Teri Wood, Kupar’s jack-of-all-trades, has experience in nearly every department under the Kupar umbrella. She’s worked on the TruckRight support team, employment verification team, and worked with the sales team as well. All of which make her the ideal compliance manager for Kupar, and its clients.
As the compliance manager, Teri’s role is to ensure every single client receives daily effective recruitment and compliance management.
How does the Kupar team help make that happen? “We customize our roles for every client,” Teri says. “Depending on what they’re looking for, we’ll do for them: we can manage expiries, we can qualify applicants for them, we can perform log audit reviews, manage their monthly maintenance programs. If it’s to do with compliance, we can do it for them.”
A day in the life of the compliance team
So how does the recruitment and compliance team set itself up for success each day? Like everybody else, Teri jokes, they start the day by going through their email.
After that, Teri divides out through the team. “Some team members will get into log audits, some will work on expirations, some will do processing for the recruiting side, to make sure they’re qualified for the client’s minimums.” Teri takes a portion of the work herself, so she can stay on top of every client.
Teri handles a lot of the reporting, monitors the team, troubleshooting, and conversations with the clients. With her experience in Kupar and TruckRight’s various departments, she’s often the best source when a client has a question.
A big part of Teri’s role is making sure the team is meeting its own high standards. “We’ll go over the software with them, see how we’re doing, and find out if they have any questions.” Training sessions are set up if need be, as well.
She’s also earned her certified director of safety (CDS) designation from NATMI, which will help her and her team bring even more value and efficiency to Kupar’s clients.
Building client relationships
Since Kupar is designed to work as a seamless extension of a client’s team, Teri and her department make sure they establish good working relationships with all of them. The team keeps it simple: “We just have conversations with our clients. We get to know them. Make sure what we’re doing for them meets their standards and that we clarify everything that we do. I have several close relationships with our clients now.
“Our clients are great people. They treat us like we’re one of the team.”
Dealing with upset drivers
The Kupar team will occasionally field calls from upset drivers. Like most support departments, this isn’t unexpected and so Teri and her team take steps to manage it. “We always stay calm,” she says. “We’re the subject matter experts, so we need to slow the conversation down. We explain what’s going on step by step, even if we have to break it down really far.” Generally, after this approach, drivers understand the situation and are able to get the matter resolved.
The most common compliance issues?
Teri says the most common compliance violations often come from ELDs, so her team monitors those closely. Close behind are inspections that don’t meet the clients’ minimum time. Teri added that one of her team’s most important tasks is ensuring clients have a driver’s full DQ file before that driver hits the road, to prevent any compliance troubles in the future.
What is the number one piece of advice you could give fleets to help them maintain high standards of safety and compliance?
Teri’s biggest piece of advice is this: “Get a software that’s going to help you track and monitor so you can stay on top of compliance. Get a team that’s going to pay high attention to detail. If you have those basics, and your team understands the compliance process, you shouldn’t have an issue.”
After all, as she puts it: “Being able to track everything electronically, with some automation, is your frame for keeping a successful compliance department.”