Scholarly record

REMUNERATION AND MOTIVATION OF EMPLOYEES IN TRANSPORT UNDERTAKINGS

J. Spankova, A. Grencikova

Abstract

Early 2008, road transport undertakings of the European Union member countries faced a huge shortage of drivers. Increasing demand for freight services and growing number of vehicles led to critical shortage of drivers. Due to economic recession, road freight traffic experienced dramatic decline, and the shortfall of drivers was resolved only on a temporary basis. However, compliance with social legislation necessitated to increase the number of drivers of road freight traffic compared to number of vehicles by about 30\%. Since there is no systematic approach to train professional drivers in the Slovak Republic, encompassing for instance the cost of driver†s license, initial qualification courses, driver qualification cards, psychological examinations, etc., driver shortage can again be expected in the near future. Therefore, companies dealing in the transport of goods are invariably to focus on the processes of planning, motivating and rewarding if they want to attract and retain competent, qualified and experienced drivers. The purpose of the paper is to verify theory and identify methods of remuneration and motivation as viewed by both freight road drivers and transport undertakings. The main methods of survey were an interview and a questionnaire. The questionnaire could be completed on-line using the professional freight driver website, but a print version of the questionnaire was also available. A total of 156 respondents participated in the survey. Several responses obtained from the questionnaire by professional freight drivers and transport undertakings were compared and evaluated to highlight and analyse different motivating factors for both the employers and employees. In addition, applied maluses by employers upon the discovery of deficient performance were looked at. The value of the paper lies in clarifying the current applicable wage system in road transport undertakings. Any road transport undertaking striving to retain competent and qualified drivers must focus on factors to prevent high employee turnover rates. The factors include mainly setting competitive wages, defining employer's accountability, defining employer's duty of care for employees outside the workplace, allocating optimal workload, offering employee benefits, investing in employee education and training. Decision-making process for remuneration must take into consideration company expenditures, pay comparable to same or similar positions and minimum pay level. Qualified, competent and well-trained workforce is essential for any company to thrive. Professional drivers, however, must not only be able follow and carry out instructions and tasks. Additionally, they must be able to select the best solution to potential transport problems.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2014/B23/S7.062

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