How to Choose Safe Drivers For Your Fleet

Your business relies on the smooth operation of your fleet of vehicles to survive, which makes the drivers you hire very important people. Any business that relies on a fleet of vehicles should have a comprehensive process for screening and hiring drivers, and that process should be made up of several steps that all lead to making the best choice possible.

Do A Background Check

A comprehensive background check can tell you things like whether or not your driving candidate has a criminal past, if they might have financial issues that could make them unreliable, and it can reveal their real past employment history. But just as importantly, a good background check can let you know if a driver lied on their employment application. When it comes to hiring some of the most important people in your business, the last thing you want to do is hire someone you cannot trust.

Have A Set Of Standards

Many employers make the mistake of thinking that hiring should be based on the individual candidate and not the needs of the company. This is a dangerous way of thinking that can get your company in a lot of trouble. You need to put together a comprehensive job description for drivers in your company, and then use all of the elements of that description to dictate the hiring process. A screening process is only effective if every candidate is subjected to the exact same guidelines and has to provide the same information.

Take Nothing For Granted

If you ask drivers to produce proof of their clean driving records, then you should take the time to confirm the accuracy of that information. When a driver tells you that they have a valid driver’s license with the certifications you are looking for, then it is up to you to check out that information and not take anything for granted. While it sounds unfortunate, it is true that your company should never trust employment candidates to provide accurate information.

Do Testing

Even after you have confirmed that the candidate has a valid license and a clean driving record, you should still have a driving test as part of your screening process. Once again, this goes in line with the idea of putting every candidate through the same process and not trusting anyone to provide accurate information. You have to see for yourself that a candidate is a good driver before you offer anyone a job.

Use Industry Standards

The industry standards for judging safe driving were put together for a reason, and you should use them as part of your screening process. Commercially licensed drivers are held to particular standards throughout the industry, and you should use those processes to make sure that you are getting a reliable employee to drive part of your fleet.

When you create a solid process for hiring reliable drivers, you can help to lower your insurance costs and you can keep your general costs of operation down as well. When we talk to clients with fleets of vehicles, we always strongly recommend a comprehensive process for screening and hiring drivers that will benefit the company for many years to come.