Last week, I had the pleasure to visit Decker Truck Lines in Fort Dodge, Iowa. As part of National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, Decker showed its appreciation for its drivers with BBQ served up with all the fixings. I was there to assist with the demonstration of one of the Freightliner Cascadia Evolutions that Decker just took delivery of.
During my conversations with many drivers and employees, I learned of the exciting new position that Decker created. Anne Dorage has been the Driver Relations Coordinator 
with Decker for the last couple of months. She is a trailblazer because it's a new position that was seen fit to create. Decker has around 750 drivers so there's plenty of driver relations to coordinate.
Anne spends a good part of her days talking to drivers and making them feel at home and part of the Decker family. She explained to me that the first 90 days is critical to driver retention. It's during that time that newly hired drivers are trying to feel connected to a new company, all while learning new procedures, lanes, customers and growing that most important relationship of driver and dispatcher.
Anne communicates with the dispatchers very closely and finds out the "above and beyond" moments that the drivers were involved in so she can recognize them
personally and maybe even send a card and gift certificate. She is also there to mitigate any problems before they arise. If there's a minor personality conflict between a driver and a certain dispatcher, Anne can sometimes facilitate a move to another dispatcher and therefore retain another driver.
Hiring new employees is not an inexpensive endeavor. Several thousand dollars are spent on each new employee with orientation and training. With that kind of investment, Decker has recognized the importance of this new position to prevent minor problems from becoming major ones. If drivers can just hang on for the critical first 90 days, they may be locked in to a satisfying career with their carrier. While I was there, I met quite a few employees that had over 20 years of service. That's quite rare with an OTR company. Two drivers were recognized while I was there: one with 1 million miles and another with 3 million!
Thanks to 365Trucking.com for the pic.