The summer season is coming to an end and students are probably not the only ones preparing for a new school year. The end of summer holidays and the proximity to autumn might actually herald a new working phase for those companies that devote their time and activities to fleet management or for those whose commercial activity is dependent upon driving.
If you are trying to fight back against the holiday blues, or struggling to get back on track after business has gone a bit downtime due to the summer season, if you haven’t personally been pausing for breath but will soon have your full team in-house after their time off, it might be worth checking out the next few paragraphs: we would like to offer some good tips to help adjust back to the post-summer holiday work load. We know it can be a challenge, but if you are mentally prepared for it and have the right tools available, you can confidently transition back into the regular routine of the "school week". Some adjustments to your personal habits, some mental preparation, and simple organization of your supplies can boost your confidence and have your entire fleet ready to hit the road again.
#1 - Be positive. The conclusion of the holiday period can seem a bit daunting—global morale can be a bit low amongst your team of drivers. In order to get back on track, start off on the right foot and make it easier for everyone to resume duties and be as productive as possible from day one, take initiatives that foster team work and focus on the best skills of your team members: it can be a good idea to do a ‘back-to-school’ meeting where the positive attitudes of your team and their good driving practices are brought up. If you have a telematics system, you can focus on positive team performances at specific times—seeking the best in each and every driver. Focusing on their good qualities will boost optimism and motivate everyone for the challenge ahead.
#2 - Get ready. If everyone is resuming work soon or you are expecting business to be good, it’s worth doing an extra check on all of your vehicles before getting started again to ensure you have full asset availability for when your workforce returns. Whether you have an internal or external maintenance provider, it is also worth checking on the different processes and schedules if there is any particular event coming up. The sooner you start planning or preparing for upcoming work, the better.
#3 - Prepare some personalised material to hand out. Here we can use the analogy of students going back to school and the handing out of educational material: prepare material related to fleet safety or efficient driving techniques in a new format and give it to drivers, which can be personalised with additional references of their own. It can even be the starting point for a round-table on your current safety procedures; and drivers, who are your eyes on the road, can add anything useful and any changes can be implemented into the current processes where necessary.
