Sustainability of Labour in the Cruise Sector
With Seatrade Cruise Global having just come to a successful end on the 23rd of April in Miami, the attention of industry executives is now turning to the European event. If industry chatter is to be considered truth, ‘sustainability’ will be a key topic. Google ‘cruise industry’ and ‘sustainability’ and you will get approximately 100,000 hits. Those search results focus mostly on the three key pillars of sustainability: (1) economic, (2) environmental and (3) social. Here, we are suggesting that a fourth dimension should be added; namely, labour.
Part I: Gender Diversity - Redirecting Focus to Ensure Ongoing Leadership for Industry Growth
Sustainability typically looks at practices and procedures that are meant to safeguard the “needs of the present without adversely affecting the ability of future generations to satisfy their needs” (Brundtland Report, ’87). The minimisation of the wasteful use of natural resources, of the pollution caused by cruise ships on the natural environment as well as of the potential damaging impact of mass tourism that super-sized cruise liners carrying nearly 7,000 guests could be perceived to promote, is certainly the most hotly debated topic in the present day. However, in an industry that is so concerned about future-proofing its business practices and minimising its potential negative impact on the environment, is the same attention being given to building, safeguarding and maintaining a sustainable management and leadership platform capable of coping with such high growth rates? After all, what is the cruise industry supposed to do if it fails to build a reliable talent pipeline to manage all this incremental business going forward? The question is a complex one and it is not only focused and centred around numbers and/or scarcity of talent. Of course, cruise companies will need to find, nurture and develop talent across all functions to be able to maintain current growth rates and to deliver on set targets. However, the topic of the ‘sustainability of labour’ is also one that might address a variety of other far-reaching topics, including, but not limited to:- driving diversity to strengthen the future talent pipeline and to better position cruise companies to service an increasingly diverse customer profile (note: an initiative that should not only focus on ongoing recruitment needs but also on better leveraging existing ‘in-house’ talent);
- improving international mobility to help deal with the backlog of vacancies and to promote transfer of know-how and skills across different divisions, geographies and management levels (note: an initiative that could further help engrain a shared belief system/company culture);
- raising awareness for mental health issues caused by an extremely high-pressure, high-stakes and hugely complex business environment in which executives are required to take quick decisions ‘on the fly’ with precious little time to re-evaluate or to take stock;
- recalibrating the way organisations are rewarding commercial success, often without incorporating any tangible sustainable business metrics – trying to create a company culture that rewards ‘right’ sustainable behaviours and business practices.