Creating a driver-centric culture

Fake it till you make it, as the saying goes. Well, not when it comes to driver culture—something Keller Trucking knows a thing or two about, as it was recently named a 2026 Best Fleets to Drive For honoree for the ninth consecutive year.

We caught up with Jonathan Wolfrum, president of Keller Logistics Group, to understand the keys to a strong driver culture and the role of leadership in creating and maintaining driver culture.

—Interview by Shefali Kapadia, edited by Bianca Prieto

Do you have any unique programs in place that benefit drivers or reinforce your driver-centric culture? 

We have countless programs in place that reinforce our driver-centric culture. A few that come to mind as unique are our Driver Advisory Board, which involves quarterly meetings with a team of eight drivers. We talk through issues impacting drivers and solicit input for feedback and solutions. The board provides great feedback for us when it comes to equipment selection.

We also have monthly retention calls from leadership. In our Blue-Chip Driver Program, drivers earn points for hitting milestones in areas like safety, wellness or professionalism. Once a total number of points is achieved, our drivers graduate and receive the designation of Blue-Chip professional driver. They get a hat, a Super Bowl-style ring and a decal for their truck—plus, access to continuing education opportunities. 

In the recognition for Best Fleets, you mentioned that Keller has "leadership that follows through." In practice, what does that look like at your company?

It boils down to always listening to your drivers, seeking to fully understand and implementing processes and programs that benefit them and support the overall success of the company.

Is recruiting and retaining drivers more challenging today than in recent years? Why or why not?

Recruiting and retaining drivers is always a challenge. I can't say that it is any more difficult today than it has been in the past. Things definitely have changed in recent years. Home time is more important today than it was in the past. With this, we have made adjustments to our operations, reducing our LOH and tightening our network to allow more home time and also targeting more dedicated operations where drivers are home every day. 

At the end of the day, the most challenging part of driver recruiting is the macro trucking environment and our inability to increase rates and upgrade freight to allow us to continually increase driver pay to keep up with inflation.

If you were to offer one piece of advice to other trucking companies about driver culture, what would it be?

Having a great driver culture isn't something you can fake; it takes a ton of work with the right people who truly care about the success of your driving staff. It isn't something that happens overnight; it takes constant examination and adjustment, and above all, listening to your drivers and truly understanding the challenges they face day in and day out and working mitigate those challenges.

This interview was edited for clarity.

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The Inside Lane is curated and written by Shefali Kapadia and edited by Bianca Prieto.