Job Role Redesign Aims to Attract Talent to Shipping

The Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) has launched a Maritime Workforce Transformation Guidebook which offers a practical approach for companies in the maritime sector to embark on job redesign to better attract talent to the industry.

The Guidebook is distilled from key findings of a job redesign pilot conducted in 2022 by SMF in partnership with Pacific Carriers Limited (PCL) Pacific International Lines (PIL). The pilot, which focused on the roles of a Technical Superintendent and a Vessel Operator, was supported by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

Professional services organisation Ernst & Young Advisory (EY) was appointed by SMF to provide advice by applying their job redesign methodology to refresh the value propositions of both the two technical roles, plan interventions across career development, enhance work processes and spur digital adoption.

Through insights gleaned from extensive interviews with stakeholders at both PCL and PIL, the Guidebook proposes pathways to redesign the job of a technical superintendent from that of a technical problem solver to a people leader and data-driven decision maker.  For vessel operators, the Guidebook suggests ways to redesign the job from one that is operational in nature to one that offers strategic value through operational excellence.

The pilot was conducted over a period of four months at PCL and PIL.

“This pilot has been a fruitful collaboration between SMF, PCL and PIL with invaluable input from EY. By developing pathways to enhance and elevate the jobs of the technical superintendent and the vessel operator, we demonstrated the potential and possibilities of job redesign as a methodology to transform the maritime workforce. Going forward, we hope to identify more roles for job redesign,” said Tan Beng Tee, Executive Director, Singapore Maritime Foundation.

Lars Kastrup, Chief Executive Officer, PIL, said, “We are confident the Guidebook will be useful for maritime companies in Singapore. For us at PIL, through this pilot, we have garnered valuable insights in conducting job redesigns for our Technical Superintendents, who are now known as our Vessel Managers. The job redesign has certainly helped to transform the traditional scope of a Technical Superintendent into a more comprehensive and meaningful role as a Vessel Manager.  We hope that this will make ship management an attractive and interesting career option.”