“It is not difficult to drive a large school bus—it is actually easier to drive than a smaller vehicle.” He added there’s
not much on- boarding to do in his system as the drivers are already experienced. More effort is put into retaining both new hires and seasoned drivers.
Onboarding can-
Is your
transportation department
authorized to use social media in an official capacity? 54% No
36% Yes
10% I don’t know (Out of 141 responses to a recent STN reader survey.)
didates focuses on one-on-one meet- ings and interviews, commented Huish of the transition from job candidate to employee. Part of the Cook-Illinois’ retention
program is to conduct what Ceas- er calls “stay” interviews with each employee. “We want to know why they stay
with our company and if there is anything that we could do better or to improve upon,” he explained. “This is totally opposite of the exit interview, where you try to get information from an employee as to why they are leaving and what we could have done to keep them from leaving. Since implementing the stay interview, we have seen our retention numbers improve from year to year.” To retain drivers, Farmington of-
fers “steps by years of service,” said Huish. Cervone endeavors to provide
a positive work atmosphere in an effort to keep his employees happy and motivated. He said one way he has accomplished that is dress- ing up like Santa Claus during the Christmas season. Last year, he also had special magnets created for placement on buses to thank the drivers for their service during the pandemic.
“I’ll meet with
them regularly, going out into the parking lot, being friendly, and get- ting to know them and making sure that they know I’m here and I care about them,” said Cervone. “They talk to me about personal things. It’s an overall open-door happy policy.” He shared
many drivers tell him they love
working as a school bus driver. Job candidates report hearing positive comments in the community. “They all seem to want to come here, which is good,” he added. “I have a good staff. Our parking lot and facil- ities are updated.” The message of a positive work place is spread by word of mouth, which goes a long way to retention. “I believe my positive approach to my employees and my open-door policy along with genuine concern for my employees keeps them from leaving,” Cervone said. School bus drivers like staying
with a system where they can get retirement benefits, unless trouble brews, such as district consolida- tion that can cost people their jobs. “That’s when I can get them,” he said. “The drivers sometimes call me looking for work.” Others concur with Ceaser that
that the end of supplemental fed- eral unemployment benefits may bring some people back into the driver’s seat of school buses. “I have seen an uptick in candi-
dates applying online and coming into the office to start or continue the hiring process,” Ceaser con- cluded. ●
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www.stnonline.com 35
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