Page 12 - 84999_NSAA_W18_web

Human Resources
MONTANA SKI AREAS ASSOCIATION
SUBSIDIZES EMPLOYEE EDUCATION

MSAA Helps Pay to Send Ski Area Workers to National Training Seminars

BY REBECCA W. AYERS, EDITOR

A HALLMARK OF RESPONSIBLE EMPLOYEE oversight is of Discovery Ski Area in Missoula. The program not only
making sure workers get the tools and training they need supports the training of ski area personnel but also helps areas
to be successful and safe on the job. The Montana Ski Areas prepare for turnover among an aging workforce, he said.
Association (MSAA) is supporting ski areas in that regard “MSAA saw a big transition happening as more experi-
by kicking in funds to help send workers to important enced mechanics were retiring, creating the need to accelerate
education and training seminars. the training of new mechanics,” Pitcher said. “We recognized
For the 2017–18 season, MSAA offered to give every ski that we had the ability to address it, and there was good
area in the state $1,000 to help fund employee registration at consensus on the idea among the whole association.”
either the annual Rocky Mountain Lift Association (RMLA) To fund the training, MSAA draws money from member-
seminar or the lift mechanics seminar at the ISKINY-PSAA ship dues and the sale of its $2,500 corporate passbook that
conference. Thirteen of 14 ski areas took advantage of the businesses purchase for their customers and employees. The
offer. MSAA also provides each ski area with a $500 scholar- passbook contains lift tickets to all the ski areas in Montana.
ship to be used for lift education classes at the Intermountain “For a long time that money was used for collective mar-
Ski Areas Association convention. keting, but we were having a hard time making real noise with
MSAA recently voted to continue the funding for 2018– that amount of money. So, we decided to still do marketing
19, said Ciche Pitcher, president of MSAA and also president but try to find other opportunities where we could leverage
the money,” Pitcher said. “Since we shifted into spending
the money on employee education at Montana ski areas,
we’ve had a really positive response from our members.”
MSAA’s financial support of ski area employee training
isn’t new. For the past seven or eight years, the association
also has underwritten expenses for ski/snowboard instructors,
including membership fees in the Professional Ski Instructors
of America – American Association of Snowboard Instructors
and various instructor clinic fees, Pitcher said.
“The result [of MSAA’s contributions] is that lot of small
ski areas that struggle to participate on this level are able to.
By helping get a lot more education into these small ski areas
OPEN YOUR DOORS TO THE WORLD we can help improve the quality of service to guests,” he said.
Another benefit of MSAA’s education funding is that it
supports employee retention, which can be a challenge in a
Welcome international students to your low-population state like Montana. The state’s ski industry
community. Whether you are hiring one student is trying to grow its own lift education programs, with good
participation at the Intermountain Ski Areas Association,
or 100, CIEE Work & Travel USA can help you Pitcher said. Even so, attending a national seminar with peers
screen, recruit, and hire international seasonal can be rejuvenating, not only from a skills standpoint but also
staff for your business. for the opportunity to network and develop mentors.
“One of the hard things for a lift maintenance worker in
Montana is that you have a hard time seeing it as a real career
sometimes,” he said. “But if these guys can go to RMLA and
ciee.org/winterhire
meet older, successful people in the industry, they can see a real
career path, not just a seasonal job.”

10 | NSAA JOURNAL | EARLY WINTER 2018