Executive Summary
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Unsafe driving hits businesses directly on the bottom line – and the hidden costs can be huge
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94% of collisions are caused by driver behaviour – unless behaviour is changed, the impact of any technology is extremely limited
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Both the “carrot” and the “stick” can be deployed by businesses to promote safer driving
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The “carrot” – in the form of a well-structured driver rewards and recognition program – is both the more effective behavioural change tool, as well as a popular initiative that can be implemented with minimal friction and even help win favour with employees and their labour unions
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If a driver rewards program prevents even one incremental serious collision, it will pay for itself many times over
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Employee rewards programs can also deliver broader business ROI (Return on Investment) in the form of increased employee retention, productivity and morale
In this blog, we wanted to draw together insights from several other Brightmile articles in order to clearly set out the business case for companies to implement a driver rewards and recognition program.
The costs of unsafe driving for businesses
As outlined by Andy Price in his article on the cost of inaction when it comes to driver safety, the full costs of a collision to a business “never appear on a balance sheet, which is why we can only ever estimate them, and they will vary depending on the nature of your business”, but they could include rising insurance premiums as well as a mountain of uninsured collision-related damages including but not limited to:
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Absenteeism and lost productivity of key employees (e.g. sales managers, delivery drivers)
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Increased staff turnover and associated recruitment costs
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Reduced customer service and customer satisfaction
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Brand damage
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Late deliveries
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Breached SLAs (Service Level Agreements)
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Increased administration costs
A thought-provoking way to look at these costs is to assess the amount of topline revenue that would need to be added to generate the equivalent net profit that is destroyed through incurring them.
When Andy helped Nestlé to conduct this analysis, the conclusion was that they would need to sell 235,000,000 additional KitKats™ to generate the required revenue.
What is the equivalent for your company? The Brightmile team would be delighted to help you ballpark it, but one thing is clear: if we even prevent one incremental serious collision, the cost of a safe driving program is likely to pay for itself many times over.
And this is before factoring in the immediate financial (and environmental) payback from burning less fuel with safer and slower driving: if your company’s fuel bill was reduced by just 2%, what would that equate to in annual savings?
The “carrot” over the “stick”
Emphasis of the carrot over the stick has been at the core of Brightmile’s DNA since Day 1, and back in March 2019 our Chief Product Officer Mark Watts wrote a compelling piece around the power of gamification and driver rewards in the fight against unsafe driving.
Since writing this post, as well as growing a few greyer hairs, Mark and the team have been at the forefront of constantly iterating and refining our gamification capabilities to ensure maximal driver engagement and behavioural change. We are proud to now offer a BrightRewards platform that is modelled on the best practice personal fitness applications and taps into a range of human motivators including financial prizes, competition with colleagues (both team and individual), charitable donations, and self-improvement.
We have even seen voluntary programs where, through dialling up and promoting BrightRewards, we have achieved reductions in collision frequency, as measured by our clients, of over 75%.
Brightmile also offers a suite of optional management features to empower companies with the level of “stick” that is appropriate to the driver segment being addressed, as well as their country and company culture.
However, in today’s corporate culture, where privacy and workers’ rights are paramount, we firmly believe that the “carrot” is both the more effective behavioural change tool, as well as a popular initiative that can be implemented with minimal friction and even help win favour with employees and their unions.
The broader corporate benefits of employee rewards schemes
As well as the clear benefits deriving directly from reducing collision rates and fuel expenditures, Mi Ae Lipe wrote an interesting article setting out the broader corporate benefits of employee rewards schemes.
On average, an employee stays with their employer for around 4 years, and staggeringly the job turnover rate for professional truck drivers in the USA is around 90%.
Studies have shown that where employees feel undervalued, this leads to lower productivity, higher turnover and associated recruitment and training costs, and, ultimately, lower profitability.
Conversely, where employees feel rewarded and recognized, this leads to more loyalty, less turnover, better morale, higher productivity and higher profitability,
Therefore, implementing a successful driver rewards program can help companies tap into a range of ancillary benefits that extend far beyond the road!
