Poland: shortage of drivers

Although experts talk endlessly about the problems truck drivers face in their work, the only way to learn about the underbelly of the profession is from its representatives themselves. Polish media collected comments from truckers on Facebook under an article about the shortage of drivers.

After reading the comments, the general conclusion is that the drivers are not satisfied with the remuneration they receive. Many of them emphasise that the earnings are too low in relation to the time worked. The authors of the posts calculated that they work three days a week for 15 hours and two days after 1pm, so in practice they "work" almost two full-time jobs. And since this is the case, they should be paid remuneration adequate to the hourly involvement in the duties of the job. Too low earnings in relation to workload, according to most users, is the main reason for the lack of people willing to "jump behind the wheel of a lorry".

There are also calls such as "pay decently and appreciate those who want to work", "no 15, only a maximum of 13 hours". In general, the comments contain different descriptions of earnings, but they all boil down to "not enough", "not very good", "bad", "not enough".

Most of the comments under articles about staff shortages relate to the physical and mental fatigue that accompanies working in transport, as well as long periods of absence from home and lack of involvement in family life. Aside from money, according to some drivers, this is the main reason why not as many young people are entering the profession as the industry needs.