Benefits: more of everything

Professional drivers are scarce. This is also noticeable in pay and additional benefits. In recruiting, most employers rely on describing in detail what specialists can expect in their new position (88.0 %). In the past, the focus was on salary information; now many additional benefits have been added (Ø 5.6 mentions).

Financial incentives remain important, but the share of non-salary-related benefits has risen and some have been newly added. The development at the top of the additional benefits is interesting: many employers offer their drivers further training. An important benefit, because in theory drivers have no legal entitlement to having the costs of the prescribed further training covered. In practice, however, given the driver shortage, employers are likely to cover them voluntarily in most cases in order to retain the drivers. Seven years ago, further training offers virtually never appeared in job descriptions (1.7 %).

Drivers spend many hours in the driver’s cab. That is why it matters to them which vehicle they are on the road with. Companies know this and point to their modern fleet or sometimes explicitly hold out the prospect of a dedicated vehicle. The aspect of up-to-date work clothing and equipment, for example with a smartphone or tablet, is also specially emphasized (2019: 0.9 %).

Since the profession is physically and mentally demanding, drivers can take advantage of health and fitness offers at some employers (13.7 %). Seven years ago this was the case in just a single job description.
In Germany, employers almost never reveal their hand when it comes to the specific level of pay. When looking for professional drivers, however, comparatively many seize the opportunity to stand out from the competition in this way (16.3 %).

The analysis of the benefits shows: employers have understood that they must offer their driving staff attractive conditions. After all, these can be the decisive factor in the decision for or against the position.