Quay Crew, a crew agency since 2013, asked junior crew their main reasons for leaving a yacht and what changes would encourage them to stay.
With the superyacht industry continuing to be hyper focused on crew retention, Quay Crew looked to find small changes that could help yachts keep hold of great candidates.
Three in five of the respondents work on deck, while the other two are in the interior department. All of the crew worked in the sector for less than three years. 73% of the respondents have had one to two jobs in this time, while the other 27% have had three or more jobs.
Reasons for leaving a yacht
41% of the crew wanted a better rotation while 37% wanted a better salary when asked their reasons for leaving a yacht or why they’d leave their current yacht if in their first role. The current average monthly salary for the surveyed crew is €3,167, while the desired salary is €3,461, suggesting a €300 (10%) increase in pay could potentially increase retention, according to Quay Crew.
Quay Crew’s findings also show that crew tension and toxic environments is an important factor for 35% of respondents. A third of the surveyed crew believe poor leadership from captains, lack of training, and poor professional development to be important.
Respondents ranked the leadership of captains and HODs 6.2 out of 10. A third of surveyed crew responded yes to being bullied or harassed onboard, with the worst culprits being fellow crew in other departments (33%), HODs (29%), and captains (25%).
“Another significant stat, although not particularly surprising in my opinion, is how more prevalent bullying and harassment is in the interior department,” commented Tim Clarke, co-founder and director of Quay Crew. “One of the shocking statistics to come out was that 50% of those who felt they had been bullied said it was their HOD doing the bullying. Anecdotally, this is something we come across time and time again and illustrates the clear need for more leadership training for HODs.”
Longevity
Quay Crew’s survey suggests very few crew spend even a year onboard one yacht, with 42% of respondents who have been in yachting for less than a year stating they have had two or more jobs. 62.5% of surveyed crew with one to two years of experience have had two or more jobs, while 75% of those with two to three years of experience have had three or more jobs.
Differences between deck and interior crew
When leaving a previous role, the pursuit of better rotation was the main reason for deck crew, while poor leadership from the captain(s) was the main reason for interior. The survey revealed that 45% of interior crew feel they have been bullied or harassed onboard, while 22% of deck crew answered the same way.
The average salary of interior crew is 7% higher than deckhands. 48% of interior crew are looking for a minimum of 90 days/3:1 rotation or better in their next role, something only 36% of deckhands look for.
How can you retain crew?
Although improved leave (71%), good training and career support (64%), and salary (54%) were the most common reasons for leaving their last or current yacht, 75% of respondents voted being in a happy and positive working environment as the top reason to encourage them to stay put.
“Whilst not every yacht can give better leave and more money, what has come out of the survey is the very average leadership scores given to Captains and HODs,” Clarke commented. “This is therefore an obvious area where there is potential for vast improvement, via third-party training or self-improvement. This will result in a better working environment, reduced turnover and costs as well as an improved owner experience.”
Tim Clarke commented in Triton‘s coverage of sexual harassment and assault in the yachting industry. Click here to read about the dark side of yachting.
Tagged bullying, junior crew, quay, retention, survey
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