Today’s ski instructor is a highly qualified individual who possesses a variety of skills including skiing, communication, understanding and versatility. He/she must also own expensive equipment and clothing and be available on a seasonal basis to qualify for a postition. In his/her mind, they will never be paid what they’re worth.
But instructor pay will always be affected by the laws of supply and demand, because there are usually more qualified individuals than positions to fill. A challenge for the ski school director is to finely balance the needs of his ski instructors with the financial needs of the ski resort. Most important, in doing both, he must deliver a product that the area clientele will be happy with. A well organized, objective pay program makes it possible to remunerate those instructors who have the most to contribute with the highest pay. Such a program should eliminate many of the inequities that exist in the internal operations of the ski school.
Kissing Bridge Ski School outside Buffalo, N.Y. employing over 150 ski instructors has developed an evaluation program to determine instructors pay and provide information on whether each instructor has minimal competence to do the job. Five criteria are evaluated in the Kissing Bridge program:
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| Teaching skills | 48 points |
| Skiing skills | 27 points |
| Written exam | 12 points |
| General appearance & attitude | 5 points |
| Availability | 8 points |
| Total | 100 points |
In addition, instructors can earn points from subjective judgments of his/her productivity, performance, longevity and loyalty.
Each potential instructor as well as returning instructors are evaluated and aminimum score of 75 points is necessary to qualify for employment. Scores between 75 and 100 are assigned dollar values from $4.75 to $8.00 per hour. Additional increases can be earned through continuing education and certification from P.S.I.A. and values are assigned as follows:
| P.S.I.A. level | Added pay |
|---|---|
| Registered members | 25¢/hour |
| Associate certified | 50¢/hour |
| Full certified | $1.00/hour |
Kissing Bridge also rewards the instructor who will put in more than 12 hours a week by adding a $1.00/hour for those hours above 12.
Private lesson pay is tied to this evaluation procedure. Instead of flat 50 percent of the private lesson gross that is customary in many schools, a 40 50, 60 and 70 percent remuneration scale is used depending on the instructor’s score and his/her ability to generate return business for the ski school.
At my ski school at Big Vanilla, Davos N.Y., I have another program that objectively determines pay for approximately 50 instructors. All instructors start at the same base pay, and then are plugged into a computer chart that recognizes the contribution they make to the ski school. It looks something like this:
| Criterion | Points |
|---|---|
| No. of years teaching skiing | 5 |
| No. of years at Big Vanilla | 2 |
| Skiing ability | 10 |
| Teaching ability | 10 |
| Can teach racing | 1 |
| Can teach freestyle | 1 |
| Can teach cross-country | 1 |
| Can & will teach children | 1 |
| Technical knowledge | 1 |
| PSIA registered | 2 |
| PSIA associate certified | 3 |
| PSIA full certified | 5 |
| Availability | 3 |
| Total Points | 45 |
Each point in this program is worth 10¢ which is then added to a standard base pay of $3.50/hour. By improving skills through clinics and demonstrating that he/she is competent in that skill, pay can be adjusted at any time during the season.
For assigned private lessons, at Big Vanilla the instructor receives the normal hourly rate. This eliminates the inequity of one instructor making several dollars more per hour performing the same task as his/her friend teaching a class. However, requested private lessons are remunerated at 60 percent of the gross. At Big Vanilla, that represents minimum $10.50 per hour. A sharp pro who is aware of how to create clientele can earn between $60.00 and $80.00 per day. The increased percentage of gross for the requested private lesson can be justified by the higher return of profit on the assigned private lesson.
It is apparent that this kind of organized and objective approach enables a director to justify to the instructor and to management the way in which pay is determined and monitored in the ski school department. In addition, an evaluation form provides an opportunity to openly discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each instructor and set-up objectives toward new goals. There is never a problem of what is expected and returned between instructor and school.
One final issue that deserves discussion is what pay range should be implemented in a particular ski school. Considering the differences in the standards of living between Vail and Maine, I recommend a survey of pay scales in each geographic region and referral to the NSAA “Compensation and Benefits Survey” of 1978-79. With this background you can develop an equitable, objective system to pay fairly and profitably.
