***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.
When teaching professionals hit the slopes, who bears the burden of risk? Certainly not the resorts which employ them.
As previously discussed, the only risk to the resort is when a pro is injured during the course of a lesson, or in a mandatory clinic, or perhaps in a clinic related to certification. The rest of the time, the burden falls upon the pro. If a teaching pro is hurt in any other sort of clinic, training or while free skiing for self improvement, injuries are solely the responsibility of the teaching professional.
Moreover, at some resorts, the pipe and park "pass" required to teach, or even ski in such terrain is not even covered, with resorts telling their pros that "it's up to you if you want to teach in the park."
Is that really true?
What really happens to a teaching pro who refuses such lessons?
In a best case scenario, the professional forsakes a portion of their potential income (in a declining economy). In a worst case scenario, the teaching pro is downgraded by their ski school, making them "less valuable" and possibly "expendable."
To suggest that there is no "level playing field" here would be a vast understatement.
What then is the answer? In a nutshell, an equitable distribution of the risk.
How?
Resorts need to insure their staff, provide workers compensation coverage for all time spent on snow, as well as providing a reasonable rate of show up pay so that pros have some incentive to train when work is not available.
Make the statement that you respect your teaching professionals. Such a show of respect is one avenue towards increasing ski school bookings, a large source of revenue for most winter resorts. A continued lack of respect is only likely to lead to a drop in performance and skill acquisition, promoting a further decline in revenue. Resorts, you do have a financial interest in accelerated performance; it makes money for you. In our troubled economic times, can you really afford not to look at all means of increasing revenue in ski schools?
The teaching professional puts their health on the line for you everyday; is it unreasonable for them to expect something in return?
After all, the increased financial support is still less expensive than a potential strike or a continued drop in revenue.
Be smart resorts; look at the long term implications of your current policies and make the necessary changes before you pay a price you may not expect
What so-called “duty of care” does a ski school owe its paying clients? Obviously, in return for the large amount of money spent, a teaching professional is provided, but the questions goes far deeper than that.
How “talented” is this professional? Are they happy to be teaching; an employee who feels good about what he or she is doing? Well compensated and taken care of? Provided for in the event of an injury? Secure in what he or she is doing?
What happens when the teaching pro has other things on their minds?
Consider what might happen when a teaching professional feels underpaid, unappreciated by their resort…worried about the implications of something going wrong. Where is their focus now?
Teaching professionals are just that, professionals. Are they treated as such by their resorts? Are their opinion and concerns paid attention to? Do they have a forum for promoting improvements in their work place or with regard to their individual situations?
Today’s teaching professional is too often treated in a most unprofessional manner. Sometimes by the clients they ski with and sometimes by the resorts who employ them. Many times, I have heard clients referring to their instructors as “ski bums” who are lucky to be doing what they do for a living.
Why?
Unfortunately, the resorts themselves must shoulder most of the responsibility for the impressions formed by clients. They fail to provide for adequate compensation, much less provide financial protection for such staff. True, workers compensation is available for those injured while performing their duties on the clock, but even then, the teaching pro takes a substantial “hit” when things go wrong. First, they lose the first three days of pay when injured. Second, ALL of their tip revenue evaporates with zero compensation for that. While at some resorts, tips play a small role in the overall financial picture, at larger resorts such tips form a huge portion of what the teaching professional makes and without such tips in major resort areas, they could not afford to even be there.
And what happens when a teaching professional speaks out regarding issues such as pay, insurance, working conditions and more? They are immediately ostracized, if not terminated for “insufficient performance.” If anything, this is a one-way street, with the resorts doing all the driving. Resorts take their teaching professionals for granted. And that results in conflict. Conflict limits the flow of business and should be avoided at all costs, no pun intended.
Is there any wonder why so many clients take ski professionals for granted?
Moreover, the resorts fail to make any effort to adequately “impress” their clients with the qualifications of the teaching professional. These so called “ski bums” have devoted themselves to their sport/profession. Some work on snow year round; almost all try to improve their skills year in and year out, without adequate respect or compensation.
Is there any surprise in the fact that the level of discontent in the world of the teaching professional appears to be growing?
And how does this affect the customer?
Customers pay large sums of money to ski with these professionals. Do they not have an entitlement to a focused, high quality experience every time? Or, is it all right for them to receive this level of attention and care only part of the time? The question would appear to answer itself.
When a client pays for a teaching professional to ski with them for an hour or for a day…or even for a number of days, they have an absolute right to receive the very best that can be offered. Is this the case? One would tend to doubt it’s even possible when the pro has a number of significant issues weighing heavily on their mind.
Teaching pros are people and like everyone else in the working world, when they have issues, those they service will feel the effect of those issues as well. The logic is inexorable.
So, what is the answer?
That is, perhaps, the easiest part of the equation. Take care of your pros so that they can perform at the highest possible level. It is the only way to ensure that your clients get what they are paying for. The failure to do so will only result in declining ski school revenues, particularly in an economy where everyone is forced to cut back on expenditures. Resorts love to complain when ski school revenues drop, yet fail to accept responsibility for such declines, preferring to blame economic factors or a lack of performance by the staff. Quite simply, improved morale equates to a higher level of performance and, consequently, a better experience for the paying customer.
In such a declining economy, what can resorts do to compensate for these issues, assuming they are even inclined to cope with them in the first place?
There are ways to compensate, just as there are for any corporation coping with such declines.
MARKET your professionals. Take a positive, pro-active approach by looking at the skills the teaching professional brings to the table. Change the way the resort advertises itself. Enough of the “come to our prestigious resort” approach. Be more specific when it comes to what you, as a resort, have to offer. Instead of print ads in SKI Magazine, which paint with a broad stroke, try placing ads that demonstrate what your staff provides that your competition may not. Go out on a limb and feature the very pros you expect your clients to pay large sums to ski or ride with. Highlight their competitive background and their educational backgrounds. Do you not realize that some of your pros have more than twenty years experience teaching or speak multiple languages, or even that some are world champions in one discipline or another?
You are selling a product and just like any corporation engaged in the business of doing so, you MUST convince the client to spend their hard earned money. You cannot simply continue to ride along on a reputation that may not even exist any more. History is full of examples of corporations who have tried to do the latter; most of them failed.
There are ski schools that bring in between $40 and $50 million dollars a year gross, yet still claim they cannot afford to pay more, or provide basic insurance during the season, a claim which is ridiculous. This is not the 1960s where ski teaching was but a fledgling industry.
The power to cope with this unsettling situation rests in the hands of such resorts, but perhaps they simply do not have the leadership and vision to see what possible solutions exist.
Today’s ski school director needs to do more than simply manage the ski school. They need to have a sense of marketing and public relations. They need to practice their skills in community relations, both internal and external. They need to be more so that they can do more. They need to look at issues from both sides of the equation and ask the right questions. “How can I motivate my staff?” “How can I assure my customers that spending money to ski with my pros is a good investment?” “How can I take steps to ensure that my staff wants to be here, instead of feeling that they have to be here?” These are just some of the questions today’s ski school directors must ask themselves.
If one is responsible for that many people and their livelihood, the failure to ask such questions is just that, a failure.
You let your staff down and you let your customers down. It all boils down to one simple concept: evolve or die.
What would happen if every ski teaching professional in one state...say Vermont for example... decided, their pay being wholly inadequate, to say, "I quit?" Or, simply went on strike? Or, as the Aspen Pro Patrol did years ago, decided to unionize?
How would resorts handle such a problem?
The resorts already have a decidedly clear problem finding enough qualified skiers to fill those jobs as it is; would they be able to handle such a drain? And, with the recent restrictions imposed on H2B and other visas used to bring in teaching professionals from abroad, this is a problem that is only likely to get worse.
Teaching professionals, for the most part, have spent years...some decades... honing their craft. From the many hours of working on their own skiing to the inevitable time spent in clinics, to the countless hours working with beginners in the hope that they would someday advance their skills and be able to then teach more accomplished skiers, these professionals have fully committed themselves.
Typically, it takes a ski instructor a minimum of five years to attain a level III teaching accreditation, during which time, the hours spent on their own, studying and improving their skills, asking questions of othersand working with students amount to the equivalent of perhaps a post graduate degree in the sport. It certainly equals an undergraduate degree in the field, with a particularly strong emphasis on practical experience, something no college graduate has at the time they leave their school. Moreover, these instructors are then expected to continue their education with mandatory continuing education clinics.
Further, the resorts for which they teach expect all that any employer expects; timeliness, a professional appearance at all times, a growing base of knowledge, the ability to communicate with clients and more.
Yet, how do these same resorts treat such professionals? Not well in many cases.
What do these professionals receive in the way of compensation? In some bigger western resorts, compensation is more than adequate, with hourly wages, in some cases, exceeding $20.00 per hour. Unfortunately, those who receive such compensation are the elite of the teaching world. Typically, a western pay rate is significantly less and give the exceptionally high cost of living in western resorts towns, such professionals must find a second job at night simply to make it through the season unless they are blessed with a long list of clients who tip exceptionally well.
In the world of Eastern resorts, it is a completely different scenario and culture. Here, instructors are lucky if they make $15.00 per hour hour, with tips that don't come close to matching those out west. If an eastern instructor makes $500 a week, they are extremely lucky.
Moreover, instructors only get paid for the time they are actually teaching. A blank during the daily schedule is just that, a blank...no revenue and perhaps only a modicum of "show up pay."
Do the Eastern resorts charge lesson for their lesson products? Hardly.
Is the work easier? No.
Do any resorts provide seasonal health coverage free of charge? No.
Yet, who is it that often provides a guest's primary impression of any resort? The teaching professional. Anyone see a problem here? Anyone wonder why resorts have problems retaining staff or why such teaching professionals feel no qualms about relocating should a better position become available?
And let's not forget the seasonal nature of the work. However accomplished and talented a teaching professional may be, they still must find a second job during the so called "off season" in order to simply survive economically. How may resorts make an effort to find off season positions for their teaching staff? Very few.
There is a certain shortsightedness in the outlook of the resorts; the industry as a whole is going through some rough times, with very few able to maintain their historical number of skier/rider visits each season. True, the economy as a whole is not in good shape, but the resort issues significantly pre-date the downturn in the global economy.
Consistent performance is what resorts expect from their teaching professionals, but that is a one way street, as the professionals certainly cannot expect the same from the resorts.
Quite simply, resorts need to find more diversified ways of maintaining their income levels and use some of their revenues to assure teaching professionals that they are indeed valued. Provide teaching professionals with a quality wage that reflects all the time and effort it has taken to become a polished instructor. Provide them with health care that covers them when they are on their own time working on their skills. Relying on workers compensation for injuries suffered during the course of their work is simply not enough for those who risk grave bodily injuries in order to simply be better at what they do. There is a certain lack of incentive to spend one's own time improving, given the physical risks involved.
These professionals deserve more respect and better compensation; they have earned it year after year.
Beware resorts; you are creating a growing problem which, some day, is going to bite you when you least expect it. Think of what it will cost you then. Think about your clients and what they will say. Have respect for the product you put on the snow and look to the long term opportunities that come from having a staff that is excited about working for you.
I recently read where a prominent eastern resort was sold for $82 million in cash, with an additional $50 million being due on a 40 year note. Please don't claim that you cannot afford to pay your teaching professionals appropriately or that you cannot afford to provide health care coverage. The facts say otherwise.
Think resorts, THINK. It won't hurt to do so.
