Managing staff is fundamental to a fleet manager‘s role, according to the 2019 New Zealand Telematics Benchmark Report, which found an even stronger focus on staff in 2019 than in previous years. Conducted by Teletrac Navman, a global leader in GPS tracking technology and services, the annual report examines best practices, trends and current issues influencing fleet management in New Zealand.

With New Zealand‘s unemployment rate sitting at the very low 3.9% mark, businesses need to remain focused on attracting and retaining the best drivers. Interestingly, while there has been a marked jump in driver monitoring, safe drivers are not necessarily being rewarded. On top of reduced risk of incidents and injuries, the wider benefits of improving driver behaviour include the reductions in fuel use, vehicle wear and tear, and compliance risk.

Some of the key findings of the 2019 report included:

 A costly challenge

• Around one third (32%) of respondents said finding, retaining, and developing talent is one of their top investments for 2019, while around one quarter (24%) cite it as one of their top challenges.

 Drivers wanted

• Around two out of five businesses (44%) are experiencing driver shortages, as 56% of businesses plan to increase fleet size.

• Top recruitment methods include online job boards (51%), print media/ trade publications (39%), referrals (39%) and social networking (36%).

• Businesses with fleets expect it will take 11.4 years until autonomous driving will impact their business.

 Retaining and rewarding drivers

• Popular retention methods include increasing pay (35%), driver appreciation programmes (23%) and upgrading equipment (20%).

• Driver monitoring has increased year-on-year. A majority of companies are monitoring driving (68%), rising 38% since 2018.

• Three in 10 (32%) businesses reward safe drivers.

A variety of management and operations professionals participated in the report survey, bringing expertise from transport, retail, manufacturing and other industries.

To download the full report, visit https://www.teletracnavman.co.nz/benchmark/telematics 

Survey methodology

The 2019 New Zealand Telematics Benchmark Report is based on survey responses from 132 fleet operations and fleet management professionals based in New Zealand. Results may exceed 100 percent for questions with multiple possible responses. For reporting purposes, all statistical values have been rounded to the nearest whole number.