The results of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s 2018 Mixer Driver Recruitment and Retention Survey show an increased pressure on producers to maintain a healthy concrete delivery professional driver pool. This pressure is visible in the reported three percent drop in the mixer driver population between January and December 2017. Secondly, 48 percent of ready mix producers surveyed reported lost business because they did not have drivers to deliver orders; that’s up 12 percent from 2017. And third, there was a 34 percent increase in respondents to the 2018 survey, perhaps illustrating a larger desire to understand the challenge better.
The mixer driver pool remains at about 75,000, roughly the same as reported for 2015 and 2016. The turnover rate increased to 29.1 percent, up from 25.8 percent in 2016. That equates to about 18 percent of the driver pool or 13,500 drivers nationally (quit or released). Of the drivers who were hired and then left the same year totaled 6,600, or 9 percent, of the 2017 driver pool. That is up from 4,800 drivers in 2016. Of note, mentoring new mixer drivers dropped to 74 percent of producers from 85 percent in 2016. Additionally, many producers dropped the mentorship length to less than one month from one-to-three months in 2016.
In the survey’s four-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. Yet the industry managed to hire between 20,000 - 23,000 drivers each year from 2014 to 2017. Better pay, inconsistent daily schedules and lack of a steady 12-month income/work remain the top three reasons drivers quit by the third year.
Mixer drivers’ average age is 46.4 years old, close to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) 2017 estimated age of heavy equipment commercial drivers of 46.7 years. While mixer driver national tenure dropped to 9.0 years from 9.6 years the previous two years, the BLS reports only 29 percent of American workers have a 10+ year tenure with their companies. The ready mix concrete industry’s 2017 10+ tenure was 45%.
The survey examines the state of mixer driver employment pool between January 1 and December 31. This year’s response rate reflects 28 percent of NRMCA’s estimated 75,000 drivers. NRMCA also estimates the total ready mixed concrete industry employment population at approximately 135,000 employees; mixer drivers are 56 percent of that total. The survey’s response rate per question averaged 89 percent. 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 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 Workforce Development Committee.
