YOUR DRIVERS AREN’T QUITTING TRUCKING. THEY’RE QUITTING YOU! | Brake Check episode artwork

EPISODE · Aug 20, 2026 · 1H

YOUR DRIVERS AREN’T QUITTING TRUCKING. THEY’RE QUITTING YOU! | Brake Check

from FreightCasts · host FreightWaves

Truck driver turnover can exceed 90% at major fleets....and trucking still keeps asking what's wrong with the DRIVER. Maybe we're asking the wrong damn question. What if trucking's driver retention problem isn't really a recruiting problem? What if it's a LEADERSHIP problem? On this episode of Brake Check, Charles sits down with fleet owner Pam Polyak and Dr. Vernard "Doctor V" Jenkins, VP of Operations at Knight-Swift Warehousing & Fulfillment, to put trucking leadership under the microscope. We're digging into why truck drivers quit, what happens during the critical first 90 days, driver-manager relationships, fleet culture, onboarding, frontline leadership, driver retention, detention, employee engagement and why constantly recruiting replacement drivers may be treating the symptom instead of fixing the disease. Why do good drivers leave? Is pay really the reason? When does a new driver actually decide they're done? How much does a bad dispatcher or manager cost a trucking company What should fleets change during the first 90 days? And if your company keeps losing drivers... AT WHAT POINT DO YOU STOP INTERVIEWING THE DRIVER AND START INTERVIEWING THE BOSS? If you're a truck driver, owner-operator, fleet owner, trucking executive, dispatcher, driver manager, recruiter, safety professional or transportation leader, this conversation is for you. Because you can buy newer trucks. Raise recruiting budgets. Add bonuses. Build better onboarding technology. But if people keep walking out the door... MAYBE IT'S YOU. #Trucking #TruckDrivers #DriverRetention #TruckingIndustry #FleetManagement #TruckDriver #Transportation #Leadership ⁠Follow the Brake Check Podcast⁠ ⁠Other FreightWaves Shows⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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YOUR DRIVERS AREN’T QUITTING TRUCKING. THEY’RE QUITTING YOU! | Brake Check

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