Changing employees to 1099 to save a buck and get out of paying federally required drive time pay is called misclassification and is illegal!
Your number #1 problem that is THE root of 95% off all your problems, is the BIG person in charge. They gatekeep the few smart talented people to only positions below them, so they doesn't get shown up by them fixing everything that's been broke for years that they themselves should have already fixed.