Ski area employees traditionally expect few job benefits apart from the cherished season pass. But as the industry evolves, especially in a booming economy, ski areas are continually challenged to attract qualified year-round and seasonal employees. While there is no magic equation to draw the right people to these jobs, certain benefits have proved effective in attracting qualified people (i.e., 401K plans, food discounts and health plans). Lately, an increasing number of resorts are trying to foster mutually beneficial job opportunities by offering workers discounted childcare.
For a number of years skiers and snowboarders have enjoyed the convenience of quality on-mountain childcare programs. But employees required to work weekends and holidays didn’t have that option. Most community day care centers are open during normal business hours and closed on weekends and holidays. This left many ski-area employees with few options for their own childcare needs, resulting in lost time and low employee moral. Ski area managers started to take notice of the problem and have made real progress in employee childcare in the past five to seven years.
In Vermont, several ski areas have implemented employee childcare programs that cost about the same or less than what is generally available in the surrounding communities during the week. Smugglers’ Notch offers its workers childcare for half what guests pay. Sugarbush Resort offers its employees a $4 per day discount for childcare services. And in a program that charges $20 per day, Stratton Mountain hosts about 15 year-round children of permanent employees on a daily basis.
Stratton Controller Catherine Eucker drops her daughter off at the mountain day care five days a week. She enthusiastically describes Stratton’s day care as, “The best thing ever! It allows me to work better knowing she is only one quarter of a mile away, being taken care of by people I know.” In the winter, Stratton gets so many employees using the program that it hosts employee children in a separate facility open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Okemo also has a year-round childcare program. With a degree in early childhood development, Diane Mueller, Okemo executive VP, has aided in developing the childcare program at the resort. It provides Okemo with reliable employees who get, in turn, to take advantage of a valuable service. The program integrates a mixture of play, education and mountain exploration with an emphasis on treating the children as part of a family.
One way to build on that family atmosphere, says Okemo Day Care Supervisor Heather Post, is to separate employee children from guest children in individual programs during the winter season, a common practice among resorts having large employee childcare enrollments. Giving employee childcare a separate building or space during the season makes it easier for providers to ensure a quality experience for both employee and guest children as each group has different needs. For instance, employee children benefit from knowing their providers and the other children in the program as well as having a familiarity with a daily routine. In turn, providers know the children’s attitudes, temperaments and expectations. Guest children, on the other hand, may require more supervision, constant introductions to the other children in the program and more interaction due to unfamiliar surroundings. When guest children have separate facilities from employee children, providers are able to tailor programs more accurately to group needs.
Although childcare may never be the primary reason for accepting a job at a ski area for the majority of employees, it can draw the interest of more experienced applicants. After participating in Stratton’s childcare program, Eucker finds that she wouldn’t work any place that doesn’t have the service. It is this spreading attitude that will continue to enhance childcare programs within the ski industry and alter, in a positive way, the future benefits offered by ski area administrators.
