means is that: High driver and worker productivity directly translate into greater profitability. How?
More productivity means more jobs with fewer hands on deck. More jobs with fewer workers means extra dollars in your budget to meet the fleet’s high-level goals for the year. Increased productivity also means you can spend more time with each customer, do a better job, and improve your customer satisfaction.
Resource Optimization
Increased employee productivity optimizes your resources. When everyone’s firing off on all cylinders and multitasking, they’re likely going to need the resources to do it. When productivity is through the roof, you may even find some old and dusty equipment serving functions all over again.
Lower Overhead Costs
Overhead costs are any ongoing costs, both fixed and variable. When everyone is being productive and getting the most use out of the resources available, businesses can reduce overhead costs. No need for extra expenses. Why? Everyone is being productive and utilizing what they currently have.
Meet Employee Expectations
You expect your staff to meet your expectations, and they have expectations of their management team, too. Contrary to popular belief, many employees want to be challenged. Theywant their days to be one they can put a ribbon on. One they can be proud of. It’s reported that workers who feel appropriately challenged are nearly three times as likely to be engaged in their work.
When you set appropriate, high expectations, it also lessens any manager’s need for micromanaging. Set the expectation, and they’ll be less likely to slack off. This is a form of teamwork, and one that will instantly boost your employees’ productivity on any given workday.
Increased Customer Satisfaction
Let’s multitask. Increased productivity can simultaneously impact customer satisfaction.
When workers feel empowered to give it their all, they’re going to prioritize customer satisfaction. And when customer satisfaction is prioritized and improved, your organization can stand to see a 4-8% increase in revenue.
This might be more applicable if employees are completing jobs on-site and directly dealing with customers. But even if workers don’t tend to meet others except when they’re taking a break at a truck stop, increased productivity can help them get deliveries made on time or complete jobs ahead of schedule.
6 Tips To Increase Fleet Employees’ Productivity
Now let’s look at seven effective ways to increase employee productivity. Follow these closely, and any fleet manager is bound to see significant improvements.
- Create Standardized Processes to Reduce Confusion
- Train and Retrain
- Improve by Measuring Productivity
- Give Them the Right Technological Tools
- Prevent Injuries to Decrease Time Off
- Get Organized with DECKED
1. Create Standardized Processes to Reduce Confusion
What’s the template for reduced confusion and increased productivity? Clear and direct processes, protocols, and behavior policies that leave no room for ambiguity. Standardized processes also reduce procrastination, which creates more time to complete the job and meet the organization’s needs.
Have relevant company information, including policies, protocols, and expectations printed and presented in a welcome pack. Why?
69% of workers say they’re more likely to stay on board if there’s an effective, well-rounded onboarding process.
2. Train and Retrain
Once onboarding training is complete, offer regular training refresher courses. This is imperative; up to 46% of workers fail (resign or are terminated) within the first 18 months of employment. This beginning period of time is essential to ensuring your employees are productive and self-sufficient.
Spend enough time creating monthly, quarterly, or annual training sessions—it minimizes your turnover rate. It also normalizes the need for updates and can increase the understanding of health and safety requirements or any other obligations. Rachel Johnson, Fleet Region Specialist from Konecranes talked to us about on-the-job safety.
“Safety is always the #1 consideration when considering fleet’s upfit needs. You assume tool boxes are pretty safe, but slips and falls and back injuries or chronic pain is pretty common.”
That’s where ongoing training comes in. Now and then, fleet managers have to remind employees of some things that are a part of their everyday routine and thus easily forgettable. Don’t overlook the details and assume all of your employees are up-to-date with the latest safety regulations and business practices.
3. Improve by Measuring Productivity
British mathematician Lord Kelvin once said, “That which is measured, improves.”
Measuring employees’ performance and communicating them will help employees improve their overall productivity. When you conduct regular performance reviews and check-ins, effectively communicate what they’re doing right as well as where they could improve. Employees who don’t receive regular feedback are twice as likely to become disengaged , less productive, and miss their accountability metrics.
Don’t let the opportunity to measure performance go by. The practice can help you identify areas of improvement, such as time-management, and will naturally help you find areas to cut costs and turn more profit.
4. Give Them The Right Technological Tools
Up to 16% of workers have said they’ve quit because they weren’t provided the proper technological support to help them do their jobs. It might not be enough to just send your workers on their way with a GPS app on their mobile devices. You are managing an intricate ecosystem, and you and all team members need the best technological tools to make your lives easier. Get the most out of everyone and every job by rolling out any of the below:
- Azuga: GPS Fleet Management Software
- Samsara: All-in-one Fleet Management Platform
- Fleetio: Collaborative Fleet Management Software
-
ClearPathGPS
: Fleet Management Software
5. Prevent Injuries to Decrease Time Off
According to the US Dept of Labor , the rate of non-fatal injuries and illnesses among private industry workers in 2017 was 2.8 cases per 100 full-time (and equivalent) workers. That adds up to an extreme amount of time off for recovery and recuperation. It can even lead to chronic absenteeism just because workers fear being injured again.
What’s one of the first methods of combating this?
Implementing an ergonomic way for your workers to access their tools and equipment.
Develop a fleet safety training program and combine it with DECKED systems to ensure everyone is operating safely and preventing the risk of injury.
The DECKED Drawer System and Tool Box are the answers to every worker’s tool accessibility dreams. Designed to meet the ergonomic needs of every worker, the DECKED Drawer System and Tool Box brings tools and equipment directly to you. The drawers take up the entire truck bed length and are easily accessed from the rear of the truck. This means no more climbing in and out of the pickup to access gear or tools. The innovative Tool Box includes a telescopic ladder so workers can access their tools from the side of their truck. DECKED systems minimize risk and injury by resolving the accessibility issues most other truck tool boxes and storage systems present.
Lastly, have regular safety refreshers and make it mandatory to attend them. Conduct regular inspections of vehicles, equipment, and tools to ensure everything is safe and in proper working order. Consider also keeping first-aid kits equipped in every vehicle. The DECKED Crossbox or D-Box can be used as a sturdy first-aid kit. Both nestle into the drawer safely and won’t slide about, and that means they’re exactly where they should be every time.
6. Get Organized with DECKED
Streamline everyday processes and everyone’s workflow by getting organized with DECKED. Make it simple to carry out daily tasks by having tools and equipment where they need to be.
There’s no way to keep a truck properly organized without a solid system. DECKED is the pinnacle of
organizational systems
. Every job goes smoothly because everything is in its proper place and can be found without wasting time searching. Equipping your vehicles with the right organizational tools makes critical equipment easier to access. It can help eradicate procrastinating—making the worker, the van or vehicle, and the organization look more professional.
- DECKED Drawers: Each DECKED Drawer System is custom-made in the US to provide organized, accessible, and ergonomic storage for fleets. Taking up the entirety of the truck bed, the system sits above the wheels at 12” above the true truck bed. Because it creates a flat surface, the new truck bed utilizes the whole truck bed footprint, maximizing bed function by increasing usable loading space. With a 2000 lb payload, you can carry an entire cargo load above without compromising the load beneath.
- DECKED Accessories: DECKED accessories are designed to create modular storage within the DECKED system itself. Easily swap out what you carry in your DECKED system depending on the job, and quickly transfer tools and equipment from vehicle to job site.
- DECKED Tool Box: The DECKED Tool Box sits at the front of a truck bed and is constructed with injection-molded, high-impact polymer resin. Durable, weatherproof, and innovative, the DECKED Tool Box provides yet another storage solution that addresses all the common issues of any other regular tool box. With a telescopic ladder that can retract and be tucked away, the DECKED Tool Box both impresses your fleet drivers and saves them time accessing their gear.
DECKED is synonymous with organization. Alex May, Senior Fleet Manager from Rollins, Inc. , told us, “By getting the trucks organized, we can save time on the job site. If we save 10 minutes per job, we can easily add another job ticket to their daily logs—making the drivers more productive and making more revenue for the company overall.”
Increase Productivity Now
Happy people who take pride in their work are automatically and measurably more productive. These engaged and productive workers even have 50% fewer accidents , saving your organization any unnecessary healthcare and administrative costs that negatively impact your bottom line.
If your team isn’t making the best use of their time and energy, the perfect time to change things up is now. Use this quick checklist for reference when brainstorming ways to increase worker productivity:
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