As an Owner-Operator with your own authority, you know all too well about managing every aspect of your business - from finding and securing loads to staying on top of maintenance, handling billing and collecting, and more. But how often do you factor the health and wellness of your fleet into the business equation? 

Truck drivers are notorious for serious medical conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, elevated cholesterol, sleep apnea, diabetes, and mental issues like depression. These conditions threaten your ability to earn an income and worse, your health and wellbeing. 

As a carrier, you're in a unique position to lead by example and prioritize the health and wellbeing of your fleet through driver wellness programs. According to a survey by Inbound Logistics in 2017, only 48 percent of carriers have a driver wellness program in place. Still, more carriers are recognizing their importance and implementing this benefit as a way to support their fleets. While they may be an upfront cost to the business, such programs offset higher health costs of your fleet by improving their health and well-being, leading to long-term benefits like higher productivity and retention rates, and therefore maximizing your earning potential.

Types of Driver Wellness Programs

Driver wellness programs aim to encourage healthy behaviors by providing the necessary tools and resources. Being aware of the health risks, identifying issues as early as possible, and finding ways to treat them are important pieces of the health and wellness puzzle. Wellness programs are rooted in education, prevention, and treatment.

As a carrier, you can design your driver wellness program specific to your fleet. Some common offerings include:

• Trainings, webinars, pamphlets, and other educational materials
• Health coaching and mentorship programs
• Health insurance coverage either at no or low cost
• Preventative health screenings
• On-site fitness center or in-cab fitness capabilities
• Nutritional and exercise programs (whether in-house or through partnerships)
• Medical referral network or full-service medical clinic
• Virtual medical care
• Friendly competition for motivation and accountability for exercise or nutrition programs
• Rewards and incentives for behavior change such as quitting smoking

The Benefits of Driver Wellness Programs

While driver wellness programs are still a relatively new concept, many carriers are already taking advantage of their benefits and seeing their investment in wellness pay off. The ROI of wellness programs is estimated to range from $2.00 to $5.00 per employee. Below are some of the benefits of wellness programs that make this true.

Fewer Out-of-Service Orders

Healthier fleets have a lower chance of getting driver fitness service out of orders (which depend on medical conditions). A valid CDL is necessary to deliver loads and generate earnings. Keeping your drivers on the road allows you to minimize safety violations and maximize that earning potential through increased business opportunities.

Higher Retention Rates

Many trucking companies traditionally deprioritize the people doing the work to keep it in business - the drivers. However, investing in them through wellness programs sends a different message to your fleet. It says that we appreciate and care about you. And because the relationship between a carrier and its driver is a partnership, this speaks volumes about how the two parties will interact, grow, and succeed together.

In turn, wellness programs can decrease turnover and absenteeism. Anecdotally, drivers feel happier, healthier, and safer with wellness programs. This allows you to retain great drivers, but it also reduces your costs of recruiting new talent. Melissa Morrett, an independent wellness consultant, says,

"When you consider that the average cost to identify, recruit, and train a driver can exceed $6,800, it is alarming to see that the driver turnover rate for large truckload carriers stays near 100 percent," she adds. "Turnover challenges, coupled with rising healthcare costs, mean the trucking industry faces a huge financial burden. So, any ROI is crucial to a carrier's success."

Culture of Wellness

Wellness programs are not just beneficial to your drivers. They extend far beyond this. Wellness is central to who you are as a person. As your drivers become aware and take action to incorporate healthier behaviors into their lives, they influence other people within their networks to do the same. 

In fact, according to Melissa Morrett,

"Wellness programs and health education, if implemented industry-wide, have the potential to alter society's perception of truck drivers.”

With time, the hope is that these trends of prioritizing health and wellness will trickle throughout the industry. It all starts with one person.

How to Create a Driver Wellness Program

Launching a new wellness program may not happen overnight. It takes time to design and implement. Further, just because you implement a wellness program does not mean that your fleet will buy into it and that you'll immediately experience the benefits. So much of wellness refers to long-term behavioral change, which is never easy. However, you can take the first steps toward investing in the health and well-being of your fleet with some simple actions today.

Involve your Drivers

The carrier must design the wellness program around its drivers to stay closely aligned with their related needs and desires. Make sure that you are aware of the current health and wellness issues they're facing, and you can offer something to benefit them. However, getting drivers involved from the beginning will help to create ownership and investment over it. Initiate conversation, ask questions and listen to your fleet. Come up with a list of wellness goals your drivers want to achieve. Creating a sense of community will help them stay focused and accountable to those goals.

Do Your Due Diligence

Look around at other similar-sized fleets that already have wellness programs and learn about them. Find out what is working and what is not working. See if you can find any of their drivers to engage. Compare and contrast their insights against those of your drivers.

Get to know the players in this space and the options available. Leverage existing partnerships that other fleets have to see if they might be right for you. If you are a larger carrier, consider extending your wellness program beyond your drivers to employees, as well, for added engagement and retention. 

Run Your Expenses

While wellness programs are the right thing to do from a health and wellness perspective, they are an added upfront cost. As you design your program, make sure that you stay in lock-step with your business model. You still need to make sound business decisions and remain profitable at the end of the day. Otherwise, implementing a wellness program doesn't make much sense when you do not have a fleet! 

Create Incentives 

Just because you have a wellness program in place does not mean that people will buy into it. Incentives and rewards go a long way in ensuring participation. ‚Wellness initiatives can improve a driver's well-being and quality of life. It's all about finding ways for the driver to connect with the offerings, try them out, and have them stick.

Workplace wellness programs must be "voluntary, non-discriminatory, be reasonably likely to promote health or prevent disease, and protect the confidential health information of their employees."

Iterate Along the Way

As we know, health and wellness issues change over time. Stay agile and iterate your program as necessary. There are many ways to keep your fleet engaged and motivated, and being able to respond to current needs as much as possible will help keep drivers invested and, therefore, healthier.

Final Thoughts

There is no doubt that health is critical to your ability to earn an income. Whether you're a fleet of 1 or 100, take the time to consider what it would mean to design and implement a wellness program. Those who have done so are finding that encouraging healthy behaviors and getting drivers engaged pays dividends not just for the drivers, but also for the fleet owners.

Other relevant articles:

Wellness in Trucking: An Overview

Why High Blood Pressure Can Take You Off the Road

Keep Your Cholesterol in Check, Your Heart Happy, and Your CDL Valid