From The Washington Business Journal (subscription required):
Reston Limousine CEO Kristina Bouweiri needs drivers — and she is pulling out all the stops.
She is offering referral bonuses to anyone who sends her a qualified driver ($200 for a part-time driver and $400 for a full-time driver). And, for the first time ever, she has set a guaranteed minimum salary of $50,000 a year for a commercial driver.
She has raised prices to pay her drivers more, cut business travel to focus on recruitment and begun working overtime to solve what she describes as the biggest driver shortage in her 26 years in the business.
“We have had shortages before but never like this,” Bouweiri told me in an interview, estimating she has 60 openings now. “We are doing everything we possibly can to solve this problem.”
The culprit? Bouweiri attributed it to several factors, including a robust economy and low unemployment. But she also stressed the role of ride-hailing juggernauts Uber and Lyft in luring away drivers with the promise of a completely flexible schedule. Drivers for those services can log in when they feel like it, something she said she cannot offer as the company heads into one of its busiest seasons.
The growth of ride-hailing has taken a huge chunk out of what she said was a finite pool of ready, willing and able drivers. That means she’s competing with them, despite catering to an entirely different client base.
And Bouweiri’s company has been growing, with revenue increasing from $25 million in 2016 to $27 million in 2017, with more growth expected in 2018. But drivers are crucial for that growth. Bouweiri has started holding focus groups to recruit and retain drivers and has switched up how they showcase open positions. She’s even pitched the company to drivers over restaurant dinners.
“We are doing things we have never done before because that’s what it’s going to take,” she said. “We are literally rolling out the red carpet, and it’s a shift in how things have always been done. If I don’t treat my drivers like clients I won’t have any.”
Reston Limousine CEO Kristina Bouweiri needs drivers — and she is pulling out all the stops.
She is offering referral bonuses to anyone who sends her a qualified driver ($200 for a part-time driver and $400 for a full-time driver). And, for the first time ever, she has set a guaranteed minimum salary of $50,000 a year for a commercial driver.
She has raised prices to pay her drivers more, cut business travel to focus on recruitment and begun working overtime to solve what she describes as the biggest driver shortage in her 26 years in the business.
“We have had shortages before but never like this,” Bouweiri told me in an interview, estimating she has 60 openings now. “We are doing everything we possibly can to solve this problem.”
The culprit? Bouweiri attributed it to several factors, including a robust economy and low unemployment. But she also stressed the role of ride-hailing juggernauts Uber and Lyft in luring away drivers with the promise of a completely flexible schedule. Drivers for those services can log in when they feel like it, something she said she cannot offer as the company heads into one of its busiest seasons.
The growth of ride-hailing has taken a huge chunk out of what she said was a finite pool of ready, willing and able drivers. That means she’s competing with them, despite catering to an entirely different client base.
And Bouweiri’s company has been growing, with revenue increasing from $25 million in 2016 to $27 million in 2017, with more growth expected in 2018. But drivers are crucial for that growth. Bouweiri has started holding focus groups to recruit and retain drivers and has switched up how they showcase open positions. She’s even pitched the company to drivers over restaurant dinners.
“We are doing things we have never done before because that’s what it’s going to take,” she said. “We are literally rolling out the red carpet, and it’s a shift in how things have always been done. If I don’t treat my drivers like clients I won’t have any.”