Employing crew on board your yacht can seem like a very daunting process. However, this is where employment providers, such as Oceanskies, help guide you through every stage.
Oliver Alabaster and Laura Kreckeler explain the benefits that employment providers can contribute, from reducing administrative strain to higher compliance levels, you’ll wish you found yours sooner!
Using an employment and payroll provider ensures that the yacht adheres to MLC and flag state legislation. When social security or tax liabilities arise, specialist teams like Oceanskies’ crew department can notify you and help provide calculations.
Employment providers are around to enable administrative ease. Having HR documentation tasks outsourced, alongside specialist marine HR & compliance teams available, is invaluable in providing support in difficult circumstances.
At Oceanskies we have our HR specialists that are on hand to provide support in difficult circumstances.
We offer employment support to the vessel managers and owners by employing and advising on the best course of action, should an unfavourable situation arise. We also offer support to crew and Captains working for us via ISWAN which is a welfare support line for those in the marine industry.
With ISWAN now being available on the Crew Mate app help is even easier to access for seafarers employed with Oceanskies.
Having a schedule in place can help you keep track of required monthly tasks. At Oceanskies, the standard schedule is for all expense and leave information to be submitted before the 20th of each month. This allows time for invoices to be raised and for the funds to clear prior to crew salary payments being due. This schedule can be personalised on a client basis to consider the yacht’s structure and needs.
Although the monthly payroll process can be rather cyclical, we understand that the industry can be unpredictable. Yacht crew can come and go frequently, and Oceanskies work to alleviate this. We offer support in ad hoc situations as well as the payroll cycle.
When working with an employment provider, clear communication is essential. All information processed must come from the client to ensure accuracy in the ongoing operation of the yacht. The more information that is provided, the more efficiently and seamlessly everything can be completed.
Finally, a very important benefit that you can take advantage of when using a provider is that they can help you abide by the MLC. All of Oceanskies’ SEAs, that need to be, are MLC compliant and approved by the relevant flag states. CrewMate, Oceanskies’ portal, has a number of features to reduce the complexities of MLC. CrewMate has a great hours of rest feature and certificate storage for seafarers to use. Both of which follow MLC requirements and make it easier for everyone involved to remain compliant.
