If your company requires drivers in order to conduct business, you want to make sure you are employing the very best drivers. Each employee, especially if they are driving company vehicles, will have a huge impact on your reputation in the community as well as on your long-term success. Let’s look at a few things you should consider when hiring drivers.
Clean Criminal Background
Having a criminal background check performed on new employees is usually an essential part of the hiring process. This step is even more important if you are going to be employing drivers. If your drivers are in any way transporting people, the criminal background check becomes even more important. Vulnerable individuals such as children or the elderly especially need to be protected from anyone with a criminal history.
If you are an employer who makes a special effort to offer jobs to those who have done jail time, you should understand that although you are performing an important service in the rehabilitation process, your customers, clients, and other employees are still your responsibility as well. You will need to pay special attention to the type of criminal history a person has had before offering them a job.
A Clean MVR Background Check
In addition to a criminal background check, you will also want to conduct an MVR background check. The motor vehicle’s record will reveal to you specific things about a person’s driving history. Even if someone has not been involved in criminal activity, their driving record could indicate that they do not need to be handling your company vehicles.
If you see red flags in the MVR background check, you should not ignore them. Red flags could cost you in the long run.
Successful On the Job Training
In addition to checking a person’s past driving behavior, you may also want to conduct your own on-the-job training as well. Each company will have unique needs as it pertains to driving.
You may also want to consider using speed and driving tracker technology. These devices can be placed in your company vehicles. They will report on how fast a person is driving and some devices can also report other driving behaviors as well, such as how hard an individual is braking.
Healthy Response to Feedback
Another thing you should look for in drivers is a healthy response to feedback. Bad drivers are often very defensive in their driving. When they are offered feedback concerning their driving, they will often have an immediate defensive response. If you sense a driver is having this response, it could be an indicator that their bad driving behaviors run deep.
Other Considerations
Another thing you can consider doing is to put new drivers on probationary periods. During this time, you could have them shadowed by another employee to see how they are performing on the road. You can also explain to the new hire that their new position is dependent on passing this probationary period.
It is also a good idea to have your company phone number clearly visible on company vehicles. This way other drivers and pedestrians can contact your company if they see unsafe driving behaviors in your drivers.
Using company vehicles is a great way to further your reach in the community and to increase your business productivity. In order to truly ensure your company’s success, however, you must put safe qualified employees behind the wheel. This often entails several other steps in the hiring process. Taking these extra steps will pay off in the long run. You should fight the temptation to cut corners to ensure you have safe drivers on the road.