LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN…

© V.Group, March 2021 Your vessel, our responsibility

Attracting Talent to the Maritime Industry#3 in a series of papers by V.Group

LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN… Attracting Talent to the Maritime Industry

INTRODUCTION

03

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to hit the maritime industry hard, impacting every area of operations. With this in mind, we have created a series of papers looking at specific areas that have been affected.

As well as sharing some of the lessons learned, we hope to stimulate debate by outlining changes we think might benefit future generations of the maritime sector.

This, our third paper, takes a look at how Covid-19 has impacted recruitment in the sector, focusing on onshore people as well as seafarers. Whilst Covid-19 has been a huge disruptor, it has also been a catalyst for change in all areas of recruitment; from attracting candidates to training methods.

The extent to which the changes are here to stay will be debated in this paper as well as the question of how far the pandemic has presented the industry with a chance to enhance its approach to recruitment.

04 LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN…Attracting Talent to the Maritime Industry

ONSHORE RECRUITMENT

LANDMARK LESSONSThe industry must evolve to make jobs onshore an attractive career choice

The industry must recognise transferable skills when considering new recruits for onshore roles

Post Covid, applications from outside the industry are likely to increase as other sectors shed roles. Hiring managers will have a huge influence on whether these candidates are considered. Looking ahead, it would be beneficial for ship management companies to update their recruitment policies to encourage hiring for competencies and attitude rather than maritime experience alone. Placing a greater emphasis on whether recruits have the potential to understand the sector rather than whether they have experience of the sector could be a huge and well needed step change. Such recruits can bring a fresh perspective on working practices using experience gained in other industries.

Ged Kilcoin is Head of Global Recruitment at V.Group and has two decades of experience working in the sector. He feels it is now more important than ever for the industry to look beyond the maritime sector for talent, especially when facing a shortage of recruits for onshore roles.

One of the areas in which the industry must change its approach is the recognition of transferable skills. In other professions, it appears to be far more acceptable to take on recruits who haven’t got industry experience but do have skills that can be transferred. Further up the

career chain, transferable skills are more commonplace, but the shipping industry could benefit from being more accepting of other sector experience at all levels.

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Digital skills gap If industry fails to embrace and consider people from non-shipping backgrounds in all areas, there is the very real danger that a skills gap will emerge. This is particularly true when it comes to technology and finding recruits that will drive the industry forward. V.Group’s global ship management digital platform ShipSure provides real-time data-driven insights to take informed decisions. It’s vital that new onshore recruits have the digital skills to use such platforms competently and have a deep understanding of analytics. This means considering professionals from outside the industry who have the required digital skills combined with relevant life experience to draw on.

DISCUSSION POINTS

Q. How far is the industry’s image holding it back from attracting talent? What is it doing to address this?

Q. How far is the industry held back by its failure to consider people from non-shipping backgrounds?

Q. Should there be more focus on transferable skills?

Q. How vital is maritime experience?

Q. Post Covid – applications from people outside the industry are likely to soar – will this force the hand of hiring managers – will they become more open minded?

Q. How important are digital and analytical skills going to be for the maritime industry in future?

06 LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN…Attracting Talent to the Maritime Industry

In the wake of the pandemic, the ability of onshore colleagues to go to the office was extremely restricted so remote working and flexible working hours became the norm in most locations. V.Group held two pulse surveys in April and June to get information on how colleagues were coping with the new ways of working and if they were getting ample support from their managers and the organization as a whole. In both pulse surveys, a consistent comment from colleagues was their desire to continue remote working even after offices began to reopen. To explore this further, a taskforce was set up with the aim of investigating different flexible working arrangements. The taskforce, comprised of diverse representatives from across V.Group, conducted in-depth interviews with colleagues and asked for feedback from leaders across the group. Through the in-depth interviews, colleagues were able to openly share both benefits and challenges anticipated by flexible work arrangements including working from home. The most common

benefit shared is having a sense of freedom to manage their time, while common challenges are IT issues and potential longer working hours if not managed properly.

A common theme that emerged was that one size does not fit all and most colleagues leaned towards a hybrid approach of being able to work flexibly while also having days of the week or month where they are able to go to the office and meet with team members face-to-face. It is interesting to note that one of the benefits cited is its positive impact to V.Group’s employee value proposition helping attract future talent and retain key talent.

Apart from the in-depth interviews, the taskforce also reviewed practices and experiences of other organisations across different industries regarding flexible working. Based on the internal and external findings of the taskforce it was clear that there is a strong case for V.Group to implement flexible work, and in particular, remote working, longer term. The taskforce recommended a framework to use when implementing flexible work arrangements, which considers insights from both internal and external perspectives. The framework includes Self Care, Technology and Workspace, Agile Approach and a Results Focus mindset.

A REAL-LIFE CHALLENGE – INTRODUCING FLEXIBLE WORKING

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As a direct result of the findings, key locations in the group are conducting pilots of flexible work arrangements this year, and as support for locations that continue to work remotely due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic, a dedicated page in the group intranet has been launched to provide practical tips to both colleagues and managers on remote working practices and tools. V.Group is also looking to update its flexible working policy, create IT policies on equipment use and data management, set standards on workspace requirements, and further evolve its work practices to effectively implement flexible work.

DISCUSSION POINTS

Q. Has the pandemic pushed organisations to review their approach to flexible working? Q. Some organisations may have shied away from flexible working for years, but had to suddenly shift to an entirely remote workforce. How will this look like post pandemic? Q. What were the main lessons organisations have learned through implementing working from home policies during the pandemic? Q. What does good flexible working look like? Q. Would you agree that employees’ expectations towards flexible working have now changed? Q. How do we overcome the challenges associated with working from home, such as maintaining up-to-date technology and avoiding colleague burnout?

08 LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN…Attracting Talent to the Maritime Industry

Graduate Development ProgrammeMaritime recruitment should focus on all levels, from seafarers and senior management to graduate level, to ensure the best talent is drawn to the industry.

V.Group recognises the importance of attracting graduates and has invested in developing a two-year Global Graduate Development Programme (GGDP). Over the last five years V.Group has taken on 37 graduates for the Programme. The Programme treats graduates as leaders of the future, exposing them to all areas of the business and developing a career path mindset from the outset. Before launching the programme, it was vital to train managers in each area of the business to ensure all graduates had a positive experience in every area.

The Group recently introduced a Talent Programme to identify and nurture top talent in the industry. The programme aims to attract, identify, develop, engage, retain and deploy colleagues who exceed performance expectations and demonstrate the highest potential to progress throughout the wider business, rather than focusing solely on the business unit they are currently operating within.

GRADUATE RECRUITMENT

37GRADUATES IN LAST

FIVE YEARS

Covid-19 had an unprecedented impact on the recruitment of seafarers across the globe. When crew changes suddenly stopped, this resulted in a reduction in the quantity of vessels requiring seafarers and therefore a surplus pool, desperate to get onto vessels. This pool of seafarers with huge potential was not being utilised for months on end.

When positions did become available, the role of the recruiter changed radically with them playing a key role in relocating seafarers, depending on where crew changeovers could occur. Once Covid restrictions began to lift, we witnessed unprecedented competition in the market as all companies began to resume crew changes both to sustain the safety and well-being of seafarers and the safe operation of ships.

During this time, as requests from crew managers were received and Covid-related safety measures could not be immediately abolished, recruiters had no choice but to turn to online recruitment options. Grigoriy Zaidman, Senior Recruitment Manager at V.Group feels that this led to a fundamental shift in operations:

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Recruitment is all about communication and the persuasive capabilities of the recruiter. Seeing a seafarer face to face is very different to contacting them via the telephone and an element of trust is diminished. This has had a huge impact on recruitment and could have a negative impact in the longer term. On paper, all operators are offering similar packages and a lot comes down to the personal conversations the seafarer has with the recruiter, when choosing one vessel over another. These personal relationships with seafarers are vital and more difficult to nurture over the phone.

SEAFARER RECRUITMENT

10 LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN…Irreversible shifts in recruitment

Vessel Budgets Pre Covid, vessel budgets were extremely important, with operators doing all they could to limit budget increases. During and immediately after Covid, changing seafarers was the ultimate priority, to get vessels moving. As a result, pay rates increased as the market overheated, although we are already seeing a flattening of these pay rates.

Career choice

In Grigoriy’s experience the pandemic has not influenced the attractiveness of a seafaring career – just as many students now wish to pursue a career in this area as they did prior to the pandemic. Indeed, cadet applications to V.Group have remained at the pre Covid level.

Nevertheless, as the pandemic highlighted how seafarers were significantly affected during this period, the question remains on what the future holds. Graham Westgarth, V.Group Chairman, recently commented:

“A lot of those seafarers who were trapped have now gone home and what we’re seeing is a reluctance to come back and rejoin their ships without having a clear understanding around whether a similar situation will arise.

“If you take that to its natural conclusion you could ultimately not have enough seafarers to man the ships. I think we’re a long way away from that so I’m not suggesting it’s an immediate threat, but we do take for granted that everything we buy is brought to us on ships.”

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Digital Engagement in a Global EnvironmentDigital technology will continue to play an important part in recruitment. While face-to-face recruitment has obvious benefits and is considered best practice, at V.Group, investment in recruitment tools and software has enabled effective recruitment where technology is embedded into standard processes. Video recording and interview tracking through V.Group’s digital recruitment platform has allowed for a totally remote recruitment process, which has presented major advantages as the industry has adjusted to Covid.

Allan Falkenberg, CEO of Crew Management, sees the return in operating a remote recruitment programme where anyone in any location can take part in the process:

“We have benefitted from our global footprint and local knowledge across 30 countries and 50 crew management offices worldwide that has led us to prevail in markets when they were open and others were closed. Post Covid, we’ll continue to focus on this important learning as it helps to mitigate risk around securing accessible talent for our customers when the industry is faced with international restrictions.”

DISCUSSIONQ. Will the way recruiters communicate with seafarers change for the long term?

Q. Will it move to online/phone for the longer term?

Q. What impact do you think will this have?

Q. Will seafarer salaries remain increased over the longer term?

Q. Do you agree that the seafaring profession has a positive image?

Q. Does the profession run the risk of seafarers shortage due to challenges faced during the pandemic?

12 LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN…Attracting Talent to the Maritime Industry

JOHN SMALLBONEDeck Cadet John Smallbone joined V.Group in 2017.

John joined the Group with no maritime experience following a varied career including roles as a court officer, rent officer, supermarket team leader and deputy general manager at a pub restaurant.

John was attracted to a career at sea as an alternative to the 9-5 life and because it provided an opportunity to travel. He has recently completed his training:

Finally, being at the end of this road I’d say without doubt it was the best career move I’d made. I’ve seen sunsets and sunrises over New York. I’ve been to Times Square, Central Park and World Trade Centre and been paid to be there. I’ve seen places in the world less than 0.5% people ever will, from cities in China that nobody has ever heard of to the adrenaline rush of sailing through rough seas. I’ve met amazing people from all over the world and heard some amazing stories. And now, at the end of my Cadetship, I’ve got some amazing stories of my own.”

Transferable skills that John has called upon include: time management, dispute resolution, organisation and teamwork.

If anything, starting my Cadetship in my mid-twenties has made my life easier. I know myself better than I did at 18, and it’s given me the drive to push through the hard times at college.

This example shows the benefits of considering recruits with limited maritime experience but with skills that are vital for success in the industry. When employing slightly older graduates for such roles, operators benefit from a wide range of life skills they have built up.

CASE STUDY

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It is still an old-fashioned industry with conservative values, and much of the crew comes from countries that adhere to a more traditional view on gender roles.

“Traditionally, the care of family and children has been seen as a female responsibility, and that is a social construct that probably will not change in the foreseeable future in the more conservative cultures. A possibility to combine work at sea and work on shore during pregnancy and the first years after giving birth would allow those women that want to have children to have a fulfilling career.

“As it is now, most women work at sea only for a few years, and then change employment either to short haul shipping like ferries, to shipping related employment ashore (inspectors for oil companies/vetting, CDI, class, port and flag state) or something totally unrelated when they have children. If there had been a possibility to shift between work at sea and work on shore, it would be easier to attract female officers and crew.

Captain Petra from Dania Ship Management, V.Group’s ship management division in Denmark, recently spoke to The Sea Magazine about the issue of gender diversity at sea and why there are still so few females working on vessels:

14 LIFE AFTER LOCKDOWN…Attracting Talent to the Maritime Industry

The industry needs to transform the way that seafarers are engaged at all levels. This includes learning, certification, recruitment and mobilisation.

Onshore Recruitment Seafarer Recruitment

Digital skills gapColleagues must be equipped with the necessary digital skills to allow them to work remotely.

Digital recruitment methodsThe industry must find new and innovative ways of reaching existing seafarers and those who may consider a life at sea.

Flexible workingWork/life balance must be considered for mental wellbeing, as should ways to motivate colleagues working remotely.

Image of the professionNegativity resulting from the crew change crisis must be addressed to ensure a career at sea remains attractive.

Seafarer engagementThe industry must transform the way that seafarers are engaged at all levels. This includes a holistic approach to learning, certification, recruitment and mobilisation to make seafaring attractive to potential entrants.

Gender diversityMore must be done to encourage the recruitment and development of women in maritime.

Summary

www.vgrouplimited.com© V.Group, March 2021 Your vessel, our responsibility

Further reading and information International Chamber of Shipping www.ics-shipping.org

Lloyds Maritime Academy www.lloydsmaritimeacademy.com

Maritime Training Insights Database http://scholar.wmu.se/martid/home

Diversity Study Group https://diversitystudygroup.com/diversity-in-shipping-study

Join our Group - Onshore Roles https://vgrouplimited.com/join-our-group

Join our Group - Seagoing Roles https://www.vcrew.com

Have your sayCovid-19 emphasised the ongoing and future importance of recruiting and attracting the right people in the maritime industry. Our intention with this series of papers is to stimulate discussion.

If you would like to send us your views about any of the topics raised in this paper, we would love to hear them.

Simply drop a line to lifeafterlockdown@vgrouplimited.com