Former Yacht Crewmember Creates Feedback Platform

As a yacht crewmember, have you ever felt like you’re not being heard? Or that you must keep quiet about negative experiences on board to keep your job. What if there was a way to provide anonymized crew feedback so things may have a chance to improve?

Sea Feedback could be the solution. It provides a platform for anonymized crew feedback, ensuring your voice is heard, and issues are addressed without the fear of retribution. 

Dr. Emma Gillett had been a practicing chiropractor for 31 years when she ran away to sea in her 50s. She spent three seasons as a stewardess, deckhand, and girl Friday on vessels ranging from 18 to 80 meters. 

“It was a huge amount of work in lots of respects, as well as being totally shocking and very eye-opening,” Gillett said. “When I was on board, I recognized that culture and communication were not the best, and they’re not promoted and produced in the best way. It struck me as a really obvious problem nobody was addressing.” 

As she noted, there did not seem to be honest communication between crew and yacht management, so they knew what was really happening on board.

“I think crew were suffering in isolation,” Gillett said. Her background as a chiropractor, a highly regulated profession, meant that her patients were immediately provided with an avenue to submit complaints and feedback as a standard practice. She aims to get that process started in yachting with Sea Feedback, an app that can help take crew feedback to management.

Sea Feedback is designed to enhance yacht safety and communication. Once the management company signs up, all crew on board can download the app. Providing feedback is as simple as typing into the app and submitting it to the Sea Feedback office ashore, which is staffed 24/7. The feedback, whether positive, negative, or neutral, is anonymized and shared with the management company for action. 

The need for anonymity in the feedback system is to encourage crewmembers to share concerns without fear of retribution. Gillett emphasizes that it’s a place to share professional feedback with constructive negative and positive input. The system is designed to flag specific keywords, so anything urgent is immediately handled.

“It’s creating a developmental process for crew because they’ve got to reflect on situational awareness, and they have to develop their thinking,” she said. “It’s there to aid compliance [and] it’s a proactive tool to not only protect crew and yachts, but it creates a culture that is much more expressive and better for the owner. And in the end, it will save money because retention will be far greater.” 

There is a per-license fee for the service, which Gillett said runs approximately the cost of a junior crewmember, but costs vary depending on vessel size. The app is currently available and Sea Feedback plans to expand globally.