Dearest Yachtie’s…
Recently, I’ve seen a lot of recruiters, brokers and yacht managers talking about crew retention. They mention all the things crew want and need, never stating though any statistics or numbers how common incentives to stay are. One of the main reasons, why crew decide to move on from a yacht is because of crew atmosphere. No matter how good the salary, rotation or training package, no crew member stays in a toxic work environment for a long period of time.
How do you create a good atmosphere onboard? Clear and defined leadership, a balance of “chiefs and Indians”. A classic mistake in yachting is to have too many team leaders with lots of responsibility and orders to give to only one or two juniors. This can create an unbalanced workload. Hiring positive and likeminded individuals is essential, when hiring for a crew of five or twenty. If the crew don’t have the same fundamental ideals of how to live onboard a yacht, then this is where a great crew environment can quickly change to an uneasy atmosphere.
Recently Shaped by the Sea teamed up with ahoy crew agency to conduct some industry research in the form of three focus groups, in which participants could vote for multiple answers to the following question.
Which of the following, do you think are good incentives or rewards to retain crew?
The chart above illustrates the average percentage across all three of the focus groups. It is not surprising that rotation came in first place as what crew want most. When we look to the commercial maritime sector of the industry, in shipping almost all crew members are offered a form of rotation… so why is yachting so far behind?
In my view, yachting has the curse of an “old school” mentality of if you are in a junior position you must work to the bone for at least your first “five or so “years in the industry before a person in management or Leadership will consider you valuable enough to offer a rotational deal. What is often missed in this mentally is crew burn out, which leads to mistakes, accidents, injury and high turnover of crew. I was relieved to see that “Yachties “are asking for what they want and need to stay onboard.
Secondly, a financial bonus 20 % of participants indicated this was a valuable incentive for them. I believe this has value although personally It is not a motivator for me. I’ve worked on boats that had a “13th month” bonus salary at the end of the year which was a nice way to say thank you for a job well done in the year. Although, it was widely discussed amongst the focus group’s that a yearly salary review was more appealing and fairer for all crew members.
Thirdly, additional leave loyalty scheme, for yachts that cannot offer rotation this is a great alternative, 13% of participants indicated this was appealing to them. I have heard of view yachts doing this, for example for every year you stay onboard you gain plus 5 days of leave on top of your leave package. After five year this is then reevaluated and instead of offering time off it becomes a percentage of your salary starting at 5% percent as a bonus then growing in percentage each year. This is a fair and effective way to maintain a good crew.
Fourthly, social security package, 1% of participants voted that this was an incentive to them. I believe this is so low as so many yachties pay national insurance/social security voluntarily in their country of residency or like many yachties including myself have taken out private pensions and health care plans. I think if a yacht wants to offer this as an incentive for crew it should be paid by the yacht.
To conclude, known of these incentives are useful unless you have a happy and healthy crew environment.
If you don’t have that no incentive, reward or amount of money will keep a good crew member, I say “Good” because there are unfortunately people in this industry who are not passionate yachties and are here for the quick cash hit.
This poll enabled to me to see that my thoughts and feeling on this topic are in line with what many crew thing. I believe this industry is a fantastic career choice for so many people no matter what role they are in onboard. Moreover, it can be incredibly challenging, and it takes times to find the right boat for you.
Have a thought, opinion or would like to discuss this topic further, reach out to via email shapedbythesea_@outlook.com or info@ahoycrew.com to speak to the team at ahoy around this topic.
As always keep smiling, laughing and loving the sea.
Shaped by the Sea.