It’s the conversation whispered in crew messes and shouted in exit interviews - people don’t leave yachts, they leave leaders.
CrewScore’s latest analysis of nearly 700 verified yacht ratings has revealed a truth that most in the industry already suspect: the biggest reason crew walk off isn’t pay or burnout - it’s poor management.
When leadership is rated 8/10 or higher, crew stay an average of 19 months. Under weak leadership - defined as 4/10 or below - that figure collapses to just 7 months. That’s a 63% drop in retention purely due to management quality.
Even more alarming? Almost 42% of crew working under poor leadership leave within their first six months, compared to just 15% on well-run vessels. The numbers don’t lie: bad bosses are burning through good crew faster than ever.
But the damage doesn’t stop at turnover. The CrewScore data shows leadership quality is the single strongest predictor of overall crew morale, with a striking correlation of +0.85.
On yachts led by respected captains and department heads, morale averages a perfect 10/10. Under poor leadership, it plummets to 2/10.
Safety and welfare scores follow the same trend - vessels with ineffective leaders report safety standards as low as 3/10, compared to 10/10 under stronger management. In other words, weak leadership doesn’t just make people miserable; it makes the workplace unsafe.
The evidence paints a clear picture: investing in leadership training and accountability could do more for retention than any salary bump or wellness initiative ever could.
Crew don’t leave yachting - they leave people. And bad leadership is costing the industry its best crew.
The data proves it’s time to stop treating leadership as a soft skill and start treating it as a performance metric. Because behind every thriving crew is someone who knows how to lead - and behind every revolving door of resignations, there’s usually someone who doesn’t.
TL;DR
CrewScore data shows that poor leadership cuts crew retention by more than 60%. Yachts with low leadership scores also record the lowest morale, safety, and welfare ratings - proving that good leadership isn’t optional. It’s the anchor that keeps great teams together.
