(02 Sep 2022, 10:28 pm)mb134 wrote So how are current management meant to sort it then?
Majority of my post was relating to the current situation, with current management.
There's realistically always going to be overtime of some description, holidays need covered, as does sickness. Generally that's more than fine, because you'll always have 'x' amount of drivers who are more than happy to do it. But those drivers also have a limit, so when the overtime is constant they'll eventually say no - which is a part of the reason for the current situation.
I'm not disagreeing that drivers should be paid more, and should have been paid more for years, but again it's only part of the solution. Lots of people have chosen the end of the pandemic to explore new careers, or to spend more time with family for example. I'd suggest it would be hard for any management to forsee the Covid pandemic and the subsequent landscape. It's not just the bus industry either, I know some people working in recruitment and from what I gather people are looking for new jobs across the board - lots with no issues where they currently are, but just want a new challenge. It's hard for management to stop that too, especially within a bus company where there is only so much progression.
I'm not denying that decisions made by management at some point in the past could have had an impact on this situation now, but I think it's unfair to suggest that the current driver shortage is mainly down to management when the working landscape has changed so drastically over the past couple of years.
The thing is, they probably won't have done a 6-day week since 2015. They'll likely have done a 6-day week every now and again to help out, picking up some overtime, but they're now being asked to do it constantly which no longer suits them - and those occasional 6-day weeks turn into constant 5-day.
All bus companies will rely on overtime to some extent, it is massively inefficient not to do so. You'll always have holidays and sickness to cover, so overtime will always be there, the difference is that usually it's a small amount and is competitive, for want of a better word.
There are many ways to improve buy in and loyalty beyond pay.
If pay is a motivating factor, then look at it and do something about it.
Ditto rotas, planning, routes, management, rewards, incentives, on-board driver monitoring, micro-management and many other things beyond fancy slogans and depot meetings that promise lots, but deliver little.
Ultimately, they need to value the people that keep the company alive.
Without them, it sinks.
I don't think there's an all singing, all dancing solution which will fix this problem overnight.
It's far too gone for that.