From psychometric driving tests to cost control, quick tips that will make sure you’re not left looking ill-equipped
Managing fleets of commercial vehicles used to be the preserve of dedicated fleet managers or finance departments. But as companies downsized during the recession, it’s a task that is more commonly falling to HR professionals – who may not be well versed in the ways of the fleet.
But don’t panic: People Management is here to save you time and money.
Safety first
The most common defects picked up by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) are easy to identify and resolve, says the agency’s head of enforcement, Gordon MacDonald.
“We want to move away from traditional enforcement methods – the time-consuming process of stopping and checking vehicles – and encourage drivers and operators to take responsibility for maintaining their vans,” he says.
A frequent reason why vans are stopped by the DVSA is overloading; 84 per cent of the light commercial vehicles it stopped and weighed in 2013/14 were overweight. “It’s easy for us – and drivers and operators – to spot an overloaded vehicle,” says MacDonald. “Operators should make sure drivers are aware of their vehicles’ limits, and workloads are planned so excess loads aren’t regarded as normal working practice.”
The DVSA issued more than 15,000 prohibition notices following mechanical checks on over 25,000 vans in 2013/14 (a rate of 60 per cent), largely for issues that are easy to spot and resolve. “Braking, steering and lighting problems account for many failures,” says MacDonald. “If drivers take a few minutes each morning before heading out to check their vans are in good working order, not only will their journeys be safer but they’ll also avoid potentially costly fines and delays.”
Focus on well-being and welfare
“Drivers’ health is often overlooked,” says Duncan Pickering, market development manager at the Institute of Advance Motorists (IAM). “When did your drivers last have an eye test, for example? We keep a number plate in the office, and offer free eye checks regularly.”
Back strain and RSI caused by long hours at the wheel are also real problems, as is general fitness. “One bus company we worked with found drivers were really suffering because of the sedentary nature of their jobs,” says Pickering. “They weren’t getting injured in collisions – but there were high rates of heart attacks as they simply weren’t healthy enough.”
David Batten, the IAM’s purchasing and facilities manager, suggests that organisations could offer drivers free gym membership, or a gym on site, to counter the negative effects of their job.
Journey management is also important in ensuring employees’ well-being. “Your driver handbook should specify daily mileage limits,” says Batten. “But that should be interpreted carefully: you don’t want an employee driving the maximum mileage in a day to get to and from work, doing an eight-hour shift in between, and then repeating that schedule the following day.”
“Driver sleepiness is a major cause of vehicle crashes,” agrees Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA). “HR is a fundamental part of the organisation’s safety system, so HR professionals should be actively working with fleet managers and line managers to make sure driver workloads are managed properly, and that drivers aren’t exceeding their hours or mileage limits.”
Cutting costs – the right way
There are many things you should never scrimp on – proper maintenance, servicing, checks and tyres – but there are still ways you can cut costs without compromising on quality and safety.
“When was the last time you put your van contracts out to tender?” asks Neil Birkbeck, an independent procurement consultant and founder of comparemyfleet.com. “Once you have signed a contract with a leasing company, you need to watch for rising prices and declining service levels,” he says. “This can be a particular problem where the responsibility for choosing a fleet provider is split between departments, perhaps with HR managing drivers and finance dealing with vehicle contracts.”
Constant revisions to specifications make it difficult to compare like-for-like vans, says Birkbeck. “Add to that all the various charges that may or may not be part of the quote – such as excess mileage penalties – and it’s no wonder busy HR professionals might be tempted to stick with one leasing provider rather than search for a better deal.”
But shopping around can yield significant savings; comparemyfleet.com research last year found a 52 per cent difference between the highest and lowest rentals available for one variant of Ford Transit – equal to a saving of £3,500 over a two-year, 60,000-mile contract.
Outsource the admin
When you’re looking for the best leasing deal, don’t just focus on the numbers: think about how much time you’ll need to invest in managing vehicles. If you’re running a larger fleet of vans, it might be wiser to opt for a leasing company that can shoulder some of the burden for you, freeing up your time to focus on other core aspects of your role.
“The cheapest deals are rarely as good as they look,” says Nick Hardy, sales and marketing director at leasing company Ogilvie Fleet. “It might be that you save on the upfront monthly rental, but they’ll hit you with hefty return costs, such as for damage to the van’s interior.” Opting for an actively managed service from a leasing provider also means that tasks that are tricky for HR professionals to tackle – like moving a van from one end of the UK to the other, or dealing with a broken-down vehicle – can be handed straight over to the leasing company.
Ogilvie Fleet, like many other operators in the market, offers an easy-to-understand reporting suite to help HR professionals manage their fleets. “All you need to do is log on, and if the traffic lights are all green, you know your vans are running safely,” says Hardy. Amber and red alerts signify issues that should be tackled without delay. “There is of course a cost associated with this,” he says. “It’s up to each organisation to determine if a managed service is for them.”
Use technology to tailor training
It used to be the case that drivers were let loose on the roads, and it was impossible for HR professionals and line managers to monitor them and assess any training needs. But as in-vehicle telematics becomes more sophisticated, it’s never been easier to tackle potential safety issues before they arise.
“Many organisations are concerned about location tracking, and that employees could interpret the use of telematics as ‘Big Brother’ watching over them,” says Graham Gordon, director, corporate marketing at Masternaut. “Yet it’s easy to separate out that data and simply report on driver behaviour.”
Gordon says telematics can help HR professionals target training spend by identifying the worst drivers – say, the bottom 10 per cent in the organisation – rather than training everyone. And opening up data access to employees themselves fosters healthy competition, too. “If you rank their driving skills, you’ll soon find that drivers will start to adjust their own behaviour,” he says. “No one likes to come last.”
ROSPA uses its own psychometric software to develop profiles of driver behaviour. Measuring known risks factors such as aggression, attention to detail, and the ability to anticipate hazards, Clinton says: “It’s a useful tool to assess individuals’ attitudes towards driving, as well as gathering data on their driving experience.” The results can be used to identify training needs, as well as for recruitment, to assess if someone would be an asset as a driver.
Get ready for licence changes
The paper counterpart licence will finally be discontinued by the DVLA this year. From 8 June, the photo card licence counterpart – the paper bit – will no longer be valid and will not be issued to holders of new driving licences. While the change is set to save the DVLA millions of pounds, it does pose a bit of a headache for fleet operators, who’ll need to change their licence checking processes.
“But this is ultimately a good thing, because the paper licence is not secure and is wide open to fraud,” says Richard Payne-Gill, deputy chair of the Association for Driving Licence Verification, whose 19 members offer commercial electronic licence checking systems. “Many managers of fleets already check licences online – our members carry out around 1.5 million every year.”
The DVLA has its own online checking system, ‘View driving licence’, which is available to members of the public, and is currently trialling a real-time system that will allow employers to check records online.
However, cautions Payne-Gill, it’s expected that the new DVLA system will “still be transactional and labour intensive, as we understand that permission must be given for each employee, each time you want to check a record – which could be as often as every three to six months for high-risk drivers.”
Commercial systems enable HR professionals to schedule regular checks, with employees only required to give consent when it is initially set up. “It’s a question of efficiency,” says Payne-Gill. “Would the investment in a commercial system offset the time spent manually checking records?” Whatever option you choose, he says, HR professionals should change their processes now before the counterparts become invalid.
Demonstrate your excellence
If you’re confident that you’re managing your fleet properly, why not shout about your high standards by signing up to the Freight Transport Association’s (FTA) Van Excellence scheme?
Since the scheme was launched in 2010, nearly 100 operators running around 125,000 vans have been accredited against its strict code of practice. It’s proving increasingly popular, says Mark Cartwright, the FTA’s head of vans and light commercial vehicles, as operators and drivers seek to validate their best practice and demonstrate their professionalism.
“Accreditation is now seen as something to aspire to,” he says. “Drivers want to take pride in their work, and work for a fleet that’s recognised as being one of the best in the industry. A number of operators have told me that drivers coming in for interviews are saying, ‘I’ve come from a Van Excellence accredited operator – I’m a professional driver and I know what I’m doing’.”
Sean Clifton, senior manager – national fleets at retail giant Asda, says the company “owed it to our drivers to make sure we have the safest fleet possible. Achieving the standards required by the Van Excellence framework was independent validation that our processes and practices were among the best in the industry.”
Achieving accreditation is straightforward, says Clifton, “if you’re minded to structure your business accordingly. The implication of failing to set up our operations properly is serious – we simply won’t let that happen – so for us the audit confirmed that we were doing things the right way.”
But if your fleet operations still have some way to go before meeting the Van Excellence standard, Cartwright says there are resources and support from members to help you. “Leading operators really are setting an example and challenging others to step up to the mark – because we’re all sharing the same space, and we have a joint responsibility to make the roads a safe place to be.”