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Recruit & Retain: Trucking Edition


Apr 4, 2018

Leah Shaver is the Chief Operating Officer for The National Transportation Institute, the truckload industry subject matter experts on company driver and owner operator compensation history, changes and benchmarks.

Leah’s career has been spent supporting long-term growth and expansion of the transportation industry while reinforcing its best resource – Professional Truck Drivers! Prior to joining NTI, Leah spent 14 years with a Midwest based multi-platform truckload carrier. During her tenure there, Leah served on the Executive Committee and held numerous positions in Driver Recruiting and Human Resources. Leah specialized in driver selection, hiring, development, wellness and retention, as well as developing, implementing and managing an award-winning driver mentoring program for new drivers.

In her current role, Leah oversees development of all business operations within The National Transportation Institute and also serves on the Executive Committee. NTI provides original economic research on company driver and owner operator compensation history and changes to carriers, insurers, consultants, publishers, shippers and nearly every equity analyst who follow transportation sector stocks. NTI’s largest subscriber base remains in the transportation sector’s for-hire and truckload fleets, widely used as a tool for fleet executives to understand the direction and velocity of the Class A CDL market wages and emerging pay strategies.

Leah frequently speaks to industry executives and organizations about driver compensation and strategy as it relates to driver recruiting, retention and expansion of the driver candidate pool, serves on the board of the Women In Trucking Association and volunteers in her community. She and her husband Mark live in Minnesota and have worked together for over a decade.

“Within the last couple of years, the pay package and the length of haul has changed with hours of service and with expectations that have been dictated by shipping demands of customers and the consumer in general. So we really have to hone in on all of those changes and give the carriers that are looking at our research, very specific results.”

- Leah Shaver

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Why government data pertaining to the trucking industry is not always reliable.
  • Research on private fleets v.s. for-hire fleets
  • National averages for driver earnings
  • What does it take to retain a truck driver
  • Opportunities for truck drivers within various industries and markets
  • Benchmarking for the trucking industry
  • Driver pay versus private fleet versus inflation versus the fast food industry
  • Truck drivers do demanding work and make extraordinary sacrifices
  • Truck drivers are some of the most experienced drivers on the road
  • Women in the truck driving industry

Ways to contact Leah: