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Should my trucking company pay big sign on bonuses to truck drivers for coming to work for us?

We all see the same posts about $500 sign on bonuses or $1500 or even $5000 incentives to jump to another trucking company.  Do they actually work in the long term? The answer to that depends on how you define success.  Will a large sign on bonus get the attention of some truck drivers?  Yes.  Will it help you hire more of the drivers than if you did not have the bonus?  Yes.  Will a sign on bonus program keep your trucks full of quality truck drivers?  Probably not as much as you’d like.

Will a sign on bonus program keep your trucks full of quality truck drivers? Probably not as much as you’d like.

Here’s the problem with large sign on bonuses.  If a truck driver will come to you for the large bonus, then they will leave you for the next trucking company that offers the same bonus.  But what if you decide to pay the bonus out over the whole first year?  Well, that is ok but you should be really clear to the driver about the terms of the bonus pay out or you will have an upset driver that feels misled by you.  Clearly, that is not a winning strategy to upset your new driver.

If a truck driver will come to you for the large bonus, then they will leave you for the next trucking company that offers the same bonus.

Another idea is a retention bonus.  Instead of paying new truck drivers a bonus that your faithful tenured drivers won’t get, consider paying them a small bonus on each work anniversary.  Or, better yet, a small amount times the number of years of service.  Say $100 per year.  So I driver that had been with you for five years will get $500 on the anniversary.  This method will reward the drivers that stay with your trucking company longer.  I think we can all agree that truck drivers that way with your company is the goal we are trying to achieve with the sign on bonus in the first place.

Written By Mike Ritzma

With over 20 years of experience in entrepreneurship, management, business planning, financial analysis, software engineering, operations, and decision analysis, Mike has the breadth and depth of experience needed to quickly understand entrepreneurs’ businesses and craft the most suitable solutions.

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