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Innovative crew cabins can improve employees happiness

December 20, 2019
07:45
Good to know

With the cruise ship industry undergoing unprecedented growth, attracting the best staff and keeping them is becoming increasingly difficult. A happy, productive crew is the most valuable asset any cruise ship owner has, but until recently very little attention has been paid to the importance of living quarters for this army of customer-facing employees.

Interior design on cruise ships is understandably oriented towards customer satisfaction, but as more and more cruise ships compete for the same staff resources, lessons learnt from studies on employee satisfaction and its links to office design and ergonomics are translating to this rapidly growing industry.

Living and working onboard an ocean liner is something many people find difficult, especially when their own living arrangements, spaces and bathrooms are not nice.
Smart cruise ship owners know that their employees are their most valuable asset and this is why they have started investing in crew cabins, seeing it as a great investment.

Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients
Richard Branson

When you take care of your employees by giving them an aesthetically pleasing and comfortable space to enjoy their time off, they tend to perform better, which leads to happier paying customers and more return visits to your cruise ship. Creating the WOW factor even in crew cabins makes your staff feel special and will pay major dividends over time, and you’ll be surprised at how cheap it can be.

design, productivity and happiness

While most staff members will conduct their employment duties in public areas on a cruise ship, their leisure time is invariably spent in crew cabins, which makes it in effect an extension of their work environment.

A survey of 1,000 British-based office workers, undertaken by YouGov, found that 30% of respondents felt that their current office was dated, uninspiring and in need of a complete refurbishment, a trend which is highest amongst those employed in the Hospitality & Leisure (45%) sector.

According to another survey, conducted by Saracen Interiors, 43% of candidates offered a job reject it due to an uninspiring or ugly work environment. While there have been no studies done directly on cruise ship staff quarters, it is easy enough to draw inferences from the ones mentioned and assume that the quality of staff quarters will play an equally important role in luring the best staff.

According to Forbes, “When team members are happy at work, they are better collaborators, work towards common goals, and are more innovative”.

overcoming the challenge of limited space

While it would make little economic sense to house crew in similar luxury to guests, paying attention to detail and maximizing the available space can vastly improve standards of living. Creating inspiring spaces isn’t just about throwing together something flashy that may actually hamper practicality. Good design and workplace efficiency don’t have to be mutually exclusive categories, and the ultimate impact of design decisions often reaches farther than simply look and feel.

One study, conducted by the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for the Built Environment, found that organizations that provide a bathroom that is thoughtfully designed and features materials that wear well will be more positively evaluated by their employees.

Using the bathroom is a necessary element of everyone’s life and work dynamic. So it comes as no surprise that thoughtful attention to the design and management of restrooms is more significant than often recognized.

why choose eumar for designing your crew bathrooms?

In the past, functionality was the only consideration when furbishing crew quarters and saving on costs was seen as the major reason to do the absolute minimum in these spaces.
But as our views on the importance of working environments have changed over time there is a realization that it is an investment worth making.

Eumar specializes in creating inspirational bathroom designs in limited space. Our suggestion is always to pay as much attention to the crew quarters as the guest accommodation when redesigning the interior of a cruise ship. When you use Eumar products to improve crew bathrooms, not only are you certain of getting the very best, durable fittings, but it is also an investment that will bear spectacular returns.

Forget about boring, cramped and outdated bathrooms and step into the future. No matter how big or small your budget, we have a solution that will be beautiful, stylish and make your crew as happy as the paying customers on your ship. Not only will it help you to lure the best staff to your ship, but you will have a much lower staff turnover rate and more engaged, productive and creative staff members.

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