Not only do drivers represent your brand, they also must be safe and reliable. Here are 6 things to know if you’re hiring drivers for your business. Read this.
No matter what line of business you’re in, hiring a professional driver or delivery person can help to elevate your brand, provide an air of exclusivity, and help your customers to feel more valued.
Of course, the process of finding the right driver to represent your brand is seldom an easy task.
What kinds of questions should you ask potential drivers? How should you educate them about
your brand? What kinds of liabilities and expenses will your company be responsible for.
In this post, we’ll answer all these questions.
Then, we’ll tell you where you can for the forms and contracts you need to make the process of hiring drivers even easier.
1. Teach Them About Your Brand
Too often, companies that are in the process of hiring drivers are so focused on the technical side of things that they completely forget about educating potential drivers on the ins and outs of their branding.
Remember: these drivers, whether they’re delivering food or picking up a special client from the airport, are representing your company.
This means that the way they dress, the way they speak, and how they interact with the passengers throughout the drive should all be consistent with your overall branding style.
For example, if they’re a delivery person, they may need to follow a specific script when they ring the doorbell of a person’s home. They may also need to wear a uniform so that the clients and customers can easily recognize them.
No matter what, ensure that the pickup or drop-off process is consistent across all the drivers that you hire. Institute a thorough training process for your drivers that’s about a lot more than just the kind of car they should drive or what time they should arrive to pick someone up.
2. Conduct a Thorough Background Check
When you’re in the process of hiring drivers, it’s completely up to you to conduct a thorough criminal background check.
After all, package theft, stolen fees, and even kidnapping of passengers are all things that you are responsible for preventing. But if you’re not really sure who you’re hiring, it can be incredibly easy to make a terrible — not to mention costly — mistake.
Start by verifying that all the information the potential driver listed on their resume is factually correct. Contact driving schools and past employers to ensure that everything adds up.
If you’re going to perform a criminal background check, be aware that you are required by law to inform the potential employee of this. The employee must sign a form stating that the consent to the background check.
Then, look for an accredited Consumer Reporting Agency to help you to access the information you need.
Keep in mind that these reports will only go back a certain number of years, and that you may need to dig deeper if you want more thorough information.
3. Understand Fair Wages And Independent Contracting Regulations
In most cases, when you go through the process of hiring a driver, you’ll be hiring them as an independent contractor.
This means that you’ll need to fully understand the tax implications of working with an independent contractor to your business.
The same goes if you decide to hire a full-time driver.
If you don’t take these steps, it’s easy to accidentally violate your state’s labor laws. While many companies try to hire drivers as independent contractors to save money, they often end up having to pay serious fines because they’ve unknowingly broken the law.
When it comes to payment, you need to consider what you’ll the drivers for.
This can often include things like car rental, gas, uniforms, amenities for the passengers, and even potential damage to the vehicles. For longer drives, you may also need to pay their hotel bills.
Of course, in the event of an accident, your company could be held liable for insurance costs, hospital visits, and much more.
Make sure that all of this is truly within your budget before hiring drivers.
We strongly suggest meeting with a lawyer at USAttorneys to ensure that you fully understand the potential liabilities of hiring a driver for your company.
4. Ask the Right Questions
In addition to conducting a thorough criminal background check and verifying an employment record/license, you also need to ask the right interview questions to the driver you’re considering hiring.
This will help you to get a better feel for their experience level, the way they’ll treat your customers, and even their familiarity level with different kinds of cars and seating.
Ask them:
- What helps you to stay alert on the road when you’re driving for long periods?
- What kinds of hauling equipment do you have experience with?
- What’s your level of experience with
- How much cash are you used to handling?
- How would you handle a customer who is upset about traffic impacting their schedule?
- Have you ever been pulled over on the road, and how did you handle the situation?
- How many years have you driven in our service area, and how well are you familiar with directions, common destinations and points of interest?
- What about our specific brand interests you?
You’re Ready to Begin the Process of Hiring Drivers
Thanks to this post, you now have a much better understanding of what the process of hiring drivers will look like for your company.
However, it’s still incredibly important that you file the right forms, ask the right questions, and draw up the correct legal agreements and documents when creating a contract.
We understand that it can be difficult to figure all of this out on your own.
From contracts to everything in between, we’re here to help you through it.
Spend some time on our website to access hundreds of business templates that make filing the paperwork for hiring a driver easier than ever.
