Ashamsa Aryal was awarded funding to investigate the relationships between health, safety, and retention in the trucking industry. Trucking is the primary method of transporting goods within the country with 49.3 million tons of freight moved every day by long haul truck drivers. Demand for truck drivers is high and so is turnover: between 2015 and 2017, turnover increased to 95%. There are various cross-sectional, quantitative studies that have focused on organizational factors such as employee commitment, organizational culture and job satisfaction to predict retention/turnover among long haul truck drivers, but qualitative research on retention in the trucking industry is limited. This study will identify factors related to retention in the trucking industry through semi-structured interviews with employers, current drivers, students who are planning to enter the trucking industry, and instructors of CDL courses.
Aim 1: Interview stakeholders (employers/current drivers/CDL students/trainers of CDL courses) to understand the factors related to health, safety and retention in the trucking industry. Data from this study will be used to develop interventions to improve the health and safety, and well-being of the truck drivers and to increase retention.
Aryal A. Health, safety and turnover among long-haul truck drivers (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Iowa).
