The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s 2016 Mixer Driver Recruitment and Retention Survey results have been tabulated and can be downloaded from NRMCA’s Web site. The findings examine the state of the mixer driver employment pool from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015. Data reflects 28 percent of NRMCA’s estimated population of 75,000 mixer drivers. The survey’s response rate per question averaged 97 percent.
The survey grew from 21 questions in 2015 to 31 questions in 2016, to accommodate the industry’s request for more information. One new question found 51 percent of respondents turned down business due to lack of drivers to deliver product. The study continues to report on staffing levels, retention rates, average age, tenure rate and internal job mobility. It also looks at the total turnover rate, voluntary turnover rate, involuntary turnover rate, layoff turnover rate and reasons for termination as well as reasons mixer drivers quit. Finally, the study analyzed the 2015 hiring rate, vacancy rate, hiring trends and challenges, and the projected 2016 hire rate.
In both this and last year’s surveys, respondents overwhelmingly noted their biggest hiring challenge was finding qualified, commercially-licensed drivers with ready mixed concrete experience. Seventy-eight percent of producers only hired experienced drivers; that is, they did not hire new, commercially-licensed drivers. Yet, in both survey years, the industry hired almost 22,000 drivers of the estimated 70,000 in 2014 and 75,000 in 2015’s driver population.
The national vacancy rate for mixer drivers was 6.7 percent as of December 31, 2015, down nine percent from 2014. In 2015, a company hired an average of 45 mixer drivers, with a median of 15 mixer drivers; again, an increase over 2014. Nevertheless, nine percent reported they would not hire mixer drivers in 2016. The most successful and frequently-used recruiting tools are internal employee referral, followed by social media.
Mixer driver turnover was 32 percent, with two-thirds quitting and one-third company released. The turnover rate equates to about 23,000 drivers. A subset was the 11,000 drivers who were hired and quit in 2015. The majority left within three months after being hired. The drivers’ average age was 46 years, the same as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Department of Transportation’s estimated age for commercial drivers in 2015. Additionally, mixer driver national tenure was nine years; the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the U.S. worker’s average tenure on January 1, 2016 was 4.6 years.
