Every challenge in maritime today, whether it’s about growth, innovation, or resilience, can be traced back to one factor: people. Behind the numbers, the story is always the same. A project was delayed because the right skills weren’t in place. A team is under pressure because retention and attraction remain difficult. A business target was missed because culture and motivation slipped.
At Faststream, we hear from thousands of maritime professionals and employers each year through our Employment and Compensation Reports. Their voices shape our understanding of what’s really happening on the ground.
And in 2025, one thing is clear: the most important issues facing the maritime industry are centred around Reward, Retention, and Attraction. These are not just HR challenges anymore; they are the foundations of business performance and long-term competitiveness.
Reward: Solving the Maritime Pay Puzzle
Reward in maritime has never been more complex. Think of it as a puzzle where every piece matters, but fitting them together is the real challenge.
Companies are grappling with how to make fair, transparent, and sustainable pay decisions across global operations, mobile workforces, and evolving roles. Pay transparency, salary surveys and benchmarking, and the sheer accessibility of compensation data have put both employers and employees under the spotlight.
The maritime workforce now spans five generations, multiple regions, and diverse expectations. What motivates a Gen Z deck officer may not align with the priorities of a senior executive in another part of the world. What’s considered fair in one location may be viewed as inequitable, or even offensive, elsewhere.
Meanwhile, business leaders face the “Big Squeeze”: balancing rising salary expectations with the pressure to maintain profitability. Employees are asking for more, and they’re not shy about it. But budgets are not limitless, and the tension is shaping leadership decisions every day.
From Reactive to Proactive Reward
Historically, maritime organisations treated compensation as reactive, something to review annually or address only when an employee resigned. That’s no longer viable. Forward-thinking leaders are now weaving reward into long-term workforce planning, bringing together HR, Finance, and the C-suite to develop proactive strategies.
The focus is shifting towards reward as a strategic tool, not just to remain competitive, but to build engagement, resilience, and trust.
Executive Reward Under Scrutiny
At the top end of the scale, executive reward is under unprecedented scrutiny. Boards, shareholders, regulators, the press, and even employees are watching closely. Packages must now be defensible, transparent, and tied directly to performance.
When handled well, executive reward becomes more than a package. It becomes a statement of accountability. But this is happening against a backdrop of caution: 11% of maritime executives expect their reward to decrease in the next two years, reflecting a shift in sentiment. Growth remains on the agenda, but leaders are bracing for pressure rather than expecting a free run.
Retention: Job Security, Choices, and Sticking Power
If reward is a puzzle, retention is a balancing act, and in 2025, it starts with something simple but powerful: job security.
There’s a striking perception gap. Only a third of executives say they worry about job security, compared to 65% of employees. That matters because perception drives behaviour. If two-thirds of your workforce feels insecure, they won’t focus on innovation or performance; they’ll focus on survival.
The Great Regret Becomes The Great Choice
Two years ago, many executives reported “The Great Regret”, dissatisfaction with career moves made under pandemic-era pressures. Today, a new story is unfolding: “The Great Choice.” More leaders and employees feel they’ve made the right moves and found the right fit. This is what true retention looks like, when people see their current role as a deliberate choice, not a compromise.
Yet the risks remain real. 41% of senior executives are planning a job move within the next two years, while an alarming 71% of employees say they plan to change jobs. This isn’t just a retention challenge; it’s a looming talent crisis.
What Keeps People Sticking Around?
For executives, sticking power comes from challenging roles, a strong culture and values, and work-life balance. For employees, it’s salary, career progression, and balance that matter most.
Retention strategies are not standing still. Faced with high turnover intentions and growing pressure to secure critical skills, maritime leaders are rethinking how they shape their workforces. The old reliance on external hiring alone is no longer enough. Instead, executives are turning to a more balanced mix of approaches, building internal capability, buying expertise from the market, borrowing talent when needed, and increasingly, using technology to supplement human effort.
Businesses are deploying a mix of approaches:
Build: 74% of executives say they’re prioritising training, upskilling, and internal career pathways.
Buy: 43% still plan to hire externally for specialist expertise.
Borrow: Just 18% are looking at interim, freelance, or temporary solutions.
Bot: 34% are investing in automation and AI to reduce reliance on human labour in certain areas.
The message is clear: no single strategy will suffice. Success lies in combining all four, with building internal capability as the leading priority.
Attraction: The Confidence Gap and Succession Countdown
While retention dominates the agenda, attraction can’t be ignored. The Future of Jobs Report 2025 predicts 170 million new jobs globally by 2030, offset by 92 million job losses, creating a net increase of 78 million.
Against this backdrop, maritime executives remain cautious:
Only 31% feel very confident about attracting the right talent.
59% are only moderately confident.
10% admit they are not confident at all.
This lack of confidence has direct implications for business continuity. With 9% of senior maritime executives planning to retire by 2027, succession planning is a pressing priority. Yet 10% of companies say they have no succession plan in place. That’s more than a leadership risk; it’s a cultural and operational one.
Developing the Next Generation
Executives consistently report that the biggest succession challenge is developing internal talent for key roles. Hiring can fill gaps, but it cannot build depth or preserve institutional knowledge.
Encouragingly, 80% of executives believe the next generation has what it takes to succeed in maritime. The question is whether the industry itself is ready to embrace new generations with their expectations of flexibility, diversity, and purpose-driven work.
The choices leaders make today, who they hire, how they invest in them, and how they shape their culture, will define maritime leadership in the next decade.
Technology and Skills: From Green to Machine
No discussion of people issues in 2025 would be complete without AI. In just two years, adoption has soared: 62% of maritime executives say their business is using AI, up from 26% in 2023. More strikingly, 61% now see AI knowledge as their top personal development priority, even ahead of decarbonisation and ESG.
But here’s the catch: only 10% of executives feel very confident in their business’s AI strategy. And while AI is being widely adopted, only 5% of companies plan to formalise leadership with a Chief AI Officer. This gap between adoption and effective implementation could define the competitive edge of tomorrow’s maritime leaders.
Final Thoughts
The most important people issues in maritime 2025 are about more than salaries, skills, or succession plans. They cut to the heart of what makes businesses perform: people.
Reward, retention, and attraction are interconnected challenges. Leaders who adopt proactive compensation strategies, prioritise job security, and prepare the next generation will be best placed to thrive. Those who fail to act risk losing both their talent and their competitive edge.
Ultimately, the future of maritime won’t be written by technology or regulation. It will be written by its people, by today’s leaders, and by the next generation stepping forward.
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