Results from the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s 2017 Mixer Driver Recruitment and Retention Survey were markedly brighter than those found in the previous two years. Some 36 percent of respondents turned down business due to lack of drivers in 2016, lower than the 51 percent reported in 2015. The driver vacancy rate steadily dropped about two percent a year for the past three years, to 4.6 percent as of December 31, 2016. Nevertheless, 92 percent reported they would hire mixer drivers in 2017, up from 72 percent who planned on hiring drivers in 2016. The most successful and frequently used recruiting tools were internal employee referral, posting jobs on a company’s Web site and social media.
NRMCA’s annual Mixer Driver Recruitment and Retention Survey examines the state of mixer driver employment pool between January 1 and December 31 of each year. This year’s response rate reflects 30 percent of NRMCA’s estimated 2016 total of 75,000 drivers. NRMCA also estimates the total ready mixed concrete industry employment population at approximately 135,000 employees; mixer drivers represent 56 percent of the total. The survey’s response rate per question averaged 92 percent.
The mixer driver pool was estimated to be approximately 75,000 in both 2015 and 2016, up 5,000 drivers from 2014. The turnover rate dropped to 28 percent from 32 percent in 2015. In 2016, that equates to about 18,600 drivers nationally (quit and released). In 2015, the turnover equated to 23,075 drivers. Of the drivers who were hired and then left in the same year, 4,800 did so in 2016, a more than 50 percent decrease from the previous year. Of note, 85 percent of producers provided a mentor program to new hires in 2016, whereas 49 percent did in 2015.
In the survey’s three-year history, respondents overwhelmingly noted their biggest hiring challenge was finding drivers with ready mixed concrete experience. Seventy-six percent of producers will only hire experienced drivers; they do not hire new, commercially-licensed drivers or drivers under 25. Nevertheless, the industry managed to hire between 20,000 - 22,000 drivers each year between 2014 and 2016.
Mixer drivers’ average age in the survey was 47, the same as the U.S. Department of Transportation’s and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) 2016 estimated age of heavy equipment commercial drivers. While a mixer driver’s average time on the job dropped to 9.6 years from 10 years the previous two years, the BLS reports only 29 percent of American workers have more than a 10-year tenure with their respective companies.
The annual survey reports 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 have quit. Finally, the survey includes recruitment methods, hiring trends and challenges, and the projected next-year hire. The survey is conducted under the auspices of NRMCA’s Operations, Environmental and Safety Committee’s Human Resource Task Group.