CaseStudy: Improving Employee Loyalty

Rewarding drivers with gifts of appreciation pays off for a Memphis, Tenn., freight company.
September 28, 2006

Distributor: Corporate Express Promotional Marketing (UPIC: CEXPRESS), St. Louis (also with locations around the world)

Client: Con-way Truckload, Memphis, Tenn.

Situation: In 2005, Con-way Truckload, a new division of a well-established, multibillion-dollar company, set out to develop a program to help its new team of drivers feel as if they were part of “the Con-way family.”

Con-way Truckload, which specializes in “long-haul” services, is part of Con-way Transportation Services, whose numerous subsidiaries provide freight transportation, logistics management and related services for commercial, industrial, retail, wholesale and manufacturing companies throughout North America.

“The primary objective of the program was to foster employee pride and increase initial job satisfaction — and therefore retention — of employee drivers,” says Julie McNeely, project manager for Corporate Express Promotional Marketing.

“According to the American Trucking Association, there is currently a significant driver shortage in the truckload sector. At the same time, demand is expected to grow. So Con-way’s ability to retain quality drivers directly and dramatically impacts the cost and efficiency of operations, and therefore, the bottom line.”

As a result, Con-way was seeking to build company pride and loyalty among its new drivers and encourage them to participate in a “team driver” program, in which drivers partner to provide nonstop transportation of a shipment from origin to destination.

Solution: Corporate Express Promotional Marketing worked with the client to develop a travel kit for all new employees. The kit included five personalized shirts and a personalized duffel bag as well as a first-aid kit, multi-tool, heated travel mug, padfolio with a tire tread design, visor clip, sunglass clip, short-sleeve shirt and hat — all items that would make the drivers’ journeys more pleasant and reinforce their loyalty to the company.

“We chose items that would be used every day on the job,” says Alisa Lyons, region manager, Corporate Express Promotional Marketing. “This constantly reinforces the driver’s identity as a valued Con-way employee.”

The appreciation program also included a personalized, rugged Carhartt jacket to be given to each employee in recognition of his six-month employment anniversary.

Results: Not only did the drivers express visible appreciation when they received these gifts, they also showed their appreciation by keeping their jobs. After implementing this program, Con-way Truckload’s annual turnover was only 30 percent, far below the industry-wide 120 percent turnover rate.

Carly L. Price is a Dallas-based freelance writer and former senior associate editor for IMPRESSIONS magazine. She has written for national trade and consumer magazines, including Cooking Light and Southern Living.