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It’s hard to forecast those corporations who are silently plan- to it,” Wright said. “If you’re a resort that does $75 million a
ning or have already given back without fanfare; however, year and an EBITDA of 20 percent, you’re taking $15 mil-
they’re out there. lion to the bottom line. What could you do if you earmarked
Steve Wright, president and GM of Vermont’s Jay Peak half a percentage of EBITDA to put toward the develop-
Resort, says he’s cautious about all the hype. “This notion of ment and retention of your best and brightest? Even a quarter
‘giving back’ as it relates to this year’s 14 percent tax cut for big- of a percent would allow you to take your top 50 performers
ger corporations is certainly one way to parse it. The largest and fundamentally change their work experience, and almost
index of these increases will come in the form of one-time stock assuredly their net productivity,” Wright said.
options—like Apple’s gift of $2,500 per employee, and one- Wright’s point is well made about the benefits of sus-
time bonuses like at Comcast, Wells Fargo, and Home Depot— tainable pay increases over one-time bonuses based on tax
that don’t feel particularly sustainable,” Wright said. “Don’t get relief. Wage growth helps employees and resorts keep up with
me wrong, it’s great these companies are rewarding employees, inflation and cost of living; one-time bonuses do not. Like
but hopefully these bonuses and stock options continue in the many companies (including Walmart and Discover), Seattle-
coming years, and more importantly, across the life expectancy based Starbucks is planning to do both. Starbucks recently
of these cuts. To me it’s telling that most of these wage modifi- announced that recent changes in the US tax law accelerated
cations aren’t to the employee’s base salaries.” the company’s decision to spend $120 million on wage hikes
Wright is an advocate of long-term strategic compensation as well stock grants to everyone employed at the company’s
planning as well as potential immediate benefits of tax relief stores, plants, and support centers. Hourly retail workers will
to reward employees with larger weekly paychecks. Jay Peak get at least $500 in stock shares while store managers will get
has strategies for short-, medium-, and long-range growth and $2,000. Starbucks—which offers health insurance and already
development as it relates to fulltime as well as part-time staff. pays more than minimum wage in all of its markets—will also
“Your ability to attract and retain staff improves on a offer additional parental leave for six paid weeks to all non-
direct scale with how much you’re willing to commit resources birth parents. And it will create 8,000 new retail jobs.

FIGURE 3
Ski State Hourly Minimum Wages
2018 VS. 2015 * SOME INCREASES EFFECTIVE 7/1/2018

2018 2015
$12.00
$2B+ FINANCING SOLUTIONS

$10.00

$8.00 THAT LAST.
INVESTED PARTNERSHIPS
IN RECREATION
$6.00 THAT MATTER.
PROPERTIES

$4.00

$2.00
$11.50 $11.10 $11.00 $11.00 $10.75 $10.50 $10.50 $10.20 $10.10 $10.10 $10.10 $10.00 $9.84 $9.65 $9.25 $8.85 $8.75 $8.60 $8.30 $8.30 $8.25 $8.25 $7.85 $7.50 $7.25 $7.25 $7.25 $7.25 $7.25 $7.25 $7.25 $7.25 $7.25 $7.25 $7.25 $7.25
$0
Washington New York California Massachusetts Oregon Vermont Arizona Colorado Connecticut Rhode Island Maryland Maine Alaska Minnesota Michigan South Dakota West Virginia New Jersey Ohio Montana Illinois Nevada Missouri New Mexico Idaho Iowa Indiana New Hampshire North Carolina Pennsylvania Utah Virginia Wisconsin Tennessee Alabama Wyoming

New York and Oregon will see minimum wage increases in 2018 (other than January 1). Eighteen states have minimum wage increases this year of Visit www.eprkc.com to learn more or contact
Andrew Limbocker
which 16 are NSAA member ski states. The average of all ski states minimum wage is $8.84 per hour vs. $8.02 per hour in 2015 (up 10.2%).
Vice President - Recreation Investment Group
34 | NSAA JOURNAL | SPRING 2018 andrewl@eprkc.com | (816) 472-1700