By Matthew Betz, Vice President Business Development, Fleet at Motus, LLC
“It’s not the stress that kills you, it’s our reaction to it” – Hans Selye
Most people, and certainly all of those involved in fleet, know the dangers of driving while impaired. And most people recognize major causes of impairment to be things like alcohol and drugs. Not as well understood is the driving impairment caused by stress. And according to major studies, stress can cause distraction equal to, or greater than an intense phone call. This creates an atmosphere where poor decisions, road rage and crashes become more likely.
Sources of stress
When we think about sources of stress for the Modern Mobile Worker, it’s easy to understand how major life events like a death in the family, divorce or other personal problems can create short term stress that carries over into our work life. In addition, work related sources of stress, like corporate mergers, a need for higher sales numbers, or sales call quotas can create an atmosphere of stress that is much longer lasting. All of this means that as fleet professionals we need to be aware of the stressors and do whatever we can to reduce them.
Sometimes, just being aware of these stressors is enough to get us thinking about solutions. As an example, think of the pharmaceutical sales representative that is expected to make 10 or 15 sales calls a day. When you take into account the actual time in front of the customer, waiting time, planning time, and reporting that must occur for each call, it’s easy to see that travel time could become very stressful. That stress can translate into costly crashes for the fleet and jeopardize the health and safety of the mobile employee.
Solutions are available
While as fleet professionals we may not be able to influence management to reduce the business requirements on the driver, we can do our best to apply solutions that will reduce the administrative burden on the driver and relive some of the stress. Fortunately, many solutions are available today that weren’t available even a few short years ago. Many of these leverage technology that the Modern Mobile Worker already carries to reduce daily administration and eliminate tedious manual tasks.
Imagine the time savings and increase in compliance if a driver could complete multiple tasks with one function on the cell phone that they already carry. For instance, picture the pharmaceutical sales representative leaving one of the sales calls we spoke about earlier. She pulls out her cell phone, hits one button and completes an entry into an IRS compliant mileage log while automatically making an entry in the company’s CRM program. By automating the process and making it simple, the company gains much more meaningful data, but the driver saves one half hour to one hour daily. That extra time translates into more time between appointments, reduced stress and safer driving.
If we can make an impact with one solution, what else might be available?
How else can a fleet professional make a difference? Have you considered any of the following?
- Route Optimization: Programs that allow the driver to load the addresses of stops that they need to make in any day, then have mapping software determine the optimum sequence of stops to maximize the driver’s time.
- Route Coaching: Allows a field manager to compare a driver’s actual route driven to the optimum route. Through coaching, the driver learns to take advantage of routing tools in order to increase efficiency.
- Automated Expense Reporting: By taking a cell phone photo of a business expense receipt, an expense report can be automatically created, identifying nearby clients, allocating costs and giving management additional insight into spending trends.
I’ve often talked about the potential for fleet managers to reach beyond typical fleet functions to contribute to your organizations in unexpected ways. What will your reaction be to the stress that your fleet drivers are experiencing? How will you help them regain their lives and reduce their stress levels at the same time?
As always, I welcome your comments, questions or concerns. I can be reached at [email protected].
