A survey has revealed that most shore-side staff are happy with the way their employers have handled the Covid-19 pandemic.

But many respondents also said they are aware of discrimination in the workplace.

Those were the key findings in the 12th Annual Maritime Employee Survey, conducted earlier this year by Halcyon Recruitment, the Diversity Study Group and digital learning platform Coracle Maritime.

The survey received more than 1,000 responses from those in shore-based employment in the maritime industry, across all sectors, job roles and regions.

Heidi Heseltine, chief executive of Halcyon Recruitment and co-founder of the Diversity Study Group, said that in light of these findings, companies should work to support employees or face talent attrition as the pandemic eases.

"In our report last year, we were optimistic that Covid would encourage employers to use the opportunity for positive change, perhaps underestimating the extent of the crisis at the time, but we would still urge employers to revisit their employee focus beyond Covid as a priority," she said.

"Otherwise, when the dust settles and more employment opportunities open up, it is not unreasonable to anticipate a considerable amount of talent attrition. This should include a positive response to the demand for more action to build more diverse, inclusive workforces and to tackle discrimination.

"It is hard, however, not to draw the contrast between the experience of shore-based shipping professionals and those of the severe challenges faced by those working at sea during this time."

The findings

Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed think that their employer responded appropriately to the pandemic and 68% said they received support to work flexibly.

But 53% also reported an increase in their workload because of Covid.

Overall, 76% of survey participants feel either extremely or moderately secure in their jobs, but people working in certain sectors feel more secure than others.

Just 67% of respondents in insurance and legal roles feel secure in their jobs, 66% in HR, crewing and support roles and 61% in the offshore sector, the survey found.

People working in the Indian sub-continent are most worried about their jobs: just 45% feel secure in their employment.

The pandemic seems to have fostered a sense of feeling ready to move on, according to the survey.

Mistreatment

Some 87% of respondents said they are either ready to move to a new role or are open to offers. The study said this could be due to the success of remote working.

But mistreatment remains a problem. Fifty-one per cent of all respondents said they are personally aware of discrimination within the industry.

The three leading causes of discrimination were nationality (53%), gender (44%) and age (40%).

Only 52% of respondents felt able to raise discrimination concerns with their employer.

Seven in 10 people would like to see their employer do more to achieve a diverse, inclusive workforce, and 63% said diversity in the workplace is extremely important to them.

Just over two-fifths of those surveyed said they knew that their employer operates a Diversity and Inclusion programme.