Management on the cruise ship plays a vital role in the industry. The crew members' turnover rate can drastically change depending on your management style and leadership skills. If you are a cruise ship manager, you must maintain your relationships with your employees. If you do not do this, your best employees will look for a way to change the company because of inefficient engagement levels. And that is only your responsibility as a manager. Just imagine that right at this moment, your best employee is sending someone his CV or updating his profile on Upwork, or even worse, negotiating a time for an interview with your competitor in the cruise industry.

Would you like to know why? And how to deal with this?

Companies are focused on building strong public relations to gain recognition from customers and partners. They are picky about the media they are featured in, trade shows showcasing their achievements, and their product to satisfy customers' needs. For a company to succeed, it's essential to pay attention to external and internal relations. Unfortunately, many employers neglect the importance of employee engagement which, in turn, leads to decreased productivity, worse customer relations, and higher turnover.

To increase employee retention, the cruise ship company should develop employee engagement plan. Why does employee engagement matter? When the workers love their job, they perform enthusiastically, positively affecting the enterprise's financial indicators.

What is employee engagement?

Engagement is the attitude of employees when they do their job with genuine interest and total dedication while being extraordinarily productive and hitting the company goals. It indicates a trusting relationship between the organization and its employees where the company creates comprehensive conditions for the workers to grow professionally and achieve self-realization. As a manager in the cruise industry, you have to pay attention to this aspect as it has tremendous value in terms of work efficiency.

Respect your employees all the time

If you ask your employees what treatment they want at the workplace, most would ask for respect. Respect on the cruise ship is always earned, never given. This might sound obvious. However, only a few managers on the ship demonstrate their relation to the workers. Basic respect rules include but are not limited to:

• Polite and kind behavior
• Encouragement to express ideas
• Usage of employees' ideas
• Equal conditions for all employees etc

All available statistics will prove that employees will leave the cruise ship due to poor management rather than low salary or other financial reasons. It all comes down to respect for the crew members on the cruise ship. Keep that in mind all the time, and the level of employee dedication constantly remains high. 

Recognize Accomplishments

Acknowledging the achievements of employees is a low-cost but high-impact approach. Do not take your crew members' performance for granted. It is important for each of us to feel validated at work, as it will boost our productivity levels even further. Workers want to feel that their attempts and achievements will not go unnoticed. It does not necessarily have to be a cash reward (although the majority are waiting for exactly this), but a thankful email or public recognition at the department meeting can be a good option. Public recognition is a better way to boost workers' confidence. The main thing is demonstrating that you notice every achievement, value your workers, and appreciate their commitment.

Improving employee engagement with mentoring

Mentoring programs can be engaging for senior employees who feel exhausted and for newcomers in the cruise industry who feel that the company takes care of them. Mentoring is all about collaboration and building relations between the mentee and the mentor. The mentor develops his leadership skills while the mentee adopts relevant knowledge and insights. You must admit that it's easier to practice in the gym, knowing that an experienced trainer is behind you.

Provide development opportunities

Employees have to be constantly upskilled to be involved. Once they gain new knowledge and see their progress, they stay motivated. Let your colleagues attend industry conferences and professional meetups. While sharing the same space, it's possible to meet influencers or cruise industry experts they admire, make a new connection, find the next mentor, or even sit next to your potential customer. Make your employees believe that you sincerely care for their career development. They will appreciate that big time.

Establish a clear vision

While working on the ship and being focused on everyday tasks that should be completed, it can sometimes take effort to keep in mind the company's mission and the ultimate goal. This is why company leaders must reinforce the vision and motivate the team to contribute to that vision. It's a roadmap that leads to success. Communicate your idea clearly on the ship and provide a transparent mindset of your goals and future department tasks. 

Timely Communication

One of the methods to measure employee engagement is to conduct exit interviews with the employees that are leaving your company. However, it's much more effective to talk to your workers while they are still with you, and it's then possible to impact employee retention. Find out what makes the employee keep working with you and what factors may make them leave. Try to prevent the disaster before it's too late.

Improve the ship workspace environment

The job market is very competitive, and employees have many opportunities. Employees no longer want to stay at the same company for their whole life; instead, they choose the companies that resonate with their values. To attract new employees and retain existing ones, companies should create an engaging work environment and psychologically safe. Often, employees feel disengaged when they are sick and tired of a long contracts on the ship. Therefore, create a unique and comfortable space around them. Let the crew members on the ship feel safe and motivated to perform at their highest capacity levels at all times. 

Provide Flexible Work Hours and Locations

Flexible work hours have already proved to be very beneficial. This is hard on cruise ships due to the heavy workload and huge work performance demand. Still, try to give the crew members on board the vessel enough time off. That is important because it will increase their productivity levels and keep them more focused and inspired to work hard while on duty. Studies show that flexible work hours increase employee satisfaction, loyalty, engagement, higher job satisfaction, better productivity, reduced employee turnover, etc. A fee schedule also reduces conflict between work and life responsibilities. Research shows that successful accomplishments of life responsibilities help employees perform better. 

Give your employees more responsibility, not just more tasks to do

A colossal mistake of a manager on the ship is trying to do everything on his\her own without delegating responsibilities. Tons of stories and research show that this can lead only to the company's decline. There are many reasons why not delegating is bad, but here are a few of the most important ones:

It doesn't let you spend enough time on higher-level tasks because you are overloaded with routine It ruins trust between workers

On the other hand, delegating improves efficiency, time management, and productivity. Its nothing wrong with telling your employees what to do. Also, it's crucial how you delegate the tasks; it's not what we say-its how we say. Always remind yourself to delegate tasks in an etically sustainable and professional way, which will help establish a strong management reputation on board the ship. Be the leader, people will follow you, and you will boost the crew member motivation to complete their daily tasks much more efficiently.

When you give more responsibility to the crew members on board the ship, you invest in your employee's future. You make them believe that they can deal with many things. Include the responsible tasks and explain to your employees that you trust them. That is the best way to create loyal, hard-working crew members and increase your leadership status on board the ship.