Many ready-mix concrete companies struggle with high driver turnover, which leads to scheduling problems and high costs. The "Growing Your Own" hiring strategy developed by the National Business Institute aims to address this issue by recruiting candidates and providing industry-specific training before hiring. Companies that have implemented this approach report lower driver turnover rates, improved customer service, and a safer driving record compared to traditional hiring methods. The approach involves developing an ideal driver profile, screening candidates, and conducting a four-week paid training program before hiring drivers. Trainees are not considered employees until completing the program, and training costs are reimbursed through paycheck withdrawals. Participating companies have seen reductions in turnover from 20% to less than 5% after adopting this

1. M
any ready-mixed
concrete managers
will tell you high
driver turnover,
which creates sched-
uling problems and high rehiring and
retraining costs, is one of their biggest
problems. An almost universally low
supply of competent, skilled people
who will tolerate working in a tough
environment and regional labor short-
ages intensify competition by creating
high market wages.
Plant managers will often do any-
thing to get new drivers if some
trucks are idle. They may even ask
competitors whether any former mix-
er drivers need work or if anyone
knows other former professional dri-
vers who need a job.
Other managers would tell you this
is akin to an NFL general manager
calling another and saying, “We cut
our placekicker today. How can I con-
tact the one you just cut?” This ap-
proach may result in hiring someone
else’s problem. But if that general
manager brings in a former profes-
sional soccer player with tremendous
leg strength but who has never place-
kicked before, the coaches can develop
him their way.
Similarly, the “Growing Your Own”
hiring strategy, developed by the Na-
tional Business Institute (NBI), attacks
the driver staffing problem at an earli-
er stage than training programs. In this
strategy, recruiting consultants find
good people first; only then does train-
ing start. Managers take a low-risk
gamble because applicants have com-
pleted a nominal four-week training
program, which indicates dedication.
Although startup time is longer, pro-
ducers who incorporate this approach
into their strategic planning retain dri-
vers longer and avoid hiring emergen-
cies later.
In most cases, the program seeks
candidates who don’t hold a Class B
commercial driver’s license (CDL).
Why? Producers who adopt the
“Growing Your Own” approach real-
ize you can’t compare driving a mixer
truck with any other professional dri-
ving job. The program meets CDL re-
quirements, but the main emphasis is
on industry-specific training.
Trainers stress unique maintenance
and safety requirements in mixer dri-
ving. A recruit who has previously dri-
ven for a living may never appreciate the
uniqueness of mixer-truck operation.
Wanted: Driver staying power
James Woody, who oversees hiring
for Chandler Concrete’s 18 plants in
north-central North Carolina, says
previous driving experience sometimes
forms lax attitudes regarding unique
safety issues in mixer-truck driving.
Woody says some experienced profes-
sional drivers aren’t receptive to warn-
ings that their mixer trucks are suscep-
tible to flip-overs and getting stuck
during off-road driving. “Some drivers
who come from other industries aren’t
good about maintenance either, things
like greasing trunnions and rollers,” he
adds. “Sometimes their attitude is ‘I
know the truck better than you.’ And
some of these guys feel like they’re
above performing maintenance.”
In addition, unlike many other pro-
How to avoid hiring someone else’s problem
Driver recruitment is as important as training in unique ‘Growing Your Own’ hiring approach
Participating companies designate training procedures in the “Growing Your Own” hiring approach.
Here, National Business Institute training consultant Wendell Moore (center) shows recruits how to
check for excessive tread wear during a session at Blue Circle Williams’ Glenwood, Ga., facility.

2. fessional drivers, most mixer drivers
need to develop an ongoing rapport
with customers because they deal with
the same ones day after day. Some
long-haul drivers deal with a given
customer once in their entire career,
notes John Richardson, vice president
of human resources at Marietta, Ga.-
based Blue Circle Williams, which op-
erates more than 40 plants in Georgia
and Alabama.
“Some of these guys think it doesn’t
matter how they conduct themselves in
a particular place because they’ll never
be there again,” he says. As the compa-
ny grows its own mixer drivers, Blue
Circle Williams emphasizes the impor-
tance of customer relations, since ready-
mix production is a local business.
Driver turnover is often caused
more by resignations than termina-
tions. Chandler Concrete supplies a
great deal of commercial work in
North Carolina’s burgeoning “Re-
search Triangle” area of Durham,
Chapel Hill and Raleigh. Since unem-
ployment is around 2% in this region,
competition for quality labor is high,
and so are wages.
“A ready-mix driver’s working con-
ditions are not ideal in the summer, so
a lot of guys seek more comfortable
surroundings,” Woody says.“Long
hours were another problem for the
drivers we had,” he adds. “Invariably
there’d be a late load, and guys couldn’t
tell their wives when they’d be leaving
work.” Chandler managers not only
wanted to replace defections, but
wanted about 20% more drivers than
mixer trucks to compensate for vaca-
tions and stay at full production.
Woody knows too well the costs in-
volved in replacing drivers. In the four
years before Chandler adopted the new
hiring approach, the annual attrition
rate for the company’s 150 drivers was
29%. Woody estimates that it cost
about $3,000 to recruit, hire and train a
new driver. Especially in the Atlanta re-
gion, Blue Circle Williams operated in
a competitive labor market in the early
1990s, with the Summer Olympics
coming to town. There wasn’t, and isn’t,
a shortage of well-paying jobs.
To deal with their turnover prob-
lems, Blue Circle Williams and Chan-
dler Concrete went through the
steps detailed below, as have
others who have found success
growing their own mixer dri-
vers.
Finding, training
the best candidates
A company first polls its managers
and develops a list of positive and neg-
ative driver attributes and creates an
“ideal driver profile.” Managers select
training areas that will develop re-
cruits’ ability to meet profile criteria.
For example, a group of Blue Circle
Williams driver trainers, mentors, dis-
patchers and others compiled a list of
desired driver attributes including abil-
ity to deal with customers, flexibility in
handling various situations, dedication
and safety consciousness. Kevin Jack-
son, operations manager for Sherman
Readymix’s South Alabama division,
lists three negative criteria—a lack of
respect for truck maintenance, lack of
dedication and a tendency toward bel-
ligerence on the jobsite—that were
used to reject drivers when the compa-
ny bought a plant, inherited nine
trucks and adopted the program to fill
those positions in February 1997.
The recruitment process starts with
newspaper or radio advertising or job
fairs. The pool of respondents shrinks
as candidates are screened over the
phone; remaining candidates attend an
interview that provides driver require-
ments. At this point, recruiters also
promote the occupation’s better-than-
average starting salary, excellent bene-
fits and guaranteed hours. The pool
shrinks further as recruits’ employ-
ment histories are verified, they take a
drug test and U.S. DOT physical, and
participate in an interview that evalu-
ates motivation and attitude.
Managers at the participating com-
pany also interview recruits and re-
serve the right to reject recruits based
on the interview or background check.
The result is a 1-to-1 ratio between re-
cruits and available positions. If the
company rejects a recruit, the recruit-
ment process starts all over again—
there’s no going back into the original
respondent pool.
Recruits’ backgrounds vary widely,
but employment history often indi-
cates patience, dedication and plenty
of human contact. Sherman Interna-
tional’s Jackson has hired a former
chief petty officer from the Navy, a
Pentecostal pastor, a bartender and a
prison guard. Woody hired two dri-
vers who had worked at fast-food
restaurants and several who previously
worked at textile mills in the region.
Blue Circle drivers include former
schoolteachers and janitors.
The selected recruits enter a mini-
mum four-week training course at the
plant, and a consultant meets with
company managers to formulate a
customized training program. At Sher-
man Readymix, training included fuel-
ing procedures, negotiating a driving
course and classroom instruction for
CDL education.
A low-risk investment
Trainees are not employees until they
complete the program. The company
pays for training when it is completed
and is reimbursed by driver paycheck
withdrawals. Night or weekend train-
ing is available so trainees can remain
gainfully employed during training.
Some companies forgive part of the
training costs if the driver is still em-
ployed after a given period. One compa-
ny pays NBI $2,500 per driver after train-
ing and withholds $24 per week from
drivers’ paychecks to cover training costs.
If the driver is still employed after 78
weeks, he owes a balance of $628. The
company forgives this balance, and this
amount, combined with “soft costs” (fa-
cilities, trucks, fuel and insurance), subsi-
dizes driver development.
Proof’s in the results
Producers who grow their own dri-
vers can quantify reductions in driver
turnover. Blue Circle Williams has hired
300 drivers via this approach in three
years, and their 20% turnover rate is

3. considerably lower than that for drivers
hired by alternative methods. By last Ju-
ly, Chandler Concrete had had eight
months to evaluate the program and
had lost four of 40 new hires, compared
with its previous 29% turnover rate.
Improved service isn’t as easy to
measure, but Sherman Readymix’s
Jackson reports substantially fewer
customer complaints about drivers
hired under the new approach. And
Blue Circle Williams’ Richardson re-
ports an improved safety record
among drivers hired the new way.
The approach isn’t perfect. Poor dri-
vers occasionally slip through the back-
ground checks, and managers who set
training criteria sometimes realize
they’ve left something out, so addition-
al training sessions are necessary.
As you might expect, many try this
approach on a small scale to evaluate
results. Blue Circle Williams grows its
own drivers as a supplement to the hir-
ing practices it has used in the past, but
is committing more resources to the
new approach. Chandler Concrete orig-
inally used the program on a six-month
trial basis and has stuck with it. “It’s not
a panacea, but it’s helped us find a new
source for drivers,” Woody says.
—DON TALEND
The company pays for training when
it is completed and is reimbursed
by driver paycheck withdrawals.
PUBLICATION #M970677
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