Cruise Ship Labor: Cruise Line Disclosure of Employee Well-being-related Initiatives and Performance

Abstract

Employment on cruise ships has been a subject of many studies pointing out problems with working conditions, health and safety issues, and advancement opportunities. The cruise industry is under growing pressure to address these issues, due to, among other things, the newly implemented International Labor Organization (ILO) Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, commonly called the Seafarers Bill of Rights. However, the extent of employee well-being-related initiatives in the cruise industry is largely unknown. This study investigates the cruise industry's disclosure of commitment, initiatives, and performance measures aimed at employee well-being. The study population included member cruise lines of the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) and its regional offices as of September 2013. Websites for all the cruise lines were identified and searched for relevant information. A framework of employee well-being-related goals, initiatives, and performance measures has been developed, based on previous literature. Out of the 50 cruise lines included, only 22 reported information related to employee well-being. In the majority of the cases, information focused on the benefits of working for the cruise line and nature of the job, mostly serving as a recruitment tool, not as an evidence of positive initiatives in accountability and transparency. Very limited information was provided with respect to employment quality, advancement opportunities, health and safety, and equal opportunities. No cruise line addressed accessibility issues with respect to employees. Overall, the majority of the cruise lines provided very limited and selective information with no third party assurance. As a result, the current level of disclosure of employee well-being-related information in the cruise industry can be considered very low and in many cases unsubstantiated. These results support the institutional theory perspective stating that in situations of low stakeholder power and pressure, companies report little information.