ONBOARD Magazine autumn 2023

high they’ve popped a revolving door on the
crew mess that’s also not a great sign.
Why aren’t people staying onboard, and
is the captain trying to change this? Can
they, or is it out of their hands? Sometimes
the toxicity comes all the way from the
owner. Sadly we see this a lot, where the
boss underpays, overworks, and under
appreciates the crew.
Bizarrely most of these owners have
successful businesses ashore where
their staff have adequate time off, training
schemes, healthy work life balances yet
when it comes to their yachting staff, they
often can’t see the crew as people who
have just the same needs.
Sometimes the toxicity comes from a group
of crew members. If there are cliques on
board, and others are being excluded, that
sucks. If one group insists on speaking
a different language that others don’t
understand that’s exclusion. It’s also a
potential safety issue but that’s another
subject for another day. If you try to address
it and you’re told “that’s just how we are”
then you’re not going to be able to change
things.
Another way a toxic environment is nurtured
is by lack of communication. If the people
at the top don’t tell the rest of the crew
what’s going on it breeds negativity and
contempt. There’s a huge difference between
keeping some information back as protection
(example: the boss complains about her
coffee service and says something nasty
about a stewardess – the chief might just
let the stew know how the boss prefers
their coffee to be served without adding
the gnarly upsetting bits in which would
only cause distress to her junior), and just
blatantly withholding information which
prevents people from doing their jobs
well. How infuriating is it when you’re on
standby and someone says “yeh they’re
not coming until tomorrow now. Boss called
the captain this morning.” And you’ve been
rushing around like a headless chicken when
you could have taken your time and done
things in more detail?
Often the trouble trickles down from the
top. When the people in charge are toxic,
the rest of the team could well be moulded
into the same style and then everyone’s
horrible and unhappy. Sometimes they don’t
even realise that’s happened until a new
person rocks up to join the crew and jumps
ship after a week due to the negativity.
It can be a slow and steady process of
manipulation, something narcissistic people
are very, very good at.
What’s the best thing to do in these
situations? Well I put the question out
to lots of crew across my social media
platforms. It was interesting to see how
different groups responded. Facebook
favours the older generations who are
happy to comment publicly and the general
consensus from the older saltier seadogs
(much like myself, I’m definitely salty) was
that life is too short for this. In the past, the
older crew agreed that they’d have “sucked
it up” and got on with it for a season, for
fear of being shouted at by the old crew
agents for not having longevity on their
CVs, but now they pretty much all agreed
that being unhappy in a work environment
Often the trouble trickles down from the top.
When the people in charge are toxic, the rest
of the team could well be moulded into the same style
and then everyone’s horrible and unhappy.
where you’re living 24/7 simply isn’t worth
the hassle or the stress on one’s mental
health. Many said looking back at some of
the jobs they’d held over the years, if they
could give advice to their younger selves,
they’d have told them to pack up and head
on out to the next port to find a yacht and
crew where they would be appreciated,
treated fairly and to pursue happiness.
That being said, many of us agreed that
what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,
and working in toxic environments like the
above did, in some way, help shape us into
the tougher people we are today. Life can’t
always be rosy, can it?
From my Instagram and TikTok crew, I had
lots of private messages. It definitely feels
that most of the younger crew are more
aware of posting publicly and hesitant to
do so. Perhaps it’s that the older ones no
Another way a toxic environment is nurtured is
by lack of communication. If the people at the top
don’t tell the rest of the crew what’s going on it breeds
negativity and contempt.
longer give a hoot about who sees their
posts as they’ve already proven themselves
in their careers and can be honest and
open? That remains to be seen – anyway,
the younger crew were all very unsure about
what to do in these situations.
Often it’s their first yacht experience, sadly,
and that’s how they believe yachting is.
Toxic. It shouldn’t be and it doesn’t have
to be. So hopefully they will see the older
crew shouting about it on Facebook!
Moving on, what if the toxic environment is
being caused by one person? This is actually
something that’s potentially easier to fix.
Something as a crew agent I see a lot is
when you get a toxic HOD. The captain often
can’t understand why he’s going through
10 deck crew in a season when the Chief
Officer is so lovely and professional in front
of him/her.
I’ve got two words for you, Captain. Exit
interview. I know I know, crew are terrified
to say things in case it comes back to bite
them especially when you’ve had a toxic HOD
tell you “You’ll never work in this industry
again!” (shaking their fist) or some other
utter nonsense (you will, don’t worry), but
seriously – if you’re going through crew in
one area like the clappers, then reach out
to all of them at the end of the season
and ask for a quick chat.
See what you can find out and you might be
able to make one crew change that solves
all your problems. So, in theory the single
toxic crew member is a resolvable issue
ONBOARD | AUTUMN 2023 | 35