The Teen Scene

When it comes to staffing at ski areas, a surprising number of resorts, including many in the Midwest, rely heavily on high school-age employees—and embrace all that they bring to the table. From ski school to food service to lift operations, teens provide fresh faces and positive attitudes, sometimes at a better price than older workers.

At Wild Mountain near Taylors Falls, Minn., GM Kevin Starr says that high school kids staff 90 percent of departments, specifically on evenings and weekends when lifts, food service, and the rental shop are filled with teens across the board. “We live and die by these workers,” says Starr. “We try to keep them and get them in the door before they go anywhere else.”

Once motivated at least somewhat by cheaper wages—now less of a factor with the state’s recent minimum wage hikes—the quest to employ young workers has been increasingly fed by the difficulty Wild has had filling open positions. Starr estimates that teens are the only option to fill some openings on busy weekends.

Wild Mountain is not alone. At Wisconsin’s Cascade Mountain, VP of sales Randy Axelson estimates that more than half the ski area’s 350 winter employees are teens. He says there are myriad reasons to hire young: Teens help ramp up weekend staffing—when the resort does half its business—and they’re available to fill openings during critical holiday periods. Another major benefit of teen staff? Longevity.

“Young employees tend to stay through the high school years at least, giving four or five years to the resort,” says Axelson. “A younger person who sticks around can be valuable—transitioning into other jobs at the resort as time goes on.”

CourtshiP

In addition to filling open positions, youth bring intangible benefits. So vital are teens that ski areas go to great lengths to find and court them.

“Teenage staff members are crucial,” says Stephanie Nutley, human resources manager at Perfect North Slopes, Ind., where approximately 30 percent of the staff is under age 20. “They bring excitement, energy, creativity, loyalty, and countless other great characteristics to our team.”

Perfect North employs teens in its tubing park, rental shop, F&B areas, snowsports school, and ticket office, with those over the age of 17 also working in lifts and the terrain park. Some have been enjoying the ski area since they were toddlers. “Many of our employees grew up here and are part of our family,” says Nutley. “It’s a comfortable feeling to work with friends, family, and neighbors that can be trusted.”

Wild Mountain has a lot of competition nearby, so the ski area actively targets teens by maintaining relationships with local schools as far as 30 miles away, attending job fairs and even visiting middle and high school (and the occasional elementary) classrooms to talk about what it’s like to work there. The resort implemented this program hoping to plant a seed.

“It helps to go to younger kids and get the idea in their head,” says Starr. “When they start looking at employment, and you’ve built that rapport, there’s a good chance they’ll at least turn in an application.”

Cascade’s Axelson says it’s typical for 90 percent of the resort’s job fair attendees each October to be high school students. Most want to work there because their friends do, or their brother or sister did, and had a great time.

Axelson says it’s important to suss out a teen’s personality during the interview process, specifically how confident they are in an interview. It can help figure out who to hire, and where to put them.

“I like young people that can talk to me like I’m a regular person,” he says. “These kids get put into the same situations that all of us do. Being out in the front lines, working in the guest service department (greeters, free ski corral, lifts) is not a place for shy people. On the flip side, food and beverage can be a fine place for a shy person.”

Of course, age creates some factors unique to this group. “It can be comical, like when a dad wants to attend the job fair and interview for his kid, because the kid is at the state soccer tournament,” says Nutley. “We’ve even placed a ‘Stop’ sign at the job fair door for parents, with a reminder that we want to interview the candidate, not the candidate’s mom.”

Management

Since teens come to the table green, with little to no work experience, resorts must adapt a management style tailored to them.

“Whether you’re interviewing or training or working with your staff, you do things differently for a high school student,” emphasizes Starr, who says it’s imperative to first look at why teens are working. “What are their lifestyles like? They have a lot going on. They need flexible schedules versus an adult, who typically wants consistency. That all goes into how you manage them.”

High school students require more time and energy, he adds. And the resort must spend more time being specific with them. “While in most cases, an adult worker will stay focused, you definitely need to follow up and be visible to keep the younger workers on task,” he says.

Axelson says since this is a first job for most, Cascade strives to work on the basics: “Be to work on time, be safe—which can mean not walking to their vehicles alone at night—check to make sure they’re dressed properly for the weather, and similar life-lesson protocols all come into play.”

Basics can also include how to handle a job, especially responsibility, like an adult. Such as when 15-year-old Billy’s parents call the resort to tell his boss he’s going to Gramma’s for a week over Christmas vacation. “It happens more often than not that mom or dad will call instead of the teen employee,” says Axelson. “I really want to hear it from Billy. I think it’s something that kids have to learn, even if it’s their first job.”

Teens, presumably the less shy, often gravitate towards ski and snowboard school positions, and resort managers say they’re a natural fit. Cascade has a good mix of adults and teen instructors. Axelson says PSIA examiners tend to be the trainers, but teens do 99 percent of the work. “I love seeing them out there with the kids. The way they relate to them, their energy, the way they keep the young students engaged. It’s a win-win.”

According to Starr, about 10 percent of Wild Mountain’s 120 instructors are teens. Often, since teen instructors don’t make as much money, the resort finds it beneficial to cross train them so they can fill in the gaps by working in other departments. There they can get the number of hours they’re looking for as well as continue to instruct for fun.

“WE LIVE AND DIE BY THESE WORKERS. WE TRY TO KEEP THEM AND GET THEM IN THE DOOR BEFORE THEY GO ANYWHERE ELSE.” — KEVIN STARR

Starr says that social media use presents challenges on a daily basis, both keeping teens off of it while they’re working, as well as cautioning them about the things they post, whether at work or about work. Wild Mountain had to develop social media and electronics policies, which took time and cost money—the resort’s attorneys had to make sure the wording was legally correct. The policies dictate that, unless students receive permission from a supervisor, they cannot have any electronic devices on them while working. The first violation garners a $20 fee and a written warning; the second could result in termination.

The policies are focused on maintaining stellar guest service, but it’s also a safety issue. “If you’re a lift operator and you have a chair rollback and you have to do an emergency stop, you have people’s lives at risk,” says Starr. “If you’re doing anything on work time, it’s a serious risk and has to be taken seriously.”

At Snow Creek, Mo., 50 percent of the staff are teens. General manager Matt Grenier agrees it’s a group that requires a different approach to management. “More training and more structure is needed to allow them to understand exactly what is expected of them. In my experience, the younger employees tend to vanish if they feel they don’t know what to do. This generation of teens also likes to be a part of something. A strong team atmosphere goes a long way.”

Mike Detmer, snowsports school manager at Perfect North, says his resort works a lot on building a solid foundation of customer service and work ethic, and teaching the difference between having fun and goofing off at work. “We encourage our young employees to have fun while being respectful of our customers’ needs,” says Detmer.

Of course, resorts, too, have learned many lessons along the way. Like when a 16-year-old female guest was put in a private ski lesson with a 16-year-old male instructor at Cascade. “The girl said she didn’t learn much except the life of her instructor,” says Axelson. The resort made sure to plan better after that.

Legalities

Though ski areas benefit from hiring young workers and keeping them around for awhile, one recurring theme is the difference between older (16+) and younger (14-15) teens, from a legal standpoint. It can be a big difference, depending on state regulations.

Starr says once kids are 16, they have very few restrictions in Minnesota. But 14- and 15-year-olds come with considerably more rules as far as times and number of hours they can work, as well as jobs they can perform. To assist management in tracking all the rules, the resort has integrated certain internal procedures, including putting 14- and 15-year-old employees in a different color uniform as a sort of visual cue. “It makes it easy to see, and say ‘Hey, you’re supposed to be getting off the clock pretty quick,’” says Starr.

Axelson guesses that out of 150 teens at Cascade, only a dozen are 14 or 15. He says the resort shies away from hiring this group because work requirements are so restrictive, dictating that these teens can’t work evenings during the week, versus much less stringent rules for those older than 16.

In Indiana, there are multiple restrictions regarding work hours and break periods for teens, says Nutley. Minors are also required to obtain a work permit from their high school. “Since teenagers are a large part of our workforce, we’ve implemented processes that comply with the state laws,” she says. “It can be inconvenient at times, but it is well worth the effort.”

Human Nature

While hiring and employing teens can have challenges, ski areas have found that the benefits of hiring teenage workers far outweigh any disadvantages. Nutley says at Perfect North, president Chip Perfect has four main philosophies that are shared with staff: exceed expectations; do the right thing; be positive and energetic; and do whatever it takes.

“Chip believes that these four principles are natural to humans, and if we follow them, then we will have success,” says Nutley. When it comes to these principles, she says, “Teenagers show us all the time that they have what it takes to succeed.”