This executive summary provides a comprehensive overview of key findings from the Maritime Sales Employment survey, highlighting trends, challenges, and opportunities in the sector. The report draws insights from surveys conducted in 2023 and 2024, offering a clear picture of the evolving landscape in the field of maritime sales.
Retention and job-seeking sentiments
The job market is currently candidate-led, with a substantial increase in the time it takes to hire new talent. Retention rates have started to improve, with job-seeking sentiments decreasing year-on-year. It is also crucial to note that job-seeking sentiments do not always meet up with reality.
Motivations for job-seeking
The top motivations for maritime sales professionals considering job changes are compensation and career development. However, misalignment with the company culture and values has grown to the third most popular reason for maritime sales professionals to job hunt.
Company culture and values as a loyalty factor
Work-life balance continues to be a dominant factor in retaining maritime sales professionals, followed by career progression. Increasingly, sales professionals shared that their motivator to stay with their employer was due to the company culture and values.
Remote work and flexible hours for job acceptance
The report highlights the growing importance of access to some remote work and flexible hours in job offer acceptance. A significant percentage of sales professionals would reject a job offer if it did not offer these options.
Career development and progression
Regular reviews, recognition, and opportunities for growth are key factors that motivate and retain employees. While there is a growing emphasis on the importance of reviews, there remains a gap between those who value reviews and those who receive them.
Working styles and travel
The majority of respondents continue to spend some of their time working in the office. Fully remote working has declined year on year. Over a third of respondents shared they would like to do more travel in their role, whilst only 11% wanted to reduce it.
Compensation and pay rises
Compensation remains a crucial aspect of talent management for maritime sales professionals. Notably, the frequency of pay rises has increased, with 52% of sales professionals receiving a pay rise in the last six months.
Performance related incentives
This report reveals a notable increase in the prevalence of bonus schemes, with 80% of respondents reporting access to such programmes, up from 75% last year. Job roles significantly influence bonus availability, as do the regions they are working in.
The results of the survey underscore the significant rise in sales commission adoption among businesses as predicted last year, with 38% of sales professionals now receiving such incentives, up from 26% in the previous year. Sales commission structures vary widely across industries, with software and new technology sectors notably offering competitive packages to attract top talent.
Contact the authors
For a detailed discussion of the report's findings, please contact the authors directly:
Mark Charman, CEO & Founder
Lorenzo Agatiello, Director of Asia-Pacific
Media Enquiries
For media enquiries and interviews, please contact the Faststream Marketing Team.
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