not necessarily come from the network members who are culturally different from you.”
Look at the corporate world and you’ll see companies having an actual “diversity quota”. People working in roles such as “Chief Diversity Officer” where they’re literally dedicated to finding different and diverse people to join their teams – so clearly there’s a huge need and a benefit to this whole aspect of the work force.
Google “diversity in superyachting” and you’ll be able to find several rather similar articles regurgitating the same info, dating back over the past few years, and yet still, nothing has changed. Absolutely nothing. Everything I’ve found bangs on about the lack of diversity in the industry (true story), yes, we know the industry is often accused of being racist, sexist, ageist, sizeist, etc… but nobody wants to talk about when diversity hires actually go right! And the tangible benefits they can bring to a crew.
Surely that’s what people need to hear to be convinced? So here I am, challenging the narrative. Again … !
I spoke to a stew, Katy Alting, who hasn’t had an easy time of joining the yacht industry due to (she feels), her size and the fact she’s a person of colour. She told me, “I love this topic and I feel everyone is too scared to talk about it. As a person of colour as well as being a size 14/16 (double whammy!) I feel I get passed on for a lot of jobs. [Captains] just looking at my CV photo and not even getting to know me!”
Can you imagine the impact that has on a girl of 20, her first impression of the yachting industry from someone she should be looking up to being an attack on her appearance? And worse, the chief stew herself who openly bullied her until she left – how indoctrinated has she become that she believes this sort of behaviour is ok? Is she ok? Probably not. I suspect she’s hungry. However, I said I wasn’t going to bang on about the negatives – so it’s
In the past I’ve been very fortunate to have worked with some very talented people including: an Israeli couple - deck/engo + cook/stew who was lightly tattooed and an ex-smoker on a boat that had nicotine testing because they were vehemently anti-smoking. An American/Aussie couple who were both heavily tattooed for a very ‘sensitive’ owner. I’ve had a black gay Antiguan male chef who was outrageous but amazing at his job because of the love
Yachting takes you to all these amazing places and cultures, yet there are probably only five prominent nationalities within the crew world; British, South African, Australia, NZ and US.
fabulous this young lady has found herself sharing with Katy, whose positive outlook and “never give up” attitude is an inspiration to everyone. In fact, Katy’s approach this season has even drawn attention to the fact she’s not the average crew member, she finishes her cover letter intro telling you to hire her, with (and I LOVE this), “that pop of colour you never knew you needed ;)”.
Like it or not, yachting does have a “look”. Right now we’re in the midst of a crew shortage so can we as an industry afford to be so picky? When every job you see advertised at junior level demands “at least a season’s experience” and on top of that they have to look a certain way, no wonder there aren’t enough crew to go around.
The more your network includes individuals from different cultural backgrounds, the more you will be creatively stimulated by different ideas and perspectives.
“I’m sharing a room at the moment with a bigger girl who has just walked off her boat last week. The first thing the chief stew said to her was ‘you’re too big for our uniform’ and that she was under the impression from her CV photo that she was thin and that was one of the factors in hiring her. The next two days were full of teasing and telling her to go on a diet etc etc.”
Captain Scott Waterfield dropped me a line from somewhere in the Pacific to say, “I’ve had great success with diversity hires. It’s taken some work with changing owners’ viewpoints. But when you know you’ve got the perfect fit it’s worth the effort. Once owners start to get the ultimate experience they are seeking, they are way more willing to look beyond the standard blue-eyed blond- haired yachting profile.
you could feel he put into his cooking! I’ve taken on ‘hitch-hiker’ crew as unpaid delivery crew that have then stayed for 2 years and become permanent paid crew past my tenure on the boat. And, various crews from random countries such as Lithuania, North Macedonia and Brazil. All of these people have been amazing crew and in post-work life have become good friends.”
I asked Scott how he’s gone about talking his employers into thinking outside of the traditional yachting box, and hiring different people. He said, “Ultimately I’ve found that it’s all about really understanding the owners’ true expectations and making the effort to work around any perceived prejudice in order get the perfect fit.”
He makes it sound easy – and really it should be. If someone can do the job, then that’s enough right? Hmm, you would think so, but does this really happen?
In recent years we have at least seen more females in traditionally male deck roles, although I’d love to see more in the engine room. Regardless, it’s good to see more and more women breaking that glass ceiling, and also the group’s set up to help each other achieve more.
What about people from different cultural backgrounds? I had a great chat with Captain Christopher Bruce who had lots of interesting thoughts to share. He pointed out that “yachting takes you to all these amazing places and cultures, yet there are probably only five prominent nationalities
ONBOARD | SUMMER 2023 | 39
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