What to pay your crew: More points to consider
Yacht owners want to be able to enjoy their expensive investment, and crew retention dramatically improves owner satisfaction. But no owner should feel they are not getting value for money, either. Here are some of the other areas that might affect how much you pay your crew or what additional benefits you choose to offer them.…
In a previous article on TheSuperyachtOwner.com, we considered average crew salaries expected or awarded to crew of various positions from Luxury Yacht Group’s database. This is a complex area and there are many different factors to consider when you are working out how much the crew of your superyacht is going to be paid. In today’s job market, many crew are looking for additional benefits instead of simply a high salary, such as training, rotation, insurance cover or longer holidays. One captain recently told me his crew were receiving a pension from their employers, with a resulting turnover of almost zero.
Yacht owners want to be able to enjoy their expensive investment, and crew retention dramatically improves owner satisfaction. But no owner should feel they are not getting value for money, either. Here are some of the other areas that might affect how much you pay your crew or what additional benefits you choose to offer them.
Is your vessel for private use or for charter? This is something that will affect what the crew is paid because charter vessels will usually receive a discretionary tip from the charterers at the end of their stay on board. This varies depending on the charterer but can be anything from 10 to 20 per cent of the charter cost; it will usually be split up among the crew, often decided by the captain whether equally or not. So traditionally, if your superyacht is a charter vessel, the basic salary will be less because the crew expects to make money through their tips. Private yachts will therefore pay a premium to encourage great crew to work on board and not be lured to a charter vessel for the tips.
In the past, there was a fairly sizeable discrepancy between the salaries of sailing yachts and motoryachts, with those working on the latter taking home higher pay. Even though sailing vessels have more cramped living conditions, the sailing fleet is much smaller (around 15 per cent of superyachts afloat are sailing vessels) and generally there are fewer crew on a sailing yacht than a more voluminous motoryacht. This combination means that sailing yacht positions were much more in demand, often with very passionate sailors who have been on the water from an early age, so crew could be paid less. However, this pay gap has been reducing over the years and now there is far less difference than there once was between the pay on sailing yachts and motoryachts.
When thinking about what to pay your crew, it is not just the actual money going into a bank account to think about. Today, with great quality crew in high demand – even since the economic downturn shifting the supply-demand balance in favour of the employers – it is important to think of other benefits that could attract and keep them on board your vessel, enhancing your yachting experience.
Rotation of senior positions – particularly for captains, engineers and often chefs – is becoming more common. The crew will expect to be paid less in return for fewer hours at sea, but the overall cost to owners may be higher for paying two people for one position, although this is not always true (look out for the upcoming article in The Superyacht Owner on the cost of rotation).
Other benefits to lure the best crew include full insurance (for coverage both on and off the vessel), paying for training or higher than average holiday allowance. Often yachts will pay for the training of a crew member with a promise to stay on board for at least a year. If the crew member leaves after a few months, they may have to pay back the full amount, and after six to nine months, they may have to pay back less. This is a great way to encourage longevity.
Consider all of these options to fill up your crew mess with the best team available. It could pay dividends for the onboard experience – not only for you and your family, but also paying charter guests.
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