Superyacht recruitment agency, Quay Crew, has released its latest in-depth crew salary and leave survey – this time, for all crew onboard.
Almost 300 yacht Captains responded to the survey, providing data for 2,500+ crew. As a thank you for their time, participants were entered into a draw to receive a €500 donation to charity. This was won by M/Y Nautilus (73m Perini Navi) who selected Cogs 4 Cancer.
Salaries are on the rise
The good news is that salaries are up generally for all crew. Rises range from as low as 0.5% for Stews, to 20% for Pursers and 14% for ETO/AVITs. The Engineering department has actually seen the best pay increases of all onboard departments.
It’s also positive to see that the number of yachts reviewing pay annually has improved, while those who do not review pay regularly as standard has dropped to 2%.
What is surprising is that when comparing full time and rotational packages, and private and charter packages, the gaps appear to be closing.
Historically, we used to see some higher rates of pay for full time roles versus rotational, as well as onboard exclusively private yachts where there are less opportunities to earn charter tips. But the findings in this survey show that this is not necessarily the case.
When it comes to leave packages, they have also improved since 2022. HODs and senior crew have seen a rise in Time for Time rotation and less Junior crew are on under 45 days leave than ever before, with many receiving 60 to 90 days or some form of rotation.
Detailed yacht size and role comparisons
The 34-page report shows the average crew size onboard each yacht size bracket and makes detailed comparisons between yacht sizes, private and private/charter yachts and full time vs rotational roles.
Tim Clarke, co-founder and Director at Quay Crew, commented:
“Clearly salaries and leave are improving for crew on the whole which can only be a positive thing. However, we also believe that the industry the industry is dividing into two camps.
“Camp 1, the yachts with good budgets and generous owners are regularly looking to improve packages in an effort to attract the best crew.
“Camp 2 are those programs who can’t improve packages and remain under ‘industry standards’ who will increasingly struggle to attract good crew and retain them.
“As always, you can offer the best packages in the world, but if you have a toxic working environment you will still turnover significant numbers of crew. Improved rotation and leave isn’t a silver bullet, it will only do so much.
“Eventually your reputation will precede you and it will be increasingly hard to hire good crew.
“Solutions to help improve this working culture? Read our blogs, watch our webinars obviously 😊. I would also hire a good leadership coach who can help you mould a better culture and accept there will be some bumps in the road.”
A separate report will also be available on training and benefits.
