BW’s employees are central to our mission and vision to be Best on Water. By creating a healthy and diverse workplace onshore and at sea, BW builds a culture of innovation, high performance, and Zero Harm.

BW Wellness Programme

The BW Wellness Programme is designed to promote the mental and physical wellbeing of seafarers, while fostering a sense of togetherness onboard. It brings about a cultural shift throughout the organisation, providing ongoing support for the holistic well-being of our seafarers.

The BW Wellness Programme offers a variety of activities that can be chosen based on individual preferences and schedules. A unique aspect of the programme are the Inter-vessel Challenges, which allow seafarers from different vessels within BW to participate in friendly competitions. These challenges foster camaraderie and collaboration among seafarers.

The Programme also encourages them to create their own challenges, with monthly recognition for top-performing vessels. As a reward for active participation, monthly rewards are provided as incentives.

The BW Wellness Programme uses internet and mobile-enabled platforms to provide a personalized experience, based on individual health data, including meal plans, exercise reminders, and mindfulness exercises. Crew members can easily access areas of interest, including fitness, nutrition, wellness, and education.

In 2024, BW significantly increased seafarers’ participation rates across all fleets, with 71% involved in at least one social activity per month. This success was fuelled by the dedication of Wellness Ambassadors aboard ships, who actively engaged seafarers in social interactions.

Diversity and Inclusion

We believe our global businesses should reflect the world we serve.

Different nationalities

Diversity and inclusion is part of BW’s culture. We support the development of our employees, and we are proud that so many of our people choose to remain at BW for a long time.

The collective sum of individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, capabilities, and talent constitute our culture. BW embraces differences in age, ethnicity, family and relationships, and all other characteristics that make our employees unique.

Gender Diversity

According to the IMO, women represent just 2% of approximately two million seafarers globally, and 94% of these women have chosen to work in the cruise industry. For onshore positions, the balance is better, and most of our offices comprise an average of over 30% female employees.

Local recruitment and training

We are committed to developing our employees and empowering them to thrive, through training that fosters inclusive leadership and a strong sense of belonging. In 2024, BW Group deepened its commitment to developing a strong, values-driven leadership culture through a series of impactful training initiatives across the organisation. In the first half of the year, 90 colleagues in Manila participated in a Culture Matters workshop, designed to strengthen understanding and connection to BW’s Vision, Mission, and Values (VMV). BW Group concluded the inaugural edition of Explorer, our people leadership development programme, for 95 people managers across multiple affiliates worldwide. In addition, BW held a two-day Value Negotiation Training in Singapore and Oslo, where over 100 colleagues honed their negotiation skills.

For the second half of 2024, BW organised monthly refresher sessions for Explorer people managers to reinforce their learnings and support their ongoing application of key concepts. In October 2024, we launched the second run of Explorer, for a cohort of 75 people managers across Singapore, Houston, and Oslo. To wrap up the year, BW Group hosted Performance Coaching webinars to empower both managers and employees with the skills needed for positive performance coaching conversations.

Regardless of the country BW works in, training and integration is key to a sustainable pool of local seafarers. Having gathered significant experience over the years, we now have an extensive recruitment and training process for seafarers.

Familiarising seafarers with BW and our shipping culture is also a priority. For example, in Nigeria, we set up the BW Crew Integration Programme to bridge cultural differences and support the professional development of our Nigerian crew pool. A proud milestone of this effort is the promotion of our first Nigerian Master, who began his journey with BW as a deck cadet and steadily advanced through the ranks.

BW Cadet Programme

Beyond providing job opportunities for locals in the areas where we do business, BW has set up the BW Group Cadet Programme to develop our own in-house talent around the world. Having this talent pool ensures a steady supply of officers to all our managed vessels. Aligned with our commitment to develop local maritime experience, in certain countries, our Cadets selected from ratings and maritime academies are fully sponsored by BW to pursue their maritime university studies. Over the years, BW has developed 2,093 cadets from the Philippines, India, China, Nigeria, Russia, Romania and other countries. 712 of them currently sail as BW Officers today.