How to retain truck drivers: 7 steps backed by research

To retain truck drivers, fix the reasons they leave before adding perks. Research points to the same few drivers of turnover: pay, steady work, home time, support on the road, and respect from management. Measure turnover monthly, close the pay gap you can, dispatch loads drivers can run legally, hire for fit, and recognize safe work so it is seen.

The seven steps:

1. Measure turnover the same way every month
2. Find out where your pay stands
3. Protect home time and steady miles
4. Dispatch only what can be run legally
5. Hire for fit, and read the job history
6. Recognize safe work where drivers can see it
7. Ask drivers why they stay, and act on it

Step 1: Measure turnover the same way every month

A driver retention program starts with one number tracked the same way. Use the method the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) uses for its JOLTS survey: separations divided by employment, times 100 (BLS JOLTS technical note).

Annual driver turnover % = (drivers who left during the year ÷ average drivers employed) × 100

Track quits separately from terminations; BLS counts quits as employees who "left voluntarily" (BLS JOLTS definitions). Split the rate by tenure, so you can see whether you lose drivers in the first 90 days or after year three. Those are different problems.

Be careful with benchmarks. The latest American Trucking Associations (ATA) figure we could verify is from 2020: 90% at large truckload carriers and 69% at smaller truckload fleets (ATA, March 2021). ATA itself says the rate "captures churn within the industry—not attrition from the industry" (ATA, 2022). The rate tracks drivers moving between fleets, not drivers leaving trucking.

Step 2: Find out where your pay stands

Pay is near the top of drivers' own list. In the American Transportation Research Institute's (ATRI) 2025 Top Industry Issues survey, truck-driver respondents named Driver Compensation, Truck Parking and English Language Proficiency as their top three concerns (ATRI, Oct. 2025). ATRI's 2026 cost report found driver pay rose more slowly than inflation for the second year in a row (ATRI, July 2026).

Economists Stephen Burks and Kristen Monaco, writing in the BLS Monthly Labor Review, found the truck driver labor market works like other blue-collar markets. They located the persistent turnover in long-distance truckload, where entrants often "find the working conditions and earnings to be unattractive" (Burks and Monaco, 2019).

Compare your pay per week, not per mile, against the fleets your drivers leave for. If you can't close the gap, the other steps matter more. Our guide to driver retention without raising pay covers that case.

Step 3: Protect home time and steady miles

A 2003 FMCSA research report (FMCSA-RT-03-004), prepared by TransAnalytics and the ATA Foundation and now hosted by ATRI, reviewed the research on why drivers change jobs. It named the factors that most affect how long a driver stays: "steadiness of work, level of pay and benefits, company support while on the road, genuine respect from management, and amount of home time" (FMCSA, Commercial Motor Vehicle Driver Retention and Safety, 2003). The report is from 2003. Pay, one of the factors it names, was still among drivers' top three concerns in ATRI's 2025 survey.

Put home time in writing: how often, how it's scheduled, and what happens when a load runs late. Then track how often you keep the promise.

Step 4: Dispatch only what can be run legally

Loads that only work if a driver speeds or runs over hours push good drivers out and put everyone at risk. FMCSA's Safety Management Cycle for the Unsafe Driving category tells carriers to "ensure that enough drivers are hired so that the carrier can meet deadlines within Hours-of-Service restrictions without speeding." It also warns: "Do not use on-time delivery incentives, which could encourage speeding" (FMCSA, FMC-CSA-12-019, Jan. 2013). FMCSA's guidance is a recommendation, not a requirement, and does not endorse any vendor.

The regulation goes further: a carrier may not coerce a driver to operate in violation of the safety rules (49 CFR 390.6). Review dispatch plans for whether they can be run inside the limits, not just whether they're on time.

Step 5: Hire for fit, and read the job history

Retention starts at hiring. Federal rules already require you to check a new driver's motor vehicle records from every state licensed in over the past 3 years, and their safety history with DOT-regulated employers over the same period (49 CFR 391.23).

Read that history for job changes, too. The 2003 FMCSA study found a driver's odds of a crash begin to rise above about two job changes a year. Drivers averaging three or more carriers a year had odds of multiple crashes "more than twice as high" as drivers who moved less. Keeping drivers longer is a safety measure as well as a cost one; see how to reduce fleet accidents.

Step 6: Recognize safe work where drivers can see it

The same 2003 review found "drivers attain satisfaction from a sense of achievement and recognition," and listed safety-related rewards and incentives among six areas that could improve retention and safety. FMCSA's Safety Management Cycle also recommends that carriers "design and implement incentives and/or recognition programs" for safe driving, giving clean inspections and no crashes as examples.

Recognition only works if the rules are clear and every driver can earn it. It doesn't replace pay or home time, and it can't guarantee drivers stay. It's a way to make safe work visible.

Step 7: Ask drivers why they stay, and act on it

Exit interviews tell you why drivers left. Stay interviews and surveys can show you who is thinking about it. The 2003 FMCSA study flagged measuring driver satisfaction, and tying it to retention, as an open question for the industry. Ask on a schedule, keep it anonymous where you can, and report back what you changed.

Common mistakes in a driver retention program

• Quoting "90% turnover" as current. It's ATA's 2020 figure for large truckload carriers.
• Paying bonuses on on-time delivery. FMCSA warns it can encourage speeding.
• Rewarding only the top 5%. If most drivers can't earn recognition, it won't change what most drivers do.
• Adding perks before fixing pay and home time. Pay was among drivers' top three concerns in ATRI's 2025 survey, and the 2003 FMCSA review names home time among the main reasons drivers stay.

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