TULSA, Okla. — Driver iQ, provider of background screening and driver monitoring services to the trucking industry, says carriers taking part in its second quarter 2019 Recruitment & Retention Survey indicated they are not prepared to implement the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Driver Registration regulations.
“Three-fourths (75%) of the recruiters surveyed indicated they are not prepared for the new Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse driver registration that begins January 6, 2020,” said Lana Batts, co-president of Driver iQ. “The law requiring the Clearinghouse was passed in 2012. FMCSA did not publish the basic rules for implementing the clearinghouse until April 19. Eight months is simply not enough time for carriers to understand the rule, start an implementation plan, develop and test the plan, and implement the plan. I’m expecting mass chaos as drivers try to register for a program that no one has seen even a demo, fully understands and can clearly articulate to worried drivers.”
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration spokesman Duane DeBruyne said the agency has made available numerous resources to educate carriers and drivers on the clearinghouse program, beginning with the keystone landing page at https://clearinghouse.fmcsa.gov.
“We’ll continue encouraging drivers and carriers to register and continue to enhance the clearinghouse landing page soon with the advent of accepting registrations later this autumn.
He cited examples of some of our current and recent past outreach and education activities with respect to the clearinghouse.
- At all the truck (and bus industry and household goods moving company) trade shows this year FMCSA staff have, and will continue to, give presentations.
- The agency has prominently featured the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse on its main webpage rotator https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/
- The agency issued a news release about those resources.
- On social media — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn — the agency has regularly, essentially monthly, promoted the resources available online.
Another aspect of the second quarter Driver iQ survey dealt with technology and Batts noted that while technology is a part of recruiters’ everyday lives to accelerate the hiring process and make the process easy, fast and straightforward for the driver applicants, second quarter results show that 28% of the recruiters surveyed do not see any new technology on the horizon that will make their lives easier or more productive.
The highest-ranking new technology was Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) at 17%, which has been around for more than a decade and not really “new.”
The survey also had a number of firsts:
- For the first time since fourth quarter 2017, more recruiters expect that driver turnover is going to remain about the same (46%),rather than increase (30%) or decrease (25%).
- For the first time, an overwhelming majority of the recruiters (74%) expect that future driver compensation is going to remain the same.
The second quarter 2019 Trends in Truckload Recruitment and Retention Survey from Driver iQ is the latest in a planned series of quarterly surveys designed to better understand and measure recruiting and retention experiences and expectations in the truckload sector. The results of the survey are coupled with observations of Driver iQ personnel engaged in the background screening industry.
The survey represents the views of recruiting managers who operate over 75,000 trucks and the majority of the responses came from dry van carriers with over $100 million in gross operating Driver iQ is the transportation division of Cisive, a worldwide leader in HR technology and background screening.
For more information, visit Driver iQ.com.
The Trucker News Staff produces engaging content for not only TheTrucker.com, but also The Trucker Newspaper, which has been serving the trucking industry for more than 30 years. With a focus on drivers, the Trucker News Staff aims to provide relevant, objective content pertaining to the trucking segment of the transportation industry. The Trucker News Staff is based in Little Rock, Arkansas.
