“There is much discussion right now about the difficult conditions that long-haul drivers face, and we are seeking to evaluate what it is actually like. What we are seeing is that company employees earn not only at least double the average working wage in Lithuania but are also offered a slew of various extra incentives, the value of which combines to reach several million euros a year,” says TTLA Secretary General Povilas Drižas.
The efforts to take stock of offered incentives, concessions and other aid or gifts was spurred on by intensive efforts to spread information to the public that long-haul drivers supposedly endure less-than-ideal living and working conditions.
“As of late, there has been an increase in cases of attempting to position transport companies as poor employers, presenting certain individual cases as an overall trend, and often not even listening to the other party because at least some of the stories are far removed from reality. However, we nonetheless decided to start with ourselves, and evaluate what the situation is really like,” says Drižas.
The participating member companies of TTLA presented that they make use of a wide variety of measures to incentivise their employees, such as drivers’ life and health insurance services are covered, they are insured against accidents and travel risks and offered other types of insurance, while drivers who come to need medical aid while abroad but find that it isn’t fully covered by Some companies also pay extra attention to drivers’ social guarantees, and giving extra pay-outs into their employees’ third stage pension funds.
According to Drižas, well-performing drivers are exceptionally valuable for transport companies, and so efforts are made to incentivise them which are difficult to summarise due to their wide-ranging variety.
“From all-expenses-paid travel to foreign language courses, courses to raise qualifications for Lithuanian and foreign citizens, to valuable gifts such as cell phones during the holidays, while for ecological driving and other merits there is free or partially-covered company catering. The incentives offered to drivers showcase that the Lithuanian transport sector is a modern and socially responsible business, which stands out in our region in terms of its high-quality jobs,” P. Drižas states.
The International Transport and Logistics Alliance brings together over 20 of the country’s largest transport and logistics companies, which combined cover more than 80 per cent of all Lithuanian road freight transportation income. The association’s members perform international freight operations by all means of transportation, encompassing road, aviation, maritime and railway transport. The association’s members operate in Europe, Asia and various other global regions.
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