It is part of a school’s responsibility is to keep students safe. While transporting students to and from school, one of the best ways of doing this is to ensure that bus drivers are happy and well-motivated. In all fields, motivated employees perform tasks more efficiently. Here are some tips to keep your school’s bus drivers happier during their daily commutes.
Some tips to keep school bus drivers more motivated during daily trips include:
- Develop effective feedback systems – Give drivers a way to contribute to normal operations. Like all employees, drivers have useful insights to share. For example, they may have experience with unruly students, and intimate knowledge of the best routes to school. Provide monthly surveys or a suggestion box to give drivers an effective way to communicate with school management.
- Offer rewards – New technology helps you keep better track of driver performance. Things like fuel efficiency, speed limit violations, and stopping distances can be recorded. Use this data as a basis to offer rewards to drivers with excellent performance (e.g. award citations for categories like best mileage). This also makes it easier for drivers to adjust to technologies like GPS.
- Maintain buses – Keeping equipment in good repair is an effective way of keeping morale high. Ensuring that buses are in good repair send the message to drivers that they are as important and valued as any other sector of the school. With regularly-maintained buses, they are also able to do their jobs more effectively, keeping job satisfaction high.
- Ensure equal treatment – Always ensure that no segment of your school’s administration gets special treatment. Refrain from practicing double standards in the workplace. The central office and transportation director must coordinate to quash any talk of favoritism in order to keep morale high.
- Provide bonuses – Providing regular bonuses or perks can keep drivers motivated to work harder. For example, provide a monthly free lunch or restaurant voucher to reward them for their service. This may also serve as motivation during field trips, or at times when drivers are required to wait for an extended period of time. Letting employees know that you care is an essential part of maintaining strong morale.
- Keep them in the loop – Handing down policies without explanation can make bus drivers feel like cogs in the wheel as opposed to valued employees. Instead, invite guest speakers (e.g. police officers or insurance crash investigators) to explain the existence of certain policies. This gives drivers a chance to ask questions and receive feedback relating to their profession.
Consider these amenities an investment towards making conditions better for both drivers and students. Better morale creates better drivers, which ultimately makes transportation safer.
Parkinson Coach Lines in Brampton, Ontario provides safe, efficient bus services for children throughout Ontario. Contact us at (905) 451-4776 for reliable buses and quality service.