Mountain employee treatment and pay

[Tricia]

The OP posted what appears to be emotional question for those inside the industry while providing interesting insights for the consumers of the ski industry, this person included. The responses have been interesting to read, @Tricia your frustration is palpable.

After reading some of the replies does the 2020/21 ski season provide management the opportunity to reduce human staff and integrate more automation like some of the European areas have? Ticket windows can be a relic of the past, while possibly reducing the number of guest facing staff at rental counter, lesson areas and lift ares can increase safety and reduce costs.

Thoughts?

I hope I was giving insight into some of what happens when a company is so huge that, even though they try to have one set of policies across the board, it doesn't necessarily work out that way.
One of the practices at VRR is that managers do a year end review and you have to score a certain level to be elibible for your 10% raise. Because I had 7 managers in 5 years, I only got 2 raises because I only had 2 managers in place during review time.
(10% of 12.00/hr isn't much but it was something)
While I understand the need to have something like reviews in place so that employees are compensated for doing well, that practice falls short when management is unsteady.
Heck, when I left the store in the spring of 2017, I was the longest term employee in that store. Two of the last three managers I had counted on me to show them the ropes. Both of whom quit before season end because they couldn't take the pressure.
Hmmmm, maybe it was me!!!

 

[Noodler]

There's a good podcast on "The Ski Instructor Podcast" where Jonathan Ballou is interviewed about Aspen Ski School. After listening to that it sure seems like Aspen is the prime place to work if you're an instructor.

 

[KingGrump]

Hmmmm, maybe it was me!!!

Took you long enough.

 

[Ken_R]

As to pay, it also varies, but when I started in Aspen, my hourly pay rate tripled from what it was at Breck.

Mike

Wow , 'nough said

 

[ZionPow]

whats this about?:

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I think the issue is that VR is offering employees unlimited lift access without having to make a reservation. The non VR businesses in town such as restaurants, bars, lodging, shops cannot offer unlimited lift access to their employees. This gives VR a huge advantage in hiring personnel vs local businesses.