For Rollzi, a growing fleet based in the Pacific Northwest, the struggle to recruit and retain good drivers is a top concern. As the consequences of the driver shortage become more apparent and dire, carriers have doubled down on existing recruiting methods without success. They’ve increased sign-on bonuses or raised the price per mile but don’t see results. The driver shortage at its current scale is a new problem, and it requires unique solutions. Damien Hutchins, Co-founder, and CEO took this to heart when he launched his company in early 2020 and set out to empower drivers beyond the driver’s seat.
While increasing sign-on bonuses may yield short-term results for some carriers, Damien takes the long view. First and foremost, Damien upskills his drivers. At Rollzi, drivers don’t just drive; they do billing and file invoices, so they’re exposed to the fundamentals of the back office. As such, drivers at Rollzi are Operational Specialists (employees who also drive commercial vehicles). This equips them with the tools to succeed in the trucking business and allows them to truly imagine a career path. While having a career path is important, nothing is more important than spending time with family, so Damien ultimately measures his success on his ability to create routes and schedules that get drivers home for the weekends and allow them to plan for the holidays.
When Damien found Kamion, a truck management system, it changed the world for both Rollzi and the Operational Specialists. This software allowed the OS to have practical tools at their fingertips, no matter where they are. It was easy to implement this software in the back office and within the fleet with a consumer-level app interface. Allowing the Operational Specialists to bill clients and track loads gave them the opportunity to gain skills outside of driving. By building up their career and experience, Damien was able to tackle driver retainment. Without even trying, it solved his recruitment problem as well, as drivers were recruiting other drivers to join. Turns out, happy drivers want to stay and bring in more people to help.
The benefit of Kamion goes beyond saving companies time and money–it impacts lives. Kamion was built by a carrier for carriers so the importance of creating career path opportunities is baked into every facet of the platform.