How to introduce telematics to your staff  

Vehicle tracking can have a significant positive impact on your fleet’s productivity. Monitoring driving behaviours and vehicle locations will undoubtedly help you streamline processes and achieve greater efficiency, all to the benefit of your customers. Introducing telematics to staff, however, isn’t always easy. Employees will naturally be wary of your plans to watch them more closely, and some may react badly. It’s crucial that you’re careful about how you implement telematics if you’re to avoid causing more harm than good. Below are some tips to help you navigate the minefield.

Involve them from the start

Springing telematics on your employees out of nowhere is not the way to go. Instead, involve everyone from the beginning, even if you’re only passing the basics on. You’ll need to spend time researching different systems and approaches before going ahead with anything, and this is an ideal time to get input from those whose data you’ll actually be collecting. Ask how they feel about it and if there’s any specific data they might have concerns about you accessing – it’s much better to address these concerns beforehand than to just expect the team to deal with them in action. Your team is much more likely to feel valued if they haven’t been left in the dark on such a big change – one that will affect them significantly. And that trust can go a long way. Be clear on the benefits to the business, and to them, right from the start.-

Consider gamification and rewards

The truth is, you’re considering implementing telematics to help you improve efficiency, but that’s not to say your staff can’t benefit too. By making this fun and rewarding for them, you’ll help make the transition a smooth one, while improving overall relations and morale in the long run. Consider giving out rewards and offering incentives based on the data you collect. Driving style is one of the many things you can monitor with the latest fleet technologies, so you could rank drivers based on fuel efficiency or road safety – and then give out prizes to those who perform best. The speed at which drivers complete their deliveries is something else to look at. You should both benefit from the competition this creates.

Don’t forget the contracts

Your staff all have individual contracts detailing their employment, and these should contain information on how you use the data they generate. If you’re going to introduce telematics, this information should be updated accordingly. Make sure your drivers’ agreements account for you using telematics data for things like payroll administration, fuel management, vehicle usage and staff supervision. Once again, to make any changes, you’ll need to tread carefully – involve your drivers in the process and be sure to explain the benefits and reasoning clearly.

We fully believe in the power of telematics; it gives fleet managers the power to keep close control of their drivers and vehicles, creating invaluable opportunities to improve efficiency. TouchStar can provide the technology and applications you need to be more productive – to find out more, speak to our team today.