Challenges faced by the fleet drivers during Covid-19

Pandemic is affecting every facet of fleet management business. Since fleet business is all about transporting and moving across different areas, the guidelines during the pandemic put a lot of pressure on their movement. The lockdown period put a strict halt on the fleet’s movement, which affected the overall business. 

Although many fleet management companies anticipated the upcoming challenges and prepared for a remote work environment, it still affected them to some extent. Industry experts regularly monitored and predicted the forthcoming ramifications; fleets must adjust to the changed fleet management strategies for weeks and even months. 

Managing and monitoring the fleet and ensuring their safety during Covid 19 has been a real challenge that is pulsating even today. Perhaps, with the right strategies, everything got on track on time.

Three adverse effects of Covid 19 on fleet drivers 

• Low-work Morale: The fleet drivers were on-road throughout the pandemic phase. They had to catch up on specific regulations every day. The situation during the pandemic was and still is pretty tense, which lowered the morale of the fleet drivers. Despite opting for “contactless deliveries”, many drivers were getting infected. This resulted in a shortage of drivers during the pandemic. Even though fleet management companies took complete care of the on-road drivers, the infectious disease still got to many of them.

• Fluctuating Income: Many drivers were reluctant to get vaccinated at the start, which created havoc in fleet management companies. Since non-vaccinated drivers were not allowed to cross the boundaries, it resulted in loads of paperwork and delayed processing. Moreover, checking documents and lockdown timelines got so strict; sometimes it got hard to deliver the inventory on time. The fleet drivers faced severe fluctuations in income due to disorganized fleet management.

• Adhere To Vaccination Mandate: With the rise in Covid cases, vaccination for truck drivers got mandatory in many parts of the world. Resultantly, the fleet management companies in the US faced a shortage of drivers. The mandate was tried to push back as it started fueling driver shortage. Drivers called it a violation of their freedom as some of them did not want to get vaccinated for personal reasons. When rules got stricter, and the vaccine was announced to be completely safe, drivers acknowledged the ardent need to get vaccinated and adhered to the rules. 

Pandemic is a threat that is affecting almost all verticals of society. Fleet management companies have adopted a remote work culture that boosts safety but affects organizational productivity. The management teams accept advanced software that keeps the fleet management on top. 

TXT ELD is a fleet management software that controls everything and anything. Whether fleet movement, delivery time, delays or tentative timeline, the software gives you all the information for a better management process. 

It is accessible in the TXT ELD device. Also, the executive application of TXT is available for both IOS and Android devices, thus helping the management companies to get a real-time view of their fleet movement.