Most super yachts experience a good amount of crew turnover, but the goal is to build a solid crew, with continuity and longevity. In the following post, Michael Reardon, Glenn McCloskey, and Elizabeth Page tackle some key elements that factor into crew retention.
Interview with Glenn, Yacht Captain and Project Manager
What does it take to put a crew together, keep them happy and make the owner happy for an extended period of time?
What you’re doing is creating a team, whether it’s 2, 3, 5, or 7 crew members. Crew change over it inevitable, but even in that you’re trying to keep the same core team. This core team should have the same way of doing things, because people are always more comfortable with others who are similar to themselves. This core should be similar in the aspects of how they simply have fun, how they do things onboard and their general outlook on life. The more you can get crew to be the same type of people, the better they will interact, socialize and overall work together.
What it takes to build a crew with continuity and longevity.
Start with one person you like. The captain is the person you’re going to work with the closest, as well as the engineer, the mate and chef. While you’re hiring deck hands and stewardess’s who are more so people who come and go, use your core crew as a solid basis in hiring others.
Captain Glenn always brings the people who have been with him the longest: the engineer and chef into interviews. He does this in order that his core crew can ask questions and give their perspective during the hiring process, as they are the ones who will be working with these prospective hires. If the core crew is comfortable in the beginning and was able to ask the right questions, a more solid foundation is laid for the crew as a whole. This idea is essentially to build the team with the team.
Advice to the owner
Crew prefer a schedule. They like to know when they’re going to be busy, when they’re going to have down time, and how holidays are dealt with. And so, these are important things for the crew to know upfront.
Payment Schedule
When it comes to bonuses and raises, set up a structure of bonus-ing, and allowing the crew to know when raises are coming so they can look forward to these things.
All of these things, such as, building your crew with your core crew, giving your team a schedule, and settling somewhat of a bonus and raise schedule are a few aspects that play a part in crew retention.
Interview with Elizabeth, Head of Crew Placement
Reasons that crew members might leave a boat
Crew are often too quick to take a job. As crew you have to make sure that you aren’t just taking a job because you’re desperate for the money. This boat will be your home. Be certain that you would gladly call this boat home, and that these are people you’ll be comfortable working and living with.
What are some things that keep crew members on a boat?
- Fun itinerary
- Room for advancement
- Good pay
- Safe yacht
- Good owners
- Hours of rest
Hours of Rest
This issue regarding hours of rest is very important not simply for crew to stay in good spirits, but also for safety issues. Hours of rest is both a regulatory issue that we have to keep tract of by regulation, and simply keeps the crew safe. When a boat is working really hard, everyone knows that the hours of rest rule will be violated. What’s important is to have a captain that notices this. The captain must take notice their boat is working very hard and possibly not receiving proper rest for a few days, and to then quickly make up for it.
The captain has to be cognizant of the amount of work that the crew is doing. He might possibly have to sit down with the owner and discuss this, to make sure that everyone is getting what they need. On the other hand if a crew member feels they aren’t getting the rest they need, they should speak with the captain, in order to stray away from any possible accidents occurring.
This is the whole purpose: Get people rest so that accidents don’t occur out of exhaustion. But also, we live in an industry that’s very high-end service oriented, and when owners and charter guest are on board, we have to take care of them. This is the tension that’s always going to be there. Therefore, there must be an awareness from the captain of what’s going on, so they can make adjustments and corrections wherever is necessary.
For more information regarding crew retention, or to set up a consultation with one of our yacht management consultants, contact us today at (954) 839-6001.
