A depot that loses most of its leavers in the first three weeks has a different problem from one that loses experienced drivers after two years, and the fix for one does nothing for the other. Most fleet managers know their turnover is too high. Fewer know how long their leavers had been with them when they went, and that is the figure that decides what to fix.
Drivers leave at four stages, from before the first shift to after the first year, and each stage has its own fix. Measure which stage your leavers sit in and start there. For the broader strategies, from pay clarity to recognition and progression, our delivery driver retention strategies guide covers seven that work.
Step 1: measure turnover by tenure
The standard formula divides the drivers who left in a period by the average number of drivers you had over it, then multiplies by 100. Twelve leavers from an average headcount of 40 in a year is 30% annual turnover.
That is the figure for a board report, but it will not tell you what to change. For that, split the same leavers by how long they had been with you:
| Tenure when they left | What it usually points at |
|---|---|
| Before their first shift, or in week one | the hire: the wrong person, or the wrong picture of the job |
| Weeks two to twelve | onboarding and the first routes |
| Three months to a year | the day-to-day: rotas, routes, the manager |
| After a year | pay, progression and being noticed |
Leavers bunched in the top two rows are the better result to find, because those stages are the cheapest to fix and the quickest to show an improvement.
Nobody publishes a turnover figure for drivers alone. The nearest is the CIPD's analysis of the Annual Population Survey, which puts average UK employee turnover at 34% a year across 2022 and 2023, from 25% in public administration to 52% in hospitality. Your own figure for last year is the more useful comparison.
Step 2: put a cost on it
The CIPD's Resourcing and Talent Planning report 2024 puts the median cost per hire for non-managerial staff at £1,500, covering advertising, agency fees and recruiting time. A driver costs more than that by the time they are working on their own: add the checks, the induction, the trainer's shifts, the slower first weeks and the round that went uncovered while the seat was empty.
Multiply your own version of that figure by the number of drivers who left in their first 90 days. The total is what you spent on drivers who never became productive, and it is usually the line that gets a retention budget approved.
Step 3: fix the stage where drivers leave
Before the first shift: hiring for fit
Drivers who go in the first days were mostly the wrong hire for the role, or were hired for a job that turned out to be different, so the fixes sit in the advert and the hiring process:
- Write the advert for the real job: the start time, the typical finish, the number of drops, whether the van is provided and how pay is worked out. A candidate who reads that and decides the job is not for them has saved you a hire that would not have lasted.
- Check licence categories, right to work, the vehicle and the distance from the depot before you interview anyone. A driver who fails one of these in week one cost you a hire and returned nothing.
- Keep the gap between offer and start short. Each day in between gives another operator time to make a better offer.
Our guide to recruiting delivery drivers goes through each of these in detail.
Weeks two to twelve: onboarding that holds
Most early leavers go in this window, and what happens in the first weeks decides whether they stay.
- Get the paperwork done before day one. New drivers judge the depot by their first morning, and a morning of forms is a poor start.
- Put new starters on real routes with an experienced driver for their first rounds, and give that senior driver a title and a reason to do it well.
- Walk every new starter through their first payslip. A driver who cannot work out what they were paid for assumes they were underpaid.
Training holds better in short modules assigned as each topic becomes relevant than in one long induction day. Service Club ® built the Academy around that idea: training on a driver's phone between rounds, plus scenario work, including VR simulation, for the situations that go wrong on the road. The Academy page shows how it fits into an onboarding plan.
Three months to a year: the day-to-day
Drivers who get through onboarding and still leave in the first year are usually leaving the rota or the manager rather than the work. Publish rotas early, keep last-minute changes rare, and let drivers state preferences where the operation allows. Check which routes your leavers were on, because drivers do not last long on a route that is regularly overloaded. And look at how quickly problems get answered: many resignations follow a problem the driver raised weeks earlier, so give drivers a channel that gets them an answer the same day.
Our post on driver performance issues covers how to deal with a problem before it ends in a resignation.
After a year: pay, progression and recognition
Experienced drivers leave for a better rate, a better title or a manager who noticed them. Benchmark your rate against the employers in your area who publish theirs. Give senior drivers a visible path into training, planning or licence upgrades, and recognise the records they control, such as clean driving, on-time rates and customer feedback.
Step 4: change one stage and track retention at 30 and 90 days
Fix the stage where your leavers bunch first, and leave the others until you have seen a result. Track the share of new starters still with you at 30 and 90 days, every month. The 90-day figure moves within one hiring cycle, while annual turnover takes most of a year to catch up, so if the annual rate is all you watch, a change that worked will look as though it failed.
Ask every leaver the same four questions on the way out: what they expected, what turned out different, when they decided to go, and what would have kept them. Over a few months the answers tell you which change to make next.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate driver turnover?
Divide the number of drivers who left in a period by the average number of drivers you had over that period, and multiply by 100. Twelve leavers from an average of 40 drivers in a year is a 30% annual turnover rate. Calculate it separately for drivers in their first 90 days, because that figure usually tells you more than the annual one.
What is a good driver turnover rate?
There is no published benchmark for UK delivery drivers. The CIPD puts average UK employee turnover at 34% a year across 2022 and 2023, ranging from 25% in public administration to 52% in hospitality. The useful comparison is your own rate against last year, broken down by how long leavers had been with you.
Why do most drivers leave in the first few months?
Because the job they started was not the job they expected, or because the first weeks were harder than they needed to be. A route that runs later than the advert suggested, a first payslip nobody can explain, or a first week spent waiting for paperwork each produce leavers before the driver has had a chance to become good at the job.
Does raising pay reduce driver turnover?
It reduces turnover among drivers who were leaving for money, which is usually a minority. If your leavers go in the first month, the cause is almost always fit or onboarding, and a higher rate will not reach it. Check when your drivers leave before deciding what to spend.
How long does it take to see turnover come down?
The share of new starters still with you at 90 days moves within one hiring cycle, so a change to hiring or onboarding shows up in about three months. Annual turnover lags by most of a year, which is why tracking only the annual figure makes good changes look like they failed.
Your last twenty leavers, sorted by stage
Put your last twenty leavers into the tenure table and the stage to fix is usually obvious. Where most of them went before or just after the first shift, hiring drivers who were checked for the role before you met them is what Service Club Jobs does. Where they went during onboarding, get in touch and we will show you what an onboarding plan built on the Academy looks like.