Spinnaker’s Maritime HR Association has been benchmarking shore-based salaries within the maritime industry since 2005. More recently, the Seafarers’ Association has been established to provide reliable wage cost benchmarking data for seafarers too – with crew cost data analysed by nationality, rank and vessel type.

So why do over 150 shipping companies take part?

Salary benchmarking is a way for businesses to compare their pay and benefits with those of their competitors, in order to:

• attract top talent with competitive packages – particularly important when new roles are evolving, or skills are scarce;
• improve retention – by reducing the risk of losing employees to competitors with more attractive packages, and the associated impacts of staff turnover generally (e.g. cost of hire, lost productivity and knowledge transfer);
• increase employee motivation – through reward schemes that link to performance, reflect their value within the business and support career progression;
• identify areas for improvement – to stay aligned with market demand and trends; and ultimately
• provide reliable information – from which to review pay structures and set pay levels (as part of annual and ad hoc pay reviews).

Used as part of a broader reward strategy, employers can then:

• influence employee behaviour so that they want to join, remain committed to stay and perform to their best;
• ensure fair and equal pay within the business; and
• promote the total reward concept– considering non-financial provisions with pay and benefits to meet the needs of the business and its employees.

The shore-based salary survey will soon be open for 2021. If you’re interested in taking part and understanding more about maritime salaries, please contact our benchmarking team at [email protected].