Not only Polish, German, and Spanish carriers are struggling with the lack of drivers. France also suffers from a shortage of personnel in the transport sector. One of the major shipping companies has decided to attract new employees with unusual, for the industry, benefits.
In France, the lack of truck drivers is already a significant problem (approx. 15,000 truckers), although it is definitely less severe that in Poland (100,000 drivers) or Germany (approx. 45,000 drivers). The industry is slowly changing the manner of attracting employees, as the traditional methods are no longer enough.
French media have reported an interesting idea to attract new employees that is going to be implemented by Stef Transport France. The company employs 3,000 drivers and is currently looking for another 550 people to carry out regional and domestic transport. Stef Transport France is planning to hire 500 truckers under a permanent employment contract and the remaining 50 persons under a temporary contract.
Employee share ownership for the first time in the transport industry
To encourage drivers to work at Stef Transport, the company offers them shares or a savings scheme. The block of shares or savings account will be received by everyone will work at the company for at least 3 months. Renaud Bouet, the HR Director at Stef Transport France, points out that until now, the employee share ownership model has not been applied in transport companies.
Is this the right direction?
„In the situation where carriers across Europe have to struggle with a shortage of professional drivers, every idea to attract employees is good,” says Marcin Wolak of the TransJobs.eu recruitment platform. „The most important thing is for the companies to seek the happy medium and offer various non-wage benefits. It is hard to predict how effective this particular case will prove to be, though I think that the blocks of shares will not significantly reduce the staff turnover — everything depends on their value and number which is limited,” says Wolak.
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