Let’s say the quiet part out loud: Across nearly three decades, large long-haul truckload carriers averaged a 92.7 percent annualized turnover rate. Most drivers aren’t quitting trucking. They’re quitting a bad week. A week that felt chaotic, underpaid by the clock, and packed with friction. That stings if you’ve already raised cents-per-mile and printed posters about culture and values. The upside is clear. If turnover shows up in the workweek, it can be fixed in the workweek.
Pay matters, but predictability keeps people. When drivers can count on steady miles, real parking, reliable dock times, and a clean handoff to tomorrow’s load, they stay. When those pieces wobble, no pay plan can hold the roof up for long.
So, with that in mind, here’s our take on what keeping drivers ACTUALLY looks like in the workweek, and how to build it step by step.
Step 1: Fix the Handoff
Ask many drivers where the job starts to fall apart, and they’ll point to what happens after the last delivery. The next load shows up late. The trailer isn’t where it’s supposed to be. The timing doesn’t match their hours. It’s not always one big mistake that causes drivers to leave, it’s the drip of sloppy handoffs that wears them down.
Over time, that kind of friction starts to feel personal, like no one upstream is thinking about what it’s like to actually run these loads. And THAT is when drivers check out. They stop trusting the system, and they start planning their exit. And the thing is, this is all fixable. Good planning can likely eliminate half the stress in a driver’s week. For the company, that means tighter load sequencing, fewer surprises, and tools that actually show trailer status in real time. It can also mean having a dispatch team that stays a step ahead, not one that reacts after the wheels stop.
Most drivers aren’t asking for miracles, they just want the job to run the way it’s supposed to. And when every next step feels like a coin toss, even loyal drivers with 20+ years of service to the company start looking around. But when the day flows right and the plan holds together, that’s what keeps people in the seat.
Step 2: Respect their time
One of the biggest sources of frustration for drivers (one that’s often invisible to people outside the cab) is how much of their time gets wasted. Sitting at a dock for hours past the appointment window or waiting around for paperwork to be sorted out. Even things like searching for parking at midnight after burning through their drive time. These delays aren’t just inconveniences, they chip away at the things that matter to them…their ability to drive, earn, and get home. And when that clock keeps getting burned for reasons out of their control, it adds up to a feeling of helplessness. Over time, that turns into burnout.
A driver may not quit over one bad day, but a dozen wasted hours every week creates a pressure cooker that pushes them toward the door. And the fix isn’t just paying more detention, it’s demonstrating that you respect their time at every step, and that you proactively communicate when things go wrong.
For the company, that may sometimes mean working only with shippers and receivers who honor appointment times. Other time it may look like providing reliable intel on parking availability so drivers aren’t stuck gambling for a safe spot. And it certainly involves giving dispatchers the tools to build realistic schedules based on hours-of-service realities.
The point is, respecting the clock is more than just having “good operations” ; it’s how you prove you respect the driver, and what’s important to them. And that respect is what keeps people around.
Step 3: Emphasize predictability as often as possible
A lot of carriers focus on pay when trying to retain drivers, and studies show that pay does matter. But what keeps drivers loyal over time isn’t just a high rate per mile. It’s knowing how many miles they’ll actually get. Drivers don’t want to gamble with their paycheck every week.
One week they run hard and earn strong. The next, the miles dry up, and the take-home drops. That unpredictability makes it hard to budget, hard to plan home time, and hard to stay loyal. Over time, that instability wears drivers down and pushes them to chase consistency elsewhere.
The solution isn’t complex, but it does require discipline: design route networks and schedules that deliver predictable weekly rhythms. That might mean committing to dedicated lanes, favoring drop-and-hook freight over live loads, and tightening your freight network to reduce deadhead. It also means forecasting more aggressively and smoothing out dispatch patterns across the fleet so that miles aren’t feast or famine.
Drivers can handle a tough week if they know it’ll balance out, but constant swings create stress and churn. The carriers that win long-term aren’t necessarily the ones paying the most, they’re often the ones offering the most predictable week. Because that’s what turns a job into a steady living.
Step 4: Make sure your health insurance is actually usable
Most fleets offer health insurance. Some even offer fairly comprehensive plans, but for a lot of drivers, those benefits sometimes feel more like a brochure than a lifeline. The issue isn’t typically about coverage, it’s about accessibility. A driver might ‘technically’ have dental coverage, but if they can’t schedule an appointment without missing a day’s pay, what’s the point? They might have a decent medical plan, but if the only available clinic is in their home state and they’re out three weeks at a time, the coverage might as well not exist. That disconnect becomes another source of friction in an already tense environment.
Over time, it adds to the quiet reasons drivers leave. They’re not saying, “I need better insurance.” They’re thinking, “This job makes it too hard to take care of myself.” To fix this, benefits have to meet drivers where they are…on the road. If possible, offer 24/7 telehealth. Definitely explore plans that cover urgent care out of state. Seek to provide mobile access to benefit info and claim support. Better yet, talk to your drivers about what they actually use and need, up to and including mental health support. Benefits should exist to reduce stress, not add to it. When a driver feels like their health (and their family’s health) is taken seriously, it’s one more reason to stay.
Step 5: Offer comprehensive management training
Drivers don’t leave carriers – they leave people. Like the leadership expert Marcus Buckingham put it: “People leave managers, not companies.” And in trucking, that manager is usually the fleet dispatcher. One person who doesn’t listen, doesn’t follow through, or talks down to drivers can undo thousands of dollars in recruiting in a single month.
When a driver speaks up, don’t brush it off as “just hurt feelings.” Assume it’s about trust, respect, or something breaking down in the system. If a driver feels like no one has their back, they start to disconnect, and if that feeling becomes familiar, they start looking for the door.
The irony is that most fleet managers are never properly trained to manage people. They’re taught systems, not soft skills. They’re rewarded for covering freight, not for keeping drivers. And that has to change. Fleet managers should be seen as a retention tool, not just a logistics role. They need real management coaching; not just on planning loads, but on building trust, handling conflict, and keeping communication tight and professional. They need KPIs tied to turnover and driver satisfaction, not just utilization. And they need to be recognized when they’re doing it right. A great manager can turn a rough week into a reason to stay. A bad one can turn a decent job into a final straw. If you want to fix turnover, start with who drivers report to.
The Real Fix for Driver Turnover
If you want to stop losing drivers, stop guessing why they leave. As we stated in the beginning, most aren’t quitting the industry, they’re quitting the day-to-day grind that wears them down, and walking through the door of your best competitor.
When you fleet promotes chaos, insane wait times, inconsistency, and the feeling that no one’s listening, why shouldn’t they?. So, in many cases fixing turnover starts with fixing the workweek. If you’ve been experiencing high turnover, try to optimize for clean handoffs, predictable miles, better time management, real benefits, and managers who know how to lead people…not just push freight.
But even with all of that in place, retention won’t stick unless drivers know their work is seen and valued. That’s where a real driver retention program comes in. Not a slogan. Not a quarterly pizza party. A structured, consistent system that listens to driver feedback, tracks meaningful metrics, and rewards the behaviors that make your company better. Recognition without listening feels hollow. Bonuses without consistency feel like a bribe. But when drivers are heard, supported, and appreciated in ways that actually show up in their day-to-day, it builds trust…and that trust is what keeps them from taking that recruiter’s call.
Retention isn’t one thing. It’s everything. And the companies that treat it like a core operation (not an afterthought) are the ones that will keep their best people.