4/11/2017 Gamification of Trucking

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Gamification of TruckingFleet OwnerCristina CommendatoreThu, 20170406 13:04

Yearafteryear, Southeasternbased carrier G&P Trucking brought home the gold for safety in the competitions it entered. More recently, however, thecompany noticed an increase in accidents, and though it still won trophies for safety, they weren’t first place. That’s when safety director John Billingsleystepped in.

Unsure of what was causing the uptick in the frequency of accidents, in July 2014, Billingsley turned to SmartDrive’s video safety program. He initiallythought data from the incab videos would help exonerate fleet drivers when an accident occurred. But the data from the video ended up telling a differentstory.

“We wanted exoneration from accidents that weren’t our fault, and we knew our drivers were welleducated and welltrained already,” Billingsley tellsFleet Owner. “But we realized that wasn’t really accurate.”

That’s when G&P decided to gamify its operations. After testing different methods with the company’s driver improvement coach and studying the datacoming in from the video system, G&P began leveraging that data and video software to use competitionbased incentives to improve safety.

Gamification uses game mechanics and dynamics to drive engagement and key performance indicators, or KPIs, in a nongame context. It is more or lessabout using natural instinct and reward incentives to drive or change current behavior.

Working on the notion that everyone is programmed to win and used to playing games, Billingsley and his team began discussing ways to gamify throughcoaching, driver scoring and rewards programs.

A look inside the Driver Challenge app

“We can talk about scoring, which everyone can relate to,” Billingsley explains. “That just made it a much easier conversation. Then you could also tellpeople, without sharing a bunch of details, what other [drivers’] scores are. Everyone can learn how the system works.”

G&P uses a pointreduction system, so when a driver saves on fuel, drives the right speed or avoids harsh braking and swerving, then points are deductedfrom that driver’s score. G&P posts drivers’ scores on a leaderboard, and the driver with the lowest score has “achieved excellence.” As long as that drivermaintains a score of excellence, his or her coaches don’t coach any further, Billingsley says. This way, coaches end up spending time helping drivers on thewrong side of the bell curve improve.

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“We know exactly who we need to talk to and what we need to talk about,” Billingsley explains.“And that works well for us. It gives us the ability to attentively talk to drivers and look up ascore. We can talk to them and coach them right there on the spot to help them improve theirscore. We just really talk about being able to get them into the next level eligible for award ofsome sort.”

G&P gives cash rewards to its drivers who come out on top. The carrier awards a total of$1,000 a month, or $250 a week to the top driver for that week.

Two years in, G&P reports it has seen major shifts in driver improvement and what Billingsleycalls a “huge” reduction of accident costs and frequency. The fleet has also seen a reduction inaccidentcausing behaviors, such as close following distance, hard braking, and lane departure.

“We have candid conversations that no one would ever use any video for the purpose ofanything other than being a safer driver,” he says. “We’re trying to push that scoringmechanism as a way to improve longevity. In lowering our score, we have accident forgiveness.If a driver has an accident that in the past would have cost them their position and if they have alow score, they are more likely to stay and keep their job.”

It’s human nature

The objective of gamification is to drive better employee performance while using realtimefeedback and goals. In trucking that could mean improving fuel efficiency and return oninvestment; improving safety, which could result in fewer accidents and overall maintenancecosts; and overall improved productivity throughout the fleet and workplace.

Jason Palmer, SmartDrive’s president, notes the focus of gamifying safety and operations forfleets is incentivizing drivers. “We see a lot of the fleets we work with recognize the top 10 or20% of drivers, and they will publish that in the driver lounge and recognize that driverperformance,” he says. “It helps to foster the positive aspects of the program.”

Another provider that offers a similar scorecard concept is Telogis, which provides a way forfleets to leverage gamification through its Telogis Coach app.

“When fleets look to Telogis to help them gamify their operations, most of them seek improvements in safety, productivity, and fuelefficiency.”

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Mark Wallin, Telogis vice president of product management

“The moment you take a score and put it in front of a driver, it motivates them in amazing ways,” Mark Wallin, vice president of product management,says. “When you put that same score amongst their peer group, you get really amazing benefits.” He adds companies are creative in terms of how they’verolled out the Coach app in office common areas, and incentives and rewards are more commonly added to fleet safety programs.

And rewards can be as simple as a cup of coffee or allowing topscoring drivers to use the newest, most advanced trucks and equipment. “The companiesthat succeed are the ones that are leveraging the benefits of being on the top,” Wallin adds. “With more people on the top, you’re making changes fasterand getting results faster.”

When fleets look to Telogis to help them gamify their operations, most of them seek improvements in safety, productivity, and fuel efficiency, Wallinnotes. Right away, some of the big benefits fleets might see when gamifying their operations are accelerating ROI to safety improvements, fuel usage, andproductivity among workers.

“I think the gamification really helps [drivers] feel good about what they’re doing,” Wallin says. “Almost every person wants to be good at what they do.Sometimes they don’t understand what good means, and the app helps them with that.

“It’s about empowering them to be the best driver and the best worker,” he adds. “That’s really important when you look at millennials and the nextgeneration of drivers.”

Jerry and Gayle Robertson also brought their own version of a driver scorecard to the market. The two have backgrounds in supply chain management andtechnology, and in 2000, they moved from Silicon Valley to Nashville. They started BOLT System, a fleet management and trucking dispatch softwareprovider, while simultaneously operating an overtheroad trucking company, which they sold in 2006. A feature of BOLT’s software is its driverscorecards, which fleet managers can use to track different aspects of their drivers’ behaviors and distribute awards accordingly.

“There’s a lot of data coming in, but safety will always be number one,” Jerry Robertson says. “Say we are using a 100point scheme. If the driver hasinfractions, you take points away. At the end of the year, [scores] can be used for bonuses for drivers. It takes the subjectivity out of giving a driver a raise,

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not giving a raise, or terminating employment.”

“Fleets do publish [drivers’] results on a monthly basis and post them on a board,”Gayle adds. “People don’t like to be at the bottom.”

Canadianbased carrier Transport Grayson began gamifying its operations inDecember 2016 to save on fuel costs, track its fleet, and improve driver management. Ituses the d2go Driver Challenge app, available on the Geotab Marketplace, and sinceusing the app, the company notes it has seen an immediate reduction in fuel usage andidling times.

“While Geotab gives us information on the truck (trips, fuel usage, faults, etc.), theDriver Challenge highlights driving habits like harsh braking and cornering, idling, seatbelt use, and more,” explains Bertrand Grégoire, Transport Grayson president.

Grégoire, along with Jonathan Grégoire, who is vice president of the company, foundedTransport Grayson in April 2013. Operations began in August 2013 with 20 newKenworth T680 trucks and about 50 Utility and Manac 53ft. trailers. Today, the fleethas over 100 semitrucks and about 300 trailers.

Transport Grayson specializes in freight transportation, including specialty fleets suchas hazmat operations, across Canada and the U.S. They also offer temperaturecontrolled transportation with heated and refrigerated trailers.

At Transport Grayson, drivers are rewarded for good behavior and responsible idlingmanagement with a permile bonus. Conversely, after noticing an incident, fleetmanagers work with the drivers to alert them of risky behavior. So, in the case ofexcessive idling, a driver will receive up to four warnings before corrective action istaken, Grégoire explains.

“In cases that pose a serious health and safety risk, the repercussions may be moreimmediate to avoid any risks to our drivers’ safety,” he adds. “We feel there are bigsavings to be made on fuel and maintenance. It raises drivers’ awareness of the qualityof their driving and encourages safer habits.”

The d2go Driver Challenge app uses gamification to score and compare drivers on set KPIs. Based on specific data trends that arise, an analysis is done togive both drivers and managers insight on what needs improvement and who deserves recognition.

Scott Sutarik, business development and OEM sales manager at Geotab, says the reason gamification works is that it’s natural for people to want tocompete with each other.

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“When you see a dashboard up there and there are 100 drivers and you’re number 79,human nature is you want to get better,” Sutarik explains. “That’s really the goal ofwhat these applications are trying to achieve—to get that competitive spirit up andgoing while saving the company on fuel use, wear and tear on the vehicle, productivity,and safety as well.”

LouisPhilippe Papillion is the vice president of d2go and creator of the app, whichstarted a year ago as a basic driver dashboard to show drivers how they’re doing. Alongthe way, it turned into a gamification platform where drivers could see how they areperforming in comparison to their peers.

“I think it’s always been a challenge to coach drivers because they’re alone and youdon’t see what they’re doing,” Papillion says. “It’s pretty hard to reward good driversand address worse drivers; it’s not easy to identify them. Those are some of the toolswe’re applying now with Geotab. We’re giving them data they didn’t have access to

years ago.”

And like Telogis suggests, Sutarik notes thatgamification could also be used as a tool when it comesto retaining drivers and recruiting the next generationof drivers.

“Fleets that are putting technology like this into their[operations] are more innovative,” Sutarik says. “Fordrivers that want the latest technologies, the ability fora fleet to give tools like this to their drivers is verymuch the way the industry is going. Drivers flip fromone carrier to another. Anything you can do to showthat you’re committed to them is a real benefit.”

Not ‘fun and games’

Ray Wezner, who has been the chief operating officerof TPA (Trade Promotion Administration) for morethan 20 years, says he has been practicing gamificationtactics before the term was invented, which he sayswas about seven or eight years ago.

“When [businesses] really coined that phrase, theywere looking at gamebased education,” Wezner explains. “They were trying to teach people information using games. That kind of grew into competition

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and leader boards, and on and on.”

“We were using leaderboards and publishing them through our websites—12 to 15 years ago—in the days before smartphones,” Wezner adds.

This year, Wezner teamed up with Marty Hetherington to bring their spin on gamification to truck fleets. Hetherington has a background in trucking and isthe founder of Skinny Marketing.

Gamivation.com is a pointsbased platform that focuses on performance improvement through a combination of incentives. Like other gamificationplatforms, Gamivation.com, too, incorporates rewards based on performance.

But one thing Wezner says is critical when putting together a program is making sure managers are always involved. “You have to make sure you’refollowing up with people,” he notes. “That’s why manager participation is so important.

“There are company cultures out there that as soon as you say ‘gamification,’ they say that’s not us,” Wezner adds. “We have to take this seriously. The factof the matter is, it’s not fun and games.”

And that’s a mantra G&P has taken to heart. Because making the move to gamify fleet operations is so serious, when G&P decided to roll out its plan,Billingsley stresses how important it was to be open and honest with all drivers and employees and to have regular training meetings. When it comes torecruiting new drivers, Billingsley says G&P is up front about its use of incab cameras, as well as how the carrier has leveraged gamification to reducecrashes.

“It’s a bit controversial. We understand that, but I think we found an effective way to talk about it prior to it being installed,” Billingsley adds.

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