***USA Powder 8 Championships Photos courtesy of Cesar Piotto, photographer and Jim Schanzenbaker, event organizer.
***2010 New England Synchro Ski Carving Championships information arriving soon! So too is an article on the concept of team skiing for RSN.com...stay tuned!!
One of the major costs facing resorts when considering their on hill staff is the rise in workers compensation expenses associated with injuries suffered during the course of work performance.
As skiers learn to move faster, or feel pressure to perform at a higher level, or even complete tasks in a more timely manner, the risk of injuries increases proportionately. With staff needing to make more money, resorts need to find a way to reduce such workers compensation costs in order to then be able to re-allocate funds towards pay for these deserving employees.
Given the concurrent improvements in training techniques, both on and off the hill, as well as the increased amount of information available regarding fitness training, diet and simila
r items, it would seem to suggest that resorts need to establish incentive based training programs to not only provide the means for their staff to stay safe and healthy, but to also use resort budgets more wisely and in a more proactive manner.
One suggestion might be to create a program whereby the employee can earn benefits of a varied nature by participating regular in fitness training programs, i.e., at local training or fitness centers, or in massage therapy and similar health based programs. Benefits can include paying for gym memberships, pay increases rewarding long periods of time at work without injury time and paying for or providing massage sessions (or at least subsidizing them).
For example, if a ski pro attends a prescribed number of fitness training sessions at the local gym for a prescribed period of time, that pro could then earn an additional pay raise.
Another example, or suggestion, might be to provide preseason and in season indoor conditioning clinics for staff to better enable them to protect themselves during the course of a fatiguing season. Such clinics could include weight training, stretching techniques, as well as clinics focused on learning how and when to identify and avoid undue risk during the course of work performance.
Surely, it is worth the money spent on such programs to lower a resorts workers compensation budget, a budget which seems to constantly grow. Allocate a portion of those funds into new ways of coping with such issues and provide a meaningful benefit to your skiing professionals. They will have an opportunity to earn more as a result and you, as a resort, are likely to then be able to gain greater control over a significant budget item. It's a win - win situation for all concerned.
Fail to do so and you are likely to see such workers compensation costs continue to grow while, at the same time your teaching professional are going to continue to demand even higher pay rates in order to cope with potential down time from injuries, as well as the increasing cost of living in resort communities. The military does it, major corporations do it; why should resorts fail to implement such preventive measures?
Your pros deserve this sort of preventive support and there is no escaping your need to control workers compensation costs; the benefit of such programs is shared by all.
