YOU’RE FIRED!
The yachting industry actively promotes employee optimism; the tantalizing promise of visiting beautiful places, caring for the wealthiest of the wealthy, food prepared by a chef, few expenses, and a chance to save money. However, sometimes, things just don’t work out.
Yachts live within the realm of corporate America but suffer from innate problems that are different from other industries. The most apparent conundrum is that the Captain and the Crew live and work together; 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week/ 365 days a year. Close quarters breed familiarity which, in turn, can create animosity. Hostility, in conjunction with numerous other faults in the human condition, can precipitate a difficult work environment which can ultimately result in someone’s termination. Navigating that stormy sea can be treacherous for both the employee and the employer.
It is important to remember that no matter how hard it is for you, as a Captain, to terminate another Crew member or in the Captain’s case, the Owner or the Manager of the vessel to terminate the Captain, it’s obviously more difficult for the person losing their job. A job can be a status symbol that is our distinguishing factor in society. For many it is a feeling of responsibility and power that cannot be replaced by any other form of gratification.
American’s, on the average, work 70% of their waking hours. On a yacht, when the Boss or Guests are on board, that average can jump to working 100% of your waking hours. A yacht employee’s work begins to define their existence. Loss of that all encompassing job is high on the list of misfortune in a person’s life. Termination can cause elevated stress levels that can become personally unmanageable. The yachting community should feel that it is their obligation, whenever possible, to terminate with professionalism and compassion while keeping everyone’s sense of self esteem and dignity intact.
Doomed employees should not be fired in anger. A cooling off period will provide time to evaluate the decision and plan the course of the termination. If totally inappropriate behavior requires prompt action, the offender’s exit strategy may be handled with finesse by taking the Crew member off the duty roster until further action can be instituted i.e. the purchase of a plane ticket and removal from the vessel. It has been my personal experience that once a termination is in motion, whether it is under duress or by choice, it is best to have the terminated individual leave the vessel as quickly as possible. It seems that something always goes wrong when people are allowed to stay an extra day or two.
Documentation, in all cases of termination, is paramount. We live in litigious society. When someone is terminated, follow the rules of the vessel’s Crew Manual. A good philosophy of employment is the best guard against misconduct. An employee file should provide a meaningful history that explains the reason for the dismissal in accordance with the Crew Manual along with the efforts that were made to educate the employee in correcting his or her ways prior to termination. An employee’s file should also include a signed and dated non-disclosure, a signed and dated agreement on final compensation, and a signed and dated document returning all vessel gear and keys. Due diligence in your documentation is paramount whether you are the Captain, a Crew member, a Manager, or the Owner.
In August of 2007, THE CPA JOURNAL sites that most states affirm employment at will; which, in theory, means that the employer or employee may terminate employment for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all. However, almost every employee can claim to belong to a legally protected class. The most common protected classifications include race, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, age, and physical or mental disability. Employees may also assert reverse discrimination, which entails protection under discrimination laws even for individuals not in the minority group. These theories of employment also apply in the yachting industry.
Termination situations can produce high anxiety with unbridled emotions. An observing witness can be instrumental in keeping discussions honest and on track. Captains might want to consider having a chief stewardess in attendance when discharging a second or third stewardess or vice versa. This system might also be employed with the first mate and deckhands. Everyone is well within their rights to ask for an observer when they realize that they are being terminated. A witness also gives another Crew member ownership in their part of the termination. Whether it is through improper training, incompetence, teasing, ostracizing, or general attitude, there are usually two sides to every termination with many stories that are never heard. It is important that everyone has the chance to feel the pain of another’s failure.
Captains, Managers, and Owners should always be ready with the amount of a terminated Crew member’s final compensation. Repatriation of the terminated Captain or Crew member is also an important consideration. It is generally accepted that the Owner of the yacht is responsible for relocating the self-terminated or terminated Crew member back to a place that is mutually agreed on. Crew members that are on the vessel Crew list and are terminated cannot be set adrift in a country foreign to their nationality without consequences from that country. This is best decided in a contract signed by both parties when hired as the repatriation issue can be very flummoxing! (Great word, look it up)
In 2004, the phrase “You’re Fired” became so popular that the self proclaimed “brilliant” Donald Trump tried to trademark the words as his own innovation. The words and the concept of “firing” or “terminating” are much older than “the Donald” with the origin of “you’re fired” beginning about 1870 in the words “fired out” or to be fired from a gun (or a job).
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) voiced the famous words, “when one door closes, another door opens; he continued with a little known phrase, “but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us!” “And that’s the rest of the story”…Paul Harvey 1918-2009
Fair Winds and Calm Seas,
Captain Ted Sputh
|