KVH’s Crewtoo measures seafarer satisfaction

MIDDLETOWN – Are seafarers happy? It turns out that on a scale of one to 10, life at sea hovers around a six.

Crewtoo, a social media platform for seafarers that is part of KVH Media Group and KVH Industries Inc., surveyed 110,000 of its members in January, asking them to rate their happiness on a scale of 1 to 10, one being the unhappiest and 10 being the happiest. They were asked about their general happiness at sea, as well as about their contact with family, interaction onboard, food, fitness and health, training and workload, among other issues.

Overall seafarer satisfaction was 6.42 on the Crewtoo Seafarers Happiness Index. Seafarers from around the world participated, with ages ranging from 16 to 69. Approximately 11 percent of respondents stated that they were serving in the role of captain; most responses – 25 percent – were from seafarers working on bulk carriers and container vessels.

Anneley Pickles, head of Crewtoo business development, said, “For us, it comes down to one fundamental issue: Are seafarers happy? We felt it vital to develop a means of measuring and reporting this issue, which led to the creation of the Crewtoo Seafarers Happiness Index … In short, happiness matters and it needs to be measured, assessed and understood. The lessons then need to be applied to ensure that we are looking after seafarers properly and responding to their wants and needs.”
Seafarers were asked 10 questions. With the exception of one, all were in the 6-range. Seafarers were most happy about the interaction they have with other crew members – 6.96. They were least happy about welfare facilities while ashore – 5.96.
On the question of “how happy are you generally when you are at sea,” the response was 6.56; on the question of happiness about wages, the response was 6.2; food quality rated a 6.26; happiness about the ability to keep fit rated 6.36, and happiness about contact with family while at sea rated 6.76 – “Increasingly seafarers not only want Internet access, they demand it. Wi-Fi, it was stated, makes life at sea ‘easier.’” Workload rated a 6.43; training, 6.6; and access to shore leave, 6.13.
The Crewtoo Seafarers Happiness Index is designed to be part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness about crews’ opinions and to continuously improve conditions onboard to retain and recruit seafarers, according to information about the survey.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Maybe Crewtoo could do a survey to see how happy citizens of Rhode Island are on land.

    By the way, when I logged in to be able to comment I was sent to the home page instead of back here to the comment section. It was a pain to get back here. Might there be a better way to return to the prior location after logging in? Just a thought.