Recruitment and Retention
To deliver a quality service we need to recruit and retain the right people.
The recruitment and retention of bus drivers remains a challenge for us due to a highly competitive market and continuing shortages of qualified drivers in parts of the country. Our high safety standards and extensive background checks further restrict the pool of employees available to us.
We have not yet managed to reduce driver turnover rates in North America. In parts of the country (in particular the large metropolitan areas) there is intensive competition for the same pool of labour. This creates flux in the labour market and drivers are less likely to stay.
We must therefore focus on improving the effectiveness of our recruitment processes and encouraging staff retention - two important elements in our new people strategy.
Recruitment
Both First Student and First Transit have recruited full time driver recruiting managers to remove some of the burden of recruitment from the location managers and provide additional experience to the recruiting process. They have been looking at alternative routes to sourcing candidates and screen candidates on behalf of the operating locations. Additional training in recruitment related skills has also been provided to location managers.
We are trialling HIRE,a software recruitment tool, HIRE at high-turnover locations. The tool helps location managers develop recruitment plans by analysing and evaluating data in the local recruitment context.
Further work is being undertaken to build greater consistency in recruitment materials and explore new ways of accessing a wider labour pool.
Retention
Our people strategy for North America will implement programmes to encourage greater staff retention. The recent employee opinion survey will be vital in formulating a strategy for the future and will include development of our total compensation and rewards programme.