Driver of the month program: fair criteria for trucking fleets

A driver of the month program names one driver each month, or one per terminal, for safe and professional work. Research shows that even symbolic recognition can raise effort, but awards with narrow or unclear rules get gamed and can demotivate your best drivers. The programs that work publish their criteria in advance, apply them the same way everywhere, and never make reporting an injury cost someone the award.

This guide covers what the research says, criteria you can defend, fairness rules, a simple nomination process and the mistakes to avoid.

What a driver of the month program is

A driver of the month program is a recurring recognition award. Each month a fleet picks a driver, or a driver per terminal, division or fleet type, and recognizes them in public. It sits between everyday thanks from a manager and long-term honors such as the safe driver award programs run by NSC, ATA and TCA.

The award itself is usually small. Its value is the message it sends to the other drivers about what the company notices.

Does driver of the month actually work?

It can, and the research also shows how it fails.

The case for it:

• In a field experiment, a purely symbolic award, a congratulatory card for the best performance, raised performance by about 12% on average (Kosfeld and Neckermann, 2011).
• In another field experiment with more than 300 workers, unannounced public recognition raised later performance, and the workers who were not recognized were mainly responsible for the increase (Bradler, Dur, Neckermann and Non). The award moved the whole group, not just the winner.
• Gallup and Workhuman found that well-recognized employees were 45% less likely to have changed employers two years later (Gallup). That is a correlation from tracking nearly 3,500 employees, not proof of cause.

The case for caution:

• A study of an attendance award at an industrial laundry found that workers gamed the eligibility rules, improving timeliness only when they could win and calling in sick to keep their eligibility (WashU summary).
• Workers who already had above-average attendance lost 8% efficiency after the award started. The authors put this down to the inequity of their past good work going unrewarded (Gubler, Larkin and Pierce, 2016). The summary reports the program reduced plant productivity by 1.4% overall.

The lesson for a fleet: reward the behavior you actually want, make sure steady drivers can win too, and expect people to work toward whatever the rules literally say.

Driver of the month criteria you can defend

Pick a few criteria, write them down, and publish them before the month starts. This table lists common criteria, where each one has public support, and the fairness risk to plan for.

Sources: FMCSA's Safety Management Cycle guidance on unsafe driving suggests "bonuses, gift certificates, and/or verbal recognition for clean inspections, no crashes, and/or fuel efficiency" (FMCSA). FMCSA's guidance is a recommendation, not a requirement, and does not endorse any vendor. OSHA's position is in its October 11, 2018 memo. The NSC standard is in its Safe Driver Award rule book.

Criteria to leave out

• On-time delivery. The same FMCSA document says: "Do not use on-time delivery incentives, which could encourage speeding."
• "Zero injuries" as the only test. Under 29 CFR 1904.35(b)(1)(iv), employers must not discriminate against an employee for reporting a work-related injury. OSHA's memo allows awards tied to injury-free periods only if they are not run in a way that discourages reporting. Our guide to OSHA safety incentive program rules covers the safeguards.
• Attendance alone. That is the exact design the laundry study found was gamed.

If you already track safety measures on a driver scorecard, use the same definitions here so drivers hear one story.

Fairness rules for truck driver of the month

Drivers judge an award by whether people like them can win it. Gallup and Workhuman found only 26% of employees strongly agree they get similar recognition to teammates with similar performance (Gallup), and only 32% strongly agree their recognition is fair and equitable (Gallup). These rules address that directly.

1. Publish the criteria first. Drivers should know what counts before the month begins, not learn it from the announcement.
2. Apply one standard everywhere. NSC's rule book says recognition should come "promptly and impartially whenever It's earned" and that decision-makers "must apply the company's standard consistently."
3. Give every driver type a real chance. If local, regional and over-the-road drivers face very different conditions, recognize each group separately.
4. Keep a driver on the panel. NSC suggests a review committee for borderline crash calls that includes two of the fleet's professional drivers. The same idea works for choosing a winner.
5. Keep it apart from discipline. NSC says its award rules "are not to be used for disciplinary purposes." A driver should never fear that a nomination file becomes a disciplinary file.
6. Never make reporting cost the award. If a driver reports an injury or a near miss, that report alone should not knock them out.
7. Explain the pick. Say what the winner did, with a specific example. Specific praise teaches the rest of the fleet what good looks like.

A simple nomination process

Keep the process light enough that it actually happens every month.

1. Open nominations to more than managers. Dispatchers, driver managers, shop staff, fellow drivers and customers often see things a safety director does not.
2. Ask for a specific example. A good nomination names the date, the situation and what the driver did. "Always reliable" is not enough.
3. Check the safety record. Before a winner is announced, confirm there is no open crash review or unresolved issue under your written criteria.
4. Decide with a small panel. Two or three people, including a driver, pick from the nominations using the published criteria.
5. Record why. Keep a short note of the reason, so the choice can be explained if anyone asks.
6. Thank the nominees who did not win. A short note that their nomination was read, and what it said, keeps the award from feeling like a closed club.

Driver of the month ideas: how to present it

The research above found that public recognition lifted the whole group. The presentation matters as much as the prize.

• A call or visit from the owner or safety director. It costs nothing, and it comes from the person who sets the safety standard.
• Name the specific act in a driver message, newsletter or terminal board, with the driver's permission.
• A certificate or plaque the driver can take home. A purely symbolic award still raised effort in the Kosfeld and Neckermann study.
• Recognize the household. A note to the driver's family acknowledges the time away from home that the work takes.
• Feed bigger honors. A driver of the month record is a strong start for a later nomination to NSC, TCA or ATA programs.

For how a thank-you differs from a payout, see recognition vs rewards. Recognition is one part of keeping good drivers; how to retain truck drivers covers the rest.

Common mistakes

• Picking the same few drivers because they are the most visible at the terminal.
• Changing the criteria mid-month after a favorite misses out.
• Announcing a winner with no reason given.
• Letting a crash review stay open for months, so a driver is quietly barred without being told.
• Rewarding speed or on-time percentage, which FMCSA warns against.

Questions to answer before you launch

1. What exactly earns the award, in writing?
2. Is it one winner, or one per terminal or driver type?
3. Who can nominate, and what must a nomination include?
4. Who decides, and is a driver on that panel?
5. What happens to eligibility after a crash, and who decides if it was preventable?
6. How do you make sure reporting an injury or hazard never costs a driver the award?
7. How will you present it, and will the driver agree to public recognition?

Off Duty Not Driving Rewards is a rewards program for trucking fleets. Contact our team to learn more.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm requirements against the current regulation text and with your compliance counsel.