Werner to Keep Driver Recruiting Spend Elevated Into Early 2027

Werner Enterprises will keep spending above normal levels on driver recruitment at least into early 2027, a cost pressure that already helped knock its third-quarter results below expectations and that management calls a deliberate bet on a multiyear freight up cycle.

Chairman and CEO Derek Leathers framed the investment as the price of participation in what he described as "the early innings of a multiyear up cycle." Two weeks before the October 27 earnings call, Werner had warned investors that Q3 would fall short, citing three factors: higher-than-expected recruitment and retention costs, rising fuel prices, and an insurance reserve increase.

Of the three, driver expenses stand apart. Leathers called the recruiting outlay "a deliberate decision" to make sure Werner — the No. 11 carrier on the 2026 FleetOwner 500 — can meet customer demand across its one-way and dedicated services.

Where the money is going

The spend covers advertising, expanded recruiting operations, and fleet transition bonuses. Leathers put a rough timeline on it.

"This advertising, beefing up recruiting, spending money on some of these fleet transition bonuses, and other things is more short-term in nature," he said on the earnings call. "But [it] will continue into Q4 and probably into Q1, to be frank."

The company plans to sustain elevated spending into early 2027 to support continued growth. That growth is concrete: Werner added 130 trucks to its dedicated fleet during the third quarter and finished September with nearly 7,100 trucks in that segment. After buying FirstFleet early this year, Werner now ranks as the country's fifth-largest dedicated carrier.

CFO Chris Wikoff told analysts the company "fully expect[s] to build on this foundation with further fleet growth ahead."

Why every carrier is paying more

A tighter freight market makes hiring pricier across the board, and Leathers was blunt about the competitive dimension: "The bad news on that front is that it's not just us, but nationwide." Other carriers are also accelerating recruitment as they build market share while regulatory actions drive capacity out of the market.

Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings and J.B. Hunt Transport Services — Nos. 3 and 4 on the FleetOwner 500 — have told investors they are ramping up recruiting and training spending too.

Knight-Swift CFO Andrew Hess said his teams paid special attention to the dedicated business in Q3, and the extra spending "helped us to stabilize our truck count." That won't be enough on its own, he added.

"We are preparing further targeted measures to improve our driver development and enhance utilization," Hess said. "We continue to closely monitor driver market conditions as well as our own metrics around seated tractor utilization and pay as a percentage of revenue to gauge appropriate action and invest where it generates a return."

J.B. Hunt's $25 million signal

Nick Hobbs, president of J.B. Hunt's highway and final mile divisions, delivered a similar message in mid-October. An additional $25 million in Q3 spending has yielded good results, he said, but more is needed to support growth.

"We have opened the same proven playbook we have used in past cycles and implemented various strategies to attract and retain drivers," Hobbs said after J.B. Hunt's Q3 report. "We continue to believe the industry will need to further invest in professional drivers who operate safely and comply with industry regulations."

What it means for shippers and carriers

The pattern is consistent across the sector's largest players. Competition for qualified drivers is intensifying, dedicated fleet expansion is absorbing capacity, and regulatory pressure is shrinking the pool of available trucks. For shippers, that combination points to firmer pricing ahead as carriers pass rising driver-acquisition costs through the freight market. For carriers, the choice is stark: pay up for drivers now or risk turning away freight when the cycle turns.

With Werner committed to elevated recruitment spend into 2027, Knight-Swift preparing further targeted measures, and J.B. Hunt signaling more investment, driver-cost inflation looks set to run well into next year.