SEAFiT Barometer Survey highlights a mindset shift: Wellness is seen as culture, not just care

The 2025 SEAFiT Barometer Survey, an industry-wide survey conducted by SAFETY4SEA during the first half of 2025, reveals a significant shift in how maritime professionals – both at sea and ashore -perceive wellness. The findings show that wellness is increasingly viewed not just as a health concern, but as a holistic, multidimensional aspect of organizational culture.

While last year’s Barometer indicated that many maritime organizations were prioritizing healthy lifestyles, the 2025 survey emphasizes the need for broader progress. Specifically, it calls for addressing all dimensions of wellness and implementing initiatives that support both work performance and overall well-being, despite persistent challenges.

The key question: Which aspects of wellness are taking priority?

This year’s survey explored factors that contribute to meaningful choices and fulfillment across five dimensions of wellness: physical, psychological, social, occupational, and spiritual. The results offer actionable insights into which wellness elements are becoming central to organizational strategies.

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Top 10 key priorities for maritime professionals

Maritime professionals at sea assessed the importance of the following wellness factors to their organization’s Strategy and Program:

Rank	Factor Group	Factor	Score %
1	Physical	Healthy lifestyle	76%
2	Physical	Hydration	74%
3	Physical	Quality sleep	74%
4	Physical	Personal Hygiene	74%
5	Mental	Bullying, harassment, discrimination	71%
6	Social	Teamwork and team bonding activities	70%
7	Social	Cyber wellness	70%
8	Intellectual	Goal setting and decision making	70%
9	Intellectual	Professional and personal development/ mentoring	70%
10	Physical	Balanced diet	69%

Source: 2025 SAFETY4SEA SEAFiT Barometer Survey – At Sea

Maritime professionals ashore assessed the importance of the following wellness factors to their organization’s Strategy and Program:

Rank	Factor Group	Factor	Score %
1	Mental	Bullying, harassment, discrimination	85%
2	Intellectual	Skills development and competence	84%
3	Mental	Stress, Anxiety, Depression	84%
4	Social	Teamwork and team bonding activities	84%
5	Mental	Fatigue, burn out	83%
6	Social	Leadership	83%
7	Intellectual	Goal setting and decision making	82%
8	Intellectual	Time Management	82%
9	Mental	Resilience	81%
10	Intellectual	Professional and personal development/ mentoring	80%

Source: 2025 SAFETY4SEA SEAFiT Barometer Survey – Ashore

Survey analysis

The 2025 SEAFiT Barometer underscores a shift in mindset from treating wellness as a narrow, health-focused issue to recognizing it as a strategic pillar of organizational performance and culture. While physical health remains foundational, mental health, leadership, intellectual growth, and interpersonal dynamics are now central to industry wellness strategies and should be addressed with equal urgency.

Key takeaways as follows:

#1 Wellness is broadening beyond physical health

While physical health (healthy lifestyle, hydration, sleep, hygiene) remains a top concern at sea, mental, social, and intellectual wellness factors dominate the rankings among broader maritime professionals. This suggests a growing recognition that well-being is multi-dimensional, requiring more than physical interventions to create a supportive environment.

#2 Mental health is a critical concern

Bullying, harassment, and discrimination” ranks among the top ten priorities for both groups, while other mental health factors – such as stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue, resilience, and suicide prevention – are highly prioritized by shore-based professionals. This reflects a growing awareness and destigmatization of mental health issues across the industry.

#3 Seafarers still prioritize physical needs

The top 4 concerns for seafarers are all physical: healthy lifestyle, hydration, sleep, and hygiene. This reflects the realities of working at sea, where environmental and operational conditions directly affect basic physical well-being.

#4 Social and team dynamics matter for both groups

Teamwork and team bonding activities are important to both groups (70% at sea, 84% ashore), indicating a shared understanding of the value of collaboration and crew cohesion. Leadership and cyber wellness are other notable social factors, highlighting the impact of interpersonal dynamics and healthy and responsible use of digital technology, especially in online communication, behavior, and digital engagement.

#5 Intellectual wellness is emerging as a strategic focus

Skills development, decision-making, goal setting, and time management are all highly rated – especially by maritime professionals. This shows organizations are starting to value cognitive and career growth as integral to wellness and retention.

Implications for maritime organizations

Adopt a holistic wellness strategy: Physical health initiatives alone are not sufficient. Programs must also address mental, emotional, social, and intellectual dimensions.
Tailor wellness programs by environment: Seafarers may need practical support for sleep, diet, and hygiene, while professionals ashore may benefit more from mental health support, training, and leadership development.
Prioritize culture and prevention: High scores on bullying, burnout, and suicide prevention show a need for cultural change, not just reactive support.
Encourage cross-role learning: Sharing insights and best practices between shipboard and shore-based teams can drive more cohesive and effective wellness programs.

What individuals think about wellness: key considerations

The feedback from this year’s SEAFiT Barometer Survey reveals a deep and shared concern among maritime stakeholders regarding wellness and wellbeing, emphasizing that much more needs to be done beyond current initiatives.

Both seafarers at sea and professionals ashore recognize wellness as critical to performance, safety, retention, and overall satisfaction, but feel that it is often treated as secondary or symbolic rather than as a strategic priority. Participants stressed that while wellness is increasingly discussed, real change is limited. Many initiatives are seen as superficial, with a lack of follow-through, leadership support, and tailored implementation.

Whether at sea or ashore, fatigue management, burnout prevention, and mental health support were the most frequently mentioned areas needing urgent attention. Many noted that long working hours, extended contracts, and insufficient rest periods are having cumulative effects on both mental and physical wellbeing.

Furthermore, there’s a strong call for leadership – both onboard and ashore – to move from task-centered to people-centered management. Respondents repeatedly emphasized the importance of empathy, respect, recognition, and emotional intelligence in improving morale and mental resilience.

For seafarers, access to rest, quality sleep, sufficient internet data, and opportunities for socialization were consistently flagged as basic needs that are often unmet. These are seen not as luxuries, but as essential for maintaining mental wellbeing during long periods of isolation at sea.

Both groups pointed to the neglect of spiritual and intellectual wellness, calling for more attention to personal growth, emotional maturity, and purpose. Suggestions included mentoring, leadership development, and platforms for ethical dialogue and spiritual reflection.

Participants also highlighted the importance of recognizing seafarers as frontline contributors to global trade and treating them with dignity. There were frequent calls to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and public awareness to reduce the invisibility of maritime work.

Many believe the current gap lies not in awareness but in execution and cultural mindset. There is skepticism about top-down initiatives that lack real engagement with crew needs or are not grounded in evidence-based practices.

Overall, respondents called for:

Mandatory mental health first aid training
Shorter contracts
Stronger mentorship systems
Active involvement of qualified wellness professionals
Recognition of suicide prevention as equally urgent as physical safety risks

Moving forward

The message from the maritime workforce is clear:

Wellness is no longer optional, it’s fundamental. For organizations to thrive and retain talent, wellness must be embedded in the culture, leadership, and operational strategy of the industry.

This includes respecting rest, enabling communication, reducing unnecessary burdens, and empowering individuals at every level. Ultimately, a cared-for crew is a capable crew and a sustainable industry depends on it.