AS we enter the traditional peak period for logistics, the haulage sector continues to make no secret of the current shortage of drivers.
C Butt Ltd have had a successful if not unusual recruitment campaign as they bring on the next generation of truck drivers.
The C Butt Ltd joint MD, Robert Butt explained: “The driver shortage is well documented, and we have had more than a few discussions about how we tackle it. Luckily I have to say that staff turnover is very low here. We try to make it a good place to be and the family feel of the business does help with keeping attrition down. We are bringing more trucks though due to an increase in work, and agency drivers are not the answer because we want our customers to see C Butt drivers as they are the face of our company.”
Stewart Littlewood, C Butt Ltd Business Development Manager, added: “We have a social media strategy in place, and we saw that anything that was people related had a good level of interaction, especially personal stories about the team here. We decided to create a recruitment advert and promote it through social media, targeted towards existing truck drivers.
“No matter if it was an experienced Class 2 driver (smaller rigid trucks) wanting to gain the Class 1 qualification or a newly qualified Class 1 driver (articulated trucks) we were willing to train, develop, and more importantly, support them. We are growing our fleet and need Class 1 drivers and, thankfully, we are on track to achieve the initial aim of this project, which is to end up with six to eight experienced Class 1 drivers.
“We have now taken on five new drivers, three of which are going to obtain their Class 1 licence with us and the recruitment program continues with a waiting list of 14 other candidates.”
Robert added: “The training program itself has staff engagement at its core. C Butt Ltd has some great drivers who are keen to impart wisdom and guidance, so when these attributes are identified it’s an easy decision to send them on their driver assessor courses, it’s a win-win for us both.”
Jonathan Butt, joint MD, commented: “The response has been terrific. There must have been hundreds of people over the history of the business that obtained their driving qualifications with C Butt Ltd and it’s great that we have rekindled this. Business development has been very positive recently and we are now putting more trucks on the road off the back of some good account wins, and the drivers are absolutely key to this growth.”
C Butt Ltd operates a BRC Food Grade storage facility on the Brackmills Estate and full load distribution delivery service based in Brackmills, Telford Way, Kettering and Magna Park in Lutterworth.
