Driver Performance / Retention Module

The BOLT Driver Performance & Retention Module that will help you manage your drivers into better performance. It will help you avoid the “80-20” rule where you spend 80% of your time managing 20% of your drivers. You will no longer have to wonder why when you pass out driver increases that they always go to all drivers – including that bottom “20%”.

Co-developed with the Jim Angel, Transportation Director of a national company, this module will allow you to select your key driver management indices (safety, revenue, on-time delivery, etc.) and apply a numeric value to each that then helps you prioritize and rank your employees in a realistic and meaningful manner that ties performance to company expectations. It provides a fair and easy-to-use approach to paying your drivers for performance (as opposed to length of service on the job).

Here’s the basics of how it works:

You determine the key annual indices that you want to use for ranking your drivers’ performance (i.e., Safety, Hours of Service, Safety Meetings, Customer Service, etc.)
You then assign a point ranking for each of your major indices for all categories to be allocated throughout the year.
You then determine the sub categories for each key indicator and their respective point values. For example, the major category of Safety might be allocated a total of 100 points with the following sub-categories:
- Accidents (40 points)
- Non-Preventable Accidents (20 points)
- Injury Accidents (25 points)
- Moving Violations (15 points)
Once you have determined the sub categories and point values for each, you are ready to begin tracking your drivers’ performance. Whenever a driver has a violation or a problem as identified by your sub categories, you enter it into the system – and the respective point value will be deducted from that driver’s total.
- For example, with respect to the Safety key category (as explained above), every time a driver has an accident or moving violation, this would be entered in the system and the appropriate number of points would be deducted from his/her total possible point allocation.
- You have the option to enter comments for each of your entries for future clarification and reference.
- You can also scan documents and pictures for backup and reference

Here's an example of one company's Driver Performance Corporate Goals:

Driver Performance Corporate Goals (Annual)

Categories	Points	Sub Categories	Sub Points	Total Points	Delete
Safety	140	Preventable Accidents			Delete
Safety	140	Non Preventable			Delete
Safety	140	Injuries			Delete
Safety	140	Moving Violations			Delete
Hours of Service	80	11 Hour Violation			Delete
Hours of Service	80	14 Hour Violation			Delete
Hours of Service	80	70 Hour Violation			Delete
Safety Meeting	25	Attended			Delete
Safety Meeting	25	Excused			Delete
Safety Meeting	25	Un-Excused			Delete
Customer Service	75	Attendance			Delete
Customer Service	75	On-Time Delivery			Delete
Customer Service	75	Uniform & Appearance			Delete
Customer Service	75	Cooperation & Attitude			Delete
Customer Service	75	Peoplenet Use			Delete
Job Knowledge	80	Policy & Procedure			Delete
Job Knowledge	80	Trip Reporting & Logs			Delete
Job Knowledge	80	Tractor Maintenance			Delete
Job Knowledge	80	DOT Compliance			Delete
Total Points:	400

At any point during the year, you can get a Scorecard for an individual driver or see the performance of all drivers at once for any of your major categories.

Here's a sample report for an individual driver's scorecard:

Jack Adams Performance (Quarterly)

Categories	Points	Sub Categories	Sub Points	Earned Points
Safety	35	Preventable Accidents	12.5	9.5
Safety	35	Non Preventable	7.5	7.5
Safety	35	Injuries	10	10
Safety	35	Moving Violations	5	5
Hours of Service	20	11 Hour Violation	6.25	3.25
Hours of Service	20	14 Hour Violation	6.25	2.25
Hours of Service	20	70 Hour Violation	7.5	7.5
Safety Meeting	6.25	Attended	6.25	6.25
Safety Meeting	6.25	Excused	0	0
Safety Meeting	6.25	Un-Excused	0	0
Customer Service	18.75	Attendance	3.75	3.75
Customer Service	18.75	On-Time Delivery	3.75	3.75
Customer Service	18.75	Uniform & Appearance	3.75	3.75
Customer Service	18.75	Cooperation & Attitude	3.75	3.75
Customer Service	18.75	Peoplenet Use	3.75	2.75
Job Knowledge	20	Policy & Procedure	5	5
Job Knowledge	20	Trip Reporting & Logs	5	5
Job Knowledge	20	Tractor Maintenance	5	5
Job Knowledge	20	DOT Compliance	5	1
Total Points:	100		Total Earned Points:	85

At the end of the month, quarter or year, you have an objective, point-based system that provides a meaningful and easy way to rank and reward your drivers. More importantly, you have the means to show each of your drivers how they are doing at any one point of time relative to their peer drivers. They can no longer cry favoritism when someone else is rewarded – and those who receive their just rewards can fully understand how they stand out from the crowd and how much they deserve the accolades.

“As managers, we have to do it all - we must be competitive, reduce turnover, and most important we must keep the good drivers. We are using the performance scorecard for incentives and annual increases,” says Jim Angel, Transportation Director for Atrium Windows & Doors. “We want to reward the great performers and at the same time give our 20%'ers the chance to see what they can earn if improvement is achieved. It's a win/win. The key is that it can be customized to your fleet and that it’s easy to use. The result is a great R.O.I.”

At BOLT, we understand that finding and retaining Outstanding, Motivated Drivers is critical – for many, it is even more important than fuel cost, revenue per mile and other truck-oriented metrics. This point-based system allows a Fleet Manager an easy and affordable tool to rank and reward those Outstanding Drivers. We sincerely believe it will immediately save expenses, increase revenue and profitability. In the future this tool will become a great recruiting aide.