Over the past few years that has been a seismic shift in what employees look for in employers. Whether this be new or existing employees, instead of the focus being solely on the salary and bonuses, policies on leave benefits, environmental policies, flexible working, and diversity have become more important for candidates when choosing a new employer or whether to stay. This coupled with the skills shortage in the maritime industry has led companies to re-evaluate their policies and packages.

Although salary and bonuses must be competitive, paying the highest will no longer secure or retain that ‘needle in the haystack’ employee.

The Maritime HR Association membership is made up of over 100 maritime companies across the industry so when change happens, HR professionals in these organisations can connect and get an accurate picture of what is happening in the market to ensure their policies are still competitive.

In January we released a report to participating members on leave benefits. This covered, annual leave, maternity and paternity leave, time off to care for dependants, compassionate leave, and time off in lieu.

The Association had initially run this questionnaire and published a report in 2014 which allows us to track trends in these policies.

One stark change was in maternity, paternity, and parental leave and pay. An increased number of members are offering above the statutory minimum when compared to 2014 and the statutory minimum for maternity leave has also improved, particularly in Denmark and Hong Kong.

Having up-to-date information on what is happening in the market is a crucial tool for any HR professional to benchmark against.

The Maritime HR Association will shortly be producing another report focused on pensions, death in service, medical benefits etc.

To be part of the Maritime HR Association and to access benchmarking information across the industry please contact: [email protected] for further information on how to join.

Article written by Lucy McQuillan, HRC Manager, Spinnaker.

Members of Spinnaker’s Maritime HR Association are entitled to receive detailed analysis, such as this, as part of their membership package.

Find out more about joining the association on the website.

Technical vs. Marine – who earns more?
Spinnaker’s Maritime HR Association released its market analysis research earlier this month for the technical & marine job family. The report looks at the comparison of salaries by location and seniority of roles such as technical superintendent and HSEQ officers.

The Maritime HR Association reports are made up of data from over 100 shipping companies and over 55,000 individual salaries.

Compensation
Our data shows that around 8% of technical and marine roles are based in Hong Kong which is the fourth largest percentage worldwide with the highest median base salaries paid to technical employees. Only at Junior / Trainee (SM00) level is Hong Kong overtaken by Norway. In 2023, Norway-based technical juniors received the highest median base salaries.

By contrast, marine Professionals (SM01(A)) and Senior Professionals (SM02(A)) enjoy the highest median base salaries in the USA.

Although technical base salaries outperform marine, the opposite is true for bonuses at Professional (SM01), Senior Professional (SM02), and Manager (SM03) level where marine bonuses are higher.

Technical Managers (SM03(B)) working in the container industry received the highest bonuses when compared to other vessel types.

At all reportable levels, Oil Major / Commodity and Mining groups pay the highest base salaries and total compensation packages.

Technical vs. Marine – the face of the industry
According to this year’s demographical and gender analysis, the typical 2023 technical and marine employee is more likely to be Indian male.

Indian nationals make up 31% of incumbents overall which is not surprising given 17% of all technical and marine roles are located in India.

Almost identical to last year, 86% of incumbents working in the technical and marine job family are male, compared to 14% female. This is definitely one of the most male-dominated job families we have reported this year.

On the bright side, however, we can account for just over the half (51%) of junior employees being females which gives the chance in the future for more women to progress into senior technical and marine roles.

A positive shift has already been made this year with 2% more women in Head of / Director (SM04) positions compared to 2022 – although the overall female presence in this role is still 5% against 95% male.

Article written by Daryna Rozum, Reward Consultant, Spinnaker.

Members of Spinnaker’s Maritime HR Association are entitled to receive detailed analysis, such as this, as part of their membership package.

Find out more about joining the association on the website.