Mission to Seafarers release Seafarers Happiness Index

The Mission to Seafarers, and the project founder Steven Jones, have released the first edition of the Seafarers Happiness Index (SHI).

The SHI initiative was relaunched in 2017. This continuous study aims to ascertain seafarers’ thoughts and opinions on key welfare issues such as shore leave, wages, food, training, social interaction and family contact.

The first edition explains: ‘Measuring how happy people are about the various elements of their working life gives a picture of the real successes and problems within seafaring. It also provides learning opportunities to improve and develop.’

The study highlights interesting and thought-provoking statistics. For instance, the current average Seafarer Happiness level is identifies as being at 6.25 out of 10. With past surveys in 2015 and 2016 reporting levels of 6.46 and 6.41 respectively, this data establishes a downward trend which raises important discussions as to what can be done to address this decline.

The research data is to be collected on a quarterly basis and the patterns and trends identified will be reported in the subsequent SHI publications.

The full report can be read by clicking the download pdf button above and further information, including how seafarers can participate, can be found on the Mission to Seafarers website.