How can we tackle the labour shortage in the transport sector?

For several years now, transport companies have had to deal with issues of profitability, performance, technology, legal and government constraints and, above all, the availability of human resources;

It would seem that one day lorries will be intelligent enough to drive without drivers, but in the meantime, transport companies are faced with a crying shortage of drivers. So how do you go about recruiting enough qualified drivers? Read on to find out what our team at Mallette, a firm of chartered professional accountants, has to say.

Lack of truck drivers : several options are available to you! ‍

Even if the solutions are not so obvious, you still have several possible strategies for resolving, in the short or medium term, your transport company's labour shortage situation. Here's an overview of what the Mallette business advisors have to offer:

• Recruitment from childhood
  Raise young people's awareness from an early age of what they envisage as a career: truck driver, dispatcher or garage mechanic. In this way, the entire transport industry will come out a winner since, through your various representations, the number of enrolments in transport schools for heavy goods vehicles should increase and thus generate a much larger available workforce.

• Representation at transport schools
  It is to your advantage to meet teachers and students directly at the school. This will give you the opportunity to make yourself known as an employer and convince your future employees to become members of your transport company.

• Internships
  Do you think that taking on interns can be expensive? On the contrary, despite the costs associated with remuneration, integration, training and supervision of the resource, it has been shown that the spin-offs for the company can be very interesting. It should not be forgotten that companies generally have access to various subsidies to offset these costs.

  The disadvantages :

  • Intern wages

  • Time to invest in induction and integration, training and supervision

  • Loss of performance linked to the inexperience of the interns and the employees who have to spend time training and supervising them

  The advantages :

  • By observing candidates in a workplace, it is easier to target the right employees

  • By the time you hire an employee who has been an intern, the whole integration process has already been completed

  • Interns can be excellent ambassadors to help you recruit good resources. If the company does well, the internship will have enabled it to attract several good resources. Assuming that recruitment and integration costs can easily total $10,000 per employee, hiring several resources at once saves several dollars.

• Implement benefits that will attract the best resources
  Today, transport companies need to be as attractive as possible to attract the best resources. That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to increase salaries. There are many other motivating factors. Younger people will prefer to have more time for leisure (holidays, reduced working hours, etc.), to have more flexible working hours, to have fun at work, to develop a social network, and so on. It's up to you to be creative and original in order to stand out from your competitors.

• Developing your employer brand
  Being known and recognised as an employer of choice among future employees is no longer an option today, it's become strategic, even critical. The effort you put into making your employees happy will enable you to attract the best resources and, above all, keep them with your organisation for a long time.

• Focus on HR marketing
  Do not hesitate to vary your strategies for advertising your job vacancies (internal postings, external postings on the Emploi Québec website, Jobboom, Jobillico, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). Be strategic by defining the ideal candidate and adjusting your distribution strategies in line with this target.

• Becoming or retaining headhunters
  Never forget that your best headhunters are your own employees. Don't hesitate to give recruitment bonuses to your employees to reward them if they introduce you to one of their friends. Call directly candidates you would like to have in your organisation. However, be careful how you do this. If you have no qualms about soliciting employees from your competitors, they won't be shy about recruiting from you either. Finally, you can also use the services of external headhunters. Although the approach is more expensive, it is often a turnkey service with certain guarantees.

• Recruiting foreign workers
  As a last resort, you always have the option of hiring foreign workers. Of course, you may be reluctant to do this, as the laws and regulations differ greatly from one country to another, but remember that all countries in the world use carriers. Of course, you'll need to focus on training and awareness-raising, as well as paying particular attention to your process for integrating these foreign workers. You may have to invest significant sums to facilitate their arrival in the country (accommodation, food, social life, etc.) without forgetting to worry about your organisational culture, the cohesion of your multicultural teams and your evaluation processes, etc.

*Your human resources advisor will help you with this process and your immigration advisor can answer all your questions about international recruitment.

Tackling labour shortages in the transport sector : a summary

Scheduling a one-hour meeting with your business advisor will give you time to think about how to be even more strategic, prepared and organised. You'll be able to tackle the challenges and issues facing transport companies when it comes to recruitment.

Your advisor can also help you structure your processes and optimise the way you attract, recruit and retain staff.

At Mallette, your business advisor works closely with multidisciplinary experts, offering you comprehensive support to meet your needs.

We can help you. Contact us now!