People Analytics on the high seas

Last week I took a cruise vacation to enjoy much needed R&R time. Although I attempted to shut down my brain away from analytics, an interesting ship tour made that hard to achieve. This blog discusses what I saw on that tour then learned through a subsequent management conversation. The article then draws comparisons to People Analytics and how we can learn from customer service practices on a cruise ship.

Cruise Introduction

Cruises from the larger cruise companies typically consist of days at sea as well as scheduled stops to ports of call. The day at sea are typically packed with activities to keep the guests engaged but are not as exciting as the days on land. Therefore, management must be very creative with planning the activities on the days at sea.

Tour Surprise

My day at sea was the second day. There was a range of activities offered with the most interesting being the galley tour. This tour promised to explain how the staff prepares all meals for the 2000+ guests every day. I was very curious about what I would see and hear so I joined the tour.

The tour started with an introduction of the food and beverage management team. I then followed the guide into the depths of the ship galley areas to see where all the fabulous food is prepared daily for the guests. Specifically, I was able to view different food preparation stations from appetizers to main courses to deserts. It also showed me where all the dishes are cleaned. You would not believe the amount of dishes!

Note: The picture below is from the Cruise Critic from their review of the same cruise ship. It shows you one of the food preparation stations for salads in the main dining room.

As I was walking along one of the galley corridors, I noticed survey results posted on a wall outside an office. I took a closer look and saw what I was viewing actual survey results from the main customer satisfaction survey. Specifically, the results showed data from the last two cruises.

Note: I was sent the survey link for this same survey on the day I departed the cruise. The picture below shows you what was sent to my email.

Customer Satisfaction Results

Below is what I learned by viewing the results and by having conversations with a food and beverage manager.

·      The survey results were broken into overall categories, composite categories, and then individual food and beverage categories (example would be the satisfaction results for one restaurant). Data results for each category was shown in the form of an actual, target, and variance. All questions categories were based on a 1-10 scale (10 being Very Satisfied, 1 being Not Satisfied at All). Full survey results for all categories (not just food and beverage) are available to all management and staff through an internal ship network.

·      The survey results showed that all categories were above target (Go Celebrity management and staff!). However, the interesting part for me was to see that small positive percentage variances of actual to target were called out in orange. I learned that the reason small positive variances were called out is due to the culture of constantly striving for perfection. Even small variances are a chance for management and staff to do better. Now that is a serious commitment to customer satisfaction!

Implications for Survey Results

According to a food and beverage manager, the survey is the livelihood of the entire ship as it directly connects customer service to pay for salaried management down to hourly crew. Although the ship’s management and crew are comprised of 50 different nationalities—the common thread is that money motivates. Specifically, there is methodology for bonus payouts depends on survey results and the entire ship strives to exceed targets:

·      Exceeding targets means salaried management (at the end of the year) and hourly staff (after each cruise) obtain bonuses.

·     Meeting targets means no bonuses for salaried management and hourly staff.

·     Not making targets can lead to performance discussions and put jobs in jeopardy.

Comparisons to People Analytics

I managed a People Analytics team before where both my team and I had a percentage target around Overall Customer Satisfaction. We focused so much on that one goal that we achieved our year target within six months. However, that single goal alone did not influence bonus payments like it does on a cruise ship. Our drive to beating the target was mainly based on wanting to deliver the best service and products for our customers.

What I learned on the cruise ship made me wonder—what if People Analytic teams did have a yearly Customer Service goal that was directly tied to monetary rewards (bonuses, raises, etc)? If you have a team that bases monetary rewards on your customer service levels please comment below. In my opinion, if you work on a People Analytics team and don’t at least have a target for Customer Satisfaction---you are missing the main point of your job. Remember People Analytics at its heart is a customer service occupation.

Feedback to Celebrity

The survey results I read were printed from excel and contained 8 different cell shading colors. In addition, there was no key below for the reader to understand the threshold for highlighting variances in the variance column. I must assume that compiling the summary results after every single cruise is a heavy manual effort for whoever is completing the results view. My recommendation is to find a way to leverage your Medallia software to print out the survey result categories in a way to reduce the manual analyst effort.

Overall, I loved my cruise and I think that management and staff did a great job. Keep up the good work!