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Young people are happy to move about a lot and crewing managers and shipowners need to bear this in mind, writes Henrik Jensen, the CEO of Danica Crewing Specialists. It isn’t a reflection on their crewing services but just a reality of modern life. Things have changed in the job market, he stresses in this article for Splash.
Having a steady crew pool is a significant contributing factor to having safe and smooth operating vessels. Fewer mishaps result in fewer casualties and less damage, which ultimately improves the financial bottom line.
Increasing numbers of shipping companies are focussing on maintaining a high retention rate and investing in various tools to achieve this. Cargo owners are following oil majors by concentrating on retention and including compliance in their crew experience matrices as a commercial requirement for doing business with them.
In general, most of the retention tools used by the maritime employers offer better financial employment conditions than their competitors, such as keeping salaries above market average levels, rejoining bonus, private medical insurance, provident or pension plans. Alongside are less visible offerings, like proper vessel management, company support, and fair treatment of each seafarer. There are of course many more retention tools like a growing fleet with promotion prospects and job security.
Yet, despite all these tools being in place with the purpose of achieving high retention, crew members are still leaving companies, and the end objective is not being met.
Are we doing something wrong? Are our efforts wasted? Most probably not, but we are missing something – and that is management of the unavoidable fluctuations.
Our retention strategies are based on the ‘older’ generation’s DNA, which is to strive for security and stability. We can meet these needs by offering a competitive financial employment package with benefits, and stable employment through increasing or steady numbers of vessels in the fleet.
However, the DNA of the younger generations does include a part that encourages them to explore and try new things, which puts the need for stability in the background and makes them more willing to take risks in the job market.
Consequently, even when offered good employment conditions, they are ready to decline them and instead explore new opportunities, causing a constant fluctuation. A shortage of labour in most industries, of course, also contributes to the fluctuation within the maritime sector. It is likely that this fluctuating issue will grow in the future as the younger generations move up through the ranks.
Reaching the goal of safely and smoothly operating vessels through a high retention rate is not achievable. In addition to retention, shipping companies must also manage fluctuations.
How can we manage the risk of always having a portion of new hands? The answer is through simplification and standardisation, which supports and speeds up the familiarisation process for new joiners. The company’s quality management systems and procedures tend to grow over time. An accident or mishap occurs and, as preventive action, a new procedure or checklist is added. Step-by-step operations become increasingly complex, and new staff will need more time for familiarisation, which they are often not given.
Shipping companies should conduct a thorough review of their procedures at least annually to identify outdated, overdone, and no longer needed procedures. In addition, the introduction for new staff should be reviewed. Is it necessary for all new staff to read and understand the top-level quality and safety policies of the company? Perhaps it is more important that they spend time familiarising themselves with the low-level work instructions and checklists relevant to their functions?
Organising procedures, instructions and checklists in electronic format, and making the search for a relevant procedure much easier, is also an important way to support new staff (and even old staff). Adding AI to such an electronic filing system, combining several procedures into shorter resumes, is the latest way ahead.
Looking at the macro level, if would be helpful if authorities and legislators made fewer and simpler regulations. However, in some technical matters, more specific rules may be beneficial. An example is the IMO resolution on ECDIS which is very open, essentially allowing each manufacturer to develop its own standards, and resulting in the industry having a forest of type-specific ECDIS courses.
In conclusion, we must, of course, manage retention. However, times are changing, and we must also consider the behaviour of younger people, who are increasingly willing to change employers more frequently, and it is time to develop defences against the challenges arising from this.
The post Manage not only retention but also fluctuation appeared first on Energy News Beat.
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