Our people are at the core of CNCo's business operations. We are committed to providing a continuous learning environment where employees are empowered to reach their highest potential. We value our multinational workforce and actively promote an inclusive and diverse workplace with a strong focus on safety excellence.
Employment information
As at the end of 2019, the CNCo group employed 2,692 people in various locations around the world. Our employees come from 55 countries and regions. 1,054 of our employees were shore-based, while the remaining 1,638 (756 Officers and 882 crew members) were seagoing employees. There was a very slight (1% for seagoing and 2% for shore-based employees) increase in numbers compared to the previous year.
We continued to grow our global operations, which included the acquisition of Hamburg Süd tramp service. CNCo's expansive geographical footprint now covers offices across American Samoa, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Chinese mainland, Fiji, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Samoa, Taiwan region, United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (USA). We closed our office in Japan and relocated our employees from there to other locations.
The geographical breakdown of our office employees by key* (*over 5% of total global employee count) locations:
Singapore (Head Office) – 32.2%, PNG – 16.4%, Australia – 11.5%, New Zealand – 10.3%, the Chinese mainland – 8.2%, Fiji – 7.5%, with the remaining 13.9% based in American Samoa, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong SAR, India, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Samoa, Taiwan region, UK and USA.
Our seagoing employees come from 31 countries and regions while our shore-based employees come from 40 countries and regions around the world.
97% of our shore-based workforce were employed on a permanent basis. The number of employees who were temporary (contractors) is extremely low (3%) and most of them are skilled professionals working as consultants on a contract basis to assist with specific projects, mainly concerning the implementation of new IT systems. 98% were employed full-time.
Some seagoing employees, particularly all our Filipino seafarers, are employed as required by the Philippine law and managed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), on a contract by contract basis. We do not classify these as "contractors" as all Overseas Filipinos Workers, be they seafarers, doctors, nurses, etc. are required to be employed on this same basis.
92% of our shore-based workforce were classified as "local"; a similar figure to our prior year's figure. We define "local" as those who are a national or permanent resident of the country of employment. 6% were classified as "expatriates" while the remaining 2% are employed on contract basis.
Around 23% of this expatriate employee percentage are managers from our parent company management scheme who have a centrally-planned rotation through internal postings within the wider Swire group during their planned career progression. The rest are employed as industry experts and have long-term careers with the Company worldwide.
Globally, all our contracts comply with relevant local employment laws. We continue to provide benefits that are additional to local legislations such as medical insurance for shore-based employees and for all seagoing employees, general accident insurance and paid pension arrangements or cash in lieu thereof.
31% of CNCo seafarers were covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) or equivalent. All contractual conditions are in accordance with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006.
The number and rates of employee hires and employee turnover can be found here.
New Hires during 2019 by Region, Age Group and Gender Identity
Employee turnover remains a valuable indicator of the Company's sustainability and is an ongoing area of focus for the Company. Overall employee retention in 2019 for shore-based employees was 87.6%, and 89.7% for seagoing employees (officers and crew). Both shore-based and seagoing employee retention rates remain consistent year-on-year.
We continue to monitor and analyse turnover rates against relevant national average figures and in light of changes within the business and the industry and are generally comfortable that our data match local data. We conduct exit interviews and seek to rectify any firmly trending reasons for turnover where they are viable and within our control. As some offices are small and have only a small number of employees, turnover percentages appeared higher as compared to other locations.
Diversity in the Workplace / Anti-discrimination and Anti-harassment
