Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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INNOVATORS Since making that decision, Tennant has grown in his career from driving to dispatching, managing information technology, sales and most recently own- ership. He still prefers to use the same title he did at age 18. "I tell people I am a trucker, " he says. "I'm proud of that." Most drivers and managers don't have opportunities to jumpstart their careers in a family business. On the other hand, family businesses also can stifle ambition for both the company and the people involved. In 2009, Ten- nant persuaded his father to sell his stock and took control of the company to create an organization that was primed for growth. Prior to 2009, only family members were allowed to attend management meetings. Since buying the company, Tennant has hired new personnel for accounting, safety and information technology. His objective was to ensure the way we wanted them to be treated," Tennant says. Tennant Truck Lines pays drivers on practical miles with a guaranteed weekly minimum. Drivers also have the opportunity to increase their wages significantly. A driver scorecard was created to allow drivers to increase monthly pay by 6 cents per mile for doing "the right thing." Drivers receive monthly bonuses if they meet company metrics for fuel savings, customer ser- vice and Compliance Safety Account- ability scores. The scorecard also includes a subjec- " I tell people I am a trucker. I'm proud of that." – Aaron Tennant, owner, Tennant Truck Lines the company had the best possible skillset for managers at every position, regardless of family connections. "Hard decisions had to be made," he says. "I was upsetting the apple cart, but I knew it had to be done." Tennant credits the personnel moves for helping the company grow from 75 trucks to 165 since 2009, with plans to add 25 more this year. The brokerage arm of the business has grown from $600,000 a month to $1 million. With the changes in management, the culture at Tennant Truck Lines has remained centered around the phrase "Do the right thing with the driver." This is the focus of every conversation during daily staff meetings. "We have had to terminate a few operations folks that didn't treat drivers 48 COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JUNE 2012 tive piece that "allows us to rate them in some ways that make HR people nervous," Tennant says. This subjective portion is related to appearance and attitude. "It is easy to measure on-time pickups, fuel mileage and CSA scores, but what else is driving that behavior? We think it is self-respect. Once you get that, all the other stuff falls in line. They are going to do the right thing. In order to " guarantee drivers a minimum mileage, Tennant Truck Lines has had to refocus its sales efforts to customers. If a driver is available but does not get the mini- mum weekly mileage due to permit delays or other reasons, Tennant expects customers to help out. Since implementing the new pro- grams in 2009, Tennant Truck Lines has seen driver turnover dip as low as 37 percent. Turnover since has crept up to about 50 percent due to supply and de- mand forces. By comparison, turnover at large fleets was 88 percent in April, according to the American Trucking Associations. "Without our initiatives, we would be near the national average," Tennant says. "I'm disappointed it went up, but had we not deployed a lot of programs and processes, it would be worse." Outreach efforts Attracting new drivers to the industry may be a more difficult challenge, but it's a cause that stirs Tennant, who co-chairs the Truckload Carriers As- sociation's membership committee and has lobbied Congress to reduce the federal age requirement from 21 to 18 and allocate funding to driver training programs. He also has met with Presi- dent Obama and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood about the topic. "I am very passionate about the fact that we need to bring younger people into the industry, " Tennant says. "We lose so many of them. A certain per- centage of them are not college-bound. They need to realize there is nothing wrong with entering the work force at a young age." Tennant Truck Lines works with local high schools to create awareness programs about driving careers. The company also teams with area commu- nity colleges to help in the mentoring and finishing programs for new drivers. "Truck driving schools teach the fundamentals, but I don't know they are teaching them to prepare for the bit of isolation these folks have, " he says. Although Tennant Truck Lines oper- ates in all of the 48 contiguous states, it actively is targeting intrastate freight to increase the number of younger drivers it can hire. The company now employs a few drivers under the age of 21; to make this possible, it worked closely with an insurance carrier to create a detailed training program. Tennant admits the current program is expensive and cumbersome, but it is a start. "I've been an advocate of lower- ing the age for a long time because I did it when I was 18," he says. "That proved very successful." CCJ INNOVATORS profiles carriers and fleets that have found innovative ways to overcome trucking's challenges. If you know a carrier that has displayed innovation, contact Jeff Crissey at jcrissey@ccjmagazine.com or 800-633-5953.