Staffing Your Fleet Team: From Recruitment to Succession Planning

There is a quote from a James Patterson book, aptly called “Tick Tock,” that says “Clocks tick, reminding us of the relentless passage of time, but it is up to us to make each second count.”

Many fleet managers are getting older, and they face a responsibility to recruit a new workforce, while simultaneously ensuring a smooth succession plan.

Retirement On the Horizon

Government Fleet’s 2023 biennial Industry Handbook results revealed that for many fleet professionals in the public sector, retirement is not too far down the road. More than half of survey respondents said they plan to retire in less than 10 years.

That statistic is in line with the data on what generation the respondents identify with: about 91% of respondents identify with either Generation X or the Baby Boomers, making them age 44 at the youngest.

While this data only represents fleet professionals in the public sector, the same can be said of those in the private sector as well. This underscores the urgency in both successfully recruiting new employees and planning for a smooth transition after retirement.

At the 2023 Fleet Forward Conference, a panel of longtime fleet professionals gathered to address the state of the fleet industry, highlighting their efforts to both recruit and succession plan within their organizations.

Look for an Outside-the-Box Thinker

These days, while much emphasis is put on recruiting Generation Z, Gilead Sciences U.S. Fleet Operations Senior Manager SuYvonne Bell stresses the importance of not being opposed to hiring new employees of any age.

Your next fleet hire may not be a 22-year-old who just graduated college. In fact, she said, it’s more than likely that they will be a bit older. Simply because most fleet managers can confidently say they didn’t go to college with the intention of managing a fleet someday.

“I think great recruiting is looking for someone outside the box. You don't necessarily have to look for someone who's doing maintenance or even fleet,” Bell said. “I'm looking for that individual who is passionate, dedicated, detail orientated, but also innovative. And I don't care what industry they're in; I just need those qualities, because I know that'd be the right person for the job.”

Ecolab Fleet Manager Mike Hague echoed Bell. He is looking for employees willing to challenge existing processes to find better ones, as well as create paths for employees in order to retain them long-term.

“I am a big proponent of, ‘how do you break out of how we've always done it? And how do you get out of that mindset and not just be trained based on how the person before you did it?'" Hague said. "Something we've taken a better look at in the last 18 months is how we develop a career path within even our small fleet team. Before, it was three or four distinct roles, but there was no [smooth transition] from one to the next.”

Provide Learning Opportunities for New Hires

Setting up a newer hire up for success must always include educating them on the industry, DTE Energy Fleet Optimization Expert Matt Betz said. As Bell mentioned, most people don’t study this industry in college. They’re likely to need time to learn about fleet without getting information overload.

“[Our newer employees] have never seen anything outside of our fleet department, so they don't understand the whole big universe. And if you try to teach them too much, they have a hard time understanding how they would fit in. I created what I call a fleet 101 course,” Betz said. “On each slide, I try to bring in one new idea or something that we could be doing to see if there's a hook to make one of these bright young people will say, ‘Oh, you know, I never thought about that as fleet,’ and then keep them more interested and get them to want to learn more. And hopefully that will help them build a career in fleet.”

Creating a Workplace for All Ages and Skill Levels to Work Well

As newer employees join the industry, they are often met with a huge learning curve. One way to ease this transition is to ensure you have a workplace where all employees — younger, older, novice, and advanced — can work well together.

“I think both sides have a responsibility, really, to understand each other,” Betz said.

This can be tough for longtime employees when they are met with newer employees who are challenging standard operating procedures with innovative ideas.

“There are a lot of organizations and a lot of people that do challenge change. But I’m a change agent. I love change, and I love looking for new ideas,” Betz added. “You have to take the needs and the aspirations of those people that are questioning change, and also try to make change fit.”

Hague encourages veteran employees to be willing to hear newer ones out.

“Assume positive intent. It's okay to ask questions. We should be challenging things. It doesn't mean I'm saying your idea is bad. It means I don't know about this process. I'm wondering, ‘why do we do it this way?’ As long as we can have that discussion and there is a real non-defensive answer to the question, it might be the best way," he explained. "You need to set up that ability to have a safe space, regardless of your role — up or down in your company.”

Hague urges employees to bring new ideas and questions to the table.

“You have to be able to do that. If there's a fear of repercussions or how it's going to be handled, I don't think you can have those conversations,” he added.

Putting a Succession Plan in Place

With many fleet professionals headed toward retirement, it’s never too early to start talking about succession planning. Survey data from GF’s 2023 Industry Handbook revealed roughly 42% of respondents have a succession plan in place at their operation. Another 30% do not have one, and 27% are working on one.

Succession plans are not only important for fleet managers, but they are also important for other senior level employees. And they require candid conversations. Hague noted that any employee in your operation could leave at any time, and you don’t want to be unprepared if they do.

“Have honest conversations about the importance of documenting processes and getting all that tribal knowledge down. Make it very clear that this is not a threat to them. Let them know you are happy to keep them around as long as they want to be here. But if [those employees] want everything they’ve built to not just fall apart after they leave — and usually these are individuals with a lot of pride in what they have done — we need to make it very clear that this is to keep all the progress they’ve made.”

Eric Richardson, deputy fleet chief management officer for the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services, cautioned fleet managers against avoiding investing in their employees due to fear they may take their improved skillset elsewhere.

“Don't be afraid you're going to lose that person just because you trained them to succeed. You need to realize these are good people, they work really hard, and they know what they're doing. Let's bring them up, regardless of whether they're going to leave,” Richardson said. “I've had a really great core of staff for a very long time, and I wouldn't be as successful without them. But I also want to make sure that they're successful going forward.”

And theoretically, with a solid succession plan in place, losing a longtime employee wouldn’t cause a catastrophe within your operations anyway.

Recruiting and Succession Planning: You Can’t Have One Without the Other

Recruiting and retaining employees really goes hand in hand with succession planning. You should be willing to discuss with your employees where they see themselves in two, three, or five years to set them up for success and help them grow on a sustainable path within your operations. If you do this, the succession planning will come naturally, because your employees are already on a path to help them thrive.

Betz implored fleet managers to learn what their employees’ aspirations are.

“If you figure out how you can help them reach their goals, then they're going to stick with you. And they're going to want to grow,” he said.

Don’t let the relentless passage of time catch you off-guard. If you’re one of the fleet managers who said you don’t have a succession plan in place, look for ways to help your current team grow, leaning into employees’ strengths, so your operations can continue to run smoothly.