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Here is a frightening statistic: 75% of substance abusers are currently employed. When these same employees arrive for work, they don’t leave their problems at the door. It is no coincidence that industries with the highest rates of drug use are the same as those at a high risk for work injuries.
Have you considered the role of quality in conquering the wicked problems facing your business? Watch this video to find out more.
CSA is changing the atmosphere of the trucking industry, and is impacting motor carriers, individual drivers, insurers and underwriters alike. This legislation brings unprecedented transparency into transportation safety that will affect every level of the industry. The change is already beginning to be felt, with the first wave of warning letters going out to motor carriers last month.
The gut reaction of many is to fight CSA in favor of the status quo. But at the end of the day, CSA is about transparency, accountability and speed of information, which will all add up to one thing: increased quality. When customers and prospects have line of sight to a company’s track record of key safety measures, that company is going to step up its efforts to keep its record clean.
Managing driver performance and predicting accidents are wicked problems that CSA brings to the forefront. These challenges are rooted in a breakdown in collaboration between safety and operations, conflicting goals that drivers can’t decipher, and lack of time to mentor new drivers. The problem here isn’t lack of data – most motor carriers have more numbers thrown at them than they know what to do with.
As I recently discussed at the Truckload Carriers Association Annual Convention, if motor carriers are to succeed in a CSA world, they have to stop relying on lagging indicators to manage driver performance and other safety issues. In the past, companies have waited until something happened to worry about performance issues. Now, with every misstep fully visible through CSA reporting, companies will have to seek out leading indicators to help them predict what is coming down the pipeline, which they can then use to try to adapt and prevent any incidents from occurring.
CSA puts a do-or-die impetus on motor carriers. The market will eliminate those who consistently fail to maintain safety standards. The entire industry won’t suffer – just those that aren’t up to par. Among those who remain after the poor performers are weeded out, CSA will empower fleet owners to compete more on quality and less on price.
CSA provides a concrete and transparent measure indicating which companies have attained high levels of safety. Expect insurance underwriters to develop new algorithms reflecting CSA safety measures, and expect customers to be on the lookout for safer carriers as well. Companies that understand how to maximize their safety with the new data available will benefit from substantial insurance savings and by having a new point of differentiation to offer potential customers.
Implementation of this legislation by the FMCSA needs to be done with caution. Since 52% of motor carriers were initially judged unfit under CSA standards, something needs to be tweaked. It is obviously important that CSA is implemented in a way that is fair – if the rules contain loopholes or “work arounds”, the ability of CSA to raise quality will be limited or skewed.
The transportation game is changing. The time is now to start actively thinking about how to leverage CSA to your company’s advantage.
![[Bucking Driver Turnover with Wellness] An interview with Melton Truck Lines](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/38664/9d2dfd91-bc56-47df-be18-6f8aca0d7624.png)
Cash flow is the lifeblood of every organization. Just as your body needs good blood flow to survive, your business needs good cash flow too. Consider this: If a cardiologist discovers a blockage inyour heart or an artery, a cardiovascular surgeon can remove or dissolve the blockage and restore normal blood flow. If you are lucky, your doctors will find and fix the blockage before serious damage is done.
There is a new economy for business. Profit margins are razor thin, error margins are negligible and morale margins are diminished. Under these conditions, successfully running a business is at best challenging, and at worst, uncertain.
As part of our HNI University series, we hosted a workshop last week called Engage the Troops and Get Out of the Way with Nancy Melcher, the architect of the GetMOR program. In this workshop, she offered her insight into the current gap between employee engagement and employee benefits and what employers can do to help bridge this divide.
We recently held an offsite retreat to bounce ideas off each other and to open discussion about the business issues our clients are facing. Prior to the gathering, we conducted an informal survey by asking clients across many industries: “What are your three wicked business problems?” The responses rolled off their tongues as if they were just waiting for us to ask. Not a lot of deep reflection required, they were top of mind. The trickiest part or the question was limiting their response to just three.
When I got into the insurance business, one of the first things my boss did was give me a math quiz. Having tackled algebra, geometry, and calculus back in my formative years I was not frightened by the test I was about to receive. He went to the white-board and wrote down the following equation:
HNI is constantly searching for ways to empower our employees to take ownership of their behaviors and to get engaged in their own health care, a problem that many businesses face. Our journey to implement a culture of wellness began back in 2008. Although we had a fairly healthy population, our culture didn’t always support the maintenance of that health.
HNI works with high-performing companies to help them address the hidden risks in their business and avoid The Insurance Dependency Trap. This is done by proactively DE-RISKING their business so they can be less dependent on insurance.
HNI also offers the basic services of insurance and employee benefits. HNI has offices in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Minneapolis.