H O M E S E RV I C E S

Benchmark Report

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There are many unique challenges surrounding driver behavior in the home services industry, especially when you consider that nearly 1.5 million drivers are sales workers, light truck and/or delivery service driv-ers. These individuals drive on behalf of their company to deliver goods and services on a daily basis.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the home services industry is projected to grow two percent between 2018 and 2028. While there will be an increased need for light truck or delivery service drivers to meet e-commerce growth demands, driver growth is expected to decline as more individuals opt for self-employment or independent contractor roles through smartphone-based delivery opportunities.

Even though industry projections may not drastically impact the number of employed drivers over the next decade, home services companies are increasingly focused on driver safety measures, proactively employing solu-tions to protect their business, employees and communities.

There is an industry-wide understanding surrounding the importance of driver behavior, including the vast selection of employee driver-based technology solutions and business opportunities available, which leads to the creation and implementation of driver safety policies to ultimately ensure broad employee safety and impact.

Through industry analysis and firsthand reports, the following areas have been identified as key areas indicating best practices in the home services industry.

DRIVER MANAGEMENT

Many within the home services industry manage drivers on a day-to-day basis in delivery-intensive organizations and are tasked to ensure teams collaborate with field organizations to accomplish safety goals and initiatives.

A multifaceted approach is needed to manage driver safety and corresponding initiatives instead of reliance on a single solution. Often, decision-makers within the home services industry are looking for an optimal mix of technology resources, as they are typically asked to do more with less. Keeping fleet drivers safe while ensuring the best drivers are on the road encourages proper, timely training and safe behavior behind the wheel.

This multifaceted approach often proves beneficial in providing the best environment and strong safety culture. Drivers inherently feel valued and appreciated while the employers remain invested in their everyday safety, whether on or off the clock.

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THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

Driver safety technology has quickly evolved over recent decades, leaving employers with numerous options to choose from, creating the challenge of utilizing the right solution that impacts the business positively.

One way to determine a technology mix truly beneficial to the employees and community is to understand the needs of the company itself. With a variety of technology options, higher-ups in the home services industry are inundated with choices. After all, it is not about implementing a variety of technologies, but instead choosing the right technologies for business-specific needs.

More often than not, safety professionals are overwhelmed with information and data as a result from technology solutions. It’s important for a system to be intuitive, logical and user-friendly. Safety professionals should take time to properly vet technology solutions to ensure they both solve their pain points and integrate properly with their systems.

DRIVER RETENTION

Driver retention is a constant challenge for employers of both regulated and non-regulated drivers for reasons including emerging contract driver market opportunities, employee relations efforts and proactive initiatives ensuring employee and contracted drivers fall within the company safety policy.

Continuous driver monitoring and past driver behavior are paramount in under-standing fleet health and who is behind the wheel. When fleets span multiple states, uniformity is needed to translate and measure state-to-state violations.

Although it is ultimately up to the person at-hand, understanding driver behavior allows for proactive intervention and initiatives that can result in continued safety policy compliance and driver retention. There is value in taking proactive measures while also recognizing the responsibility of the driver.

With only one person though able to control prospective risk of future viola-tions, the person possessing that violation information allows both employers and drivers to be proactive.

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BRAND MANAGEMENT

With heightened social awareness and company scrutiny, any incident can be immediately identified and magnified through social networks, peer review platforms and/or the media. Many companies are acutely aware of their brand image, often taking proactive measures to positively impact brand perception. With safety and sustainability getting more press than ever, investors are also looking at brand reputation.

Additionally, employee engagement is tied closely with the number of com-pany safety incidents. According to a Gallup Survey, employers with high employee engagement that score in the top quartile have 70 percent fewer safety incidents.

Paired together with a comprehensive safety program, companies with the awareness to protect their brand are actively working to maintain their rep-utation and increase employee engagement.

CLAIMS MANAGEMENT

Claims information is an additional data element companies use to gauge driver safety policy effectiveness. Based on results and trends, companies can take initiatives or adjust current policies to improve both safety and the bottom line simultaneously.

Integrating claims data is an effective way for home services companies to solve the need for multiple technology solutions by creating a comprehensive picture of who is behind the wheel as well as the cost. Between telematics, continuous driver monitoring, good onboarding processes, driver training and engineering, those involved in home services are using multiple systems to streamline workflows.

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COMPREHENSIVE DRIVER SAFETY

Current and emerging technology solutions can be useful tools to build, augment or improve a company safety policy, especially with a focus on driver safety and retention. A consolidated driver score (based on a variety of inputs including continuous monitoring, claims data, telematics, training and other information sources) is the key to fully understanding driver behavior, and subsequently identifying areas for proactive initiatives.

CONCLUSION

The home services world continues to evolve almost on a daily basis. With the immense amount of data available to the home services industry, continuous driver monitoring is an effective technology solution to improve safety in companies, employees and communities.

Not only can continuously monitoring drivers positively impact driver retention, employee relations and company brand image, but it also ultimately ensures the company is a leader in driver safety for employees on and off the job.

Violation %

2018

2017

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

22.46%

14.01%

Action %

2018

2017

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

9.34%

6.46%

Clean %

2018

2017

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

70.62%

69.51%

Major %

2018

2017

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

5.98%

3.95%

Findings

VISUALIZATION OF IMPROVEMENT IN OUTCOMES WITH CONTINUOUS DRIVER MONITORING IN PLACE

Number of events of type 'VIOLATION' per Monitored Person Number of events of type 'ACTION' per Monitored Person

Number of MVRs with no events per number of orders Number of events of type 'VIOLATION' that has the Risk Category of 'MAJOR' per Monitored Person

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DRIVER LICEN SE