We are in a time.
We will be in a time for some time.
We are either going to come crawling out of the time
Or we are going to rise above it
I personally am choosing to rise above it and to assist others in doing the same
Rising will require us all to examine every aspect of the way we live, work and play
This is the great gift of the pandemic
It has allowed us to see the areas of our society that need healing
There is a great divide in our country
In our human society
To rise about this we must bridge that divide
We must stop perpetuating divide
I experienced a great sadness when I saw the Meme of the Week in the newsletter.
The sadness was followed by anger, frustration and an urgency to speak up
Humor is not a justification for belittling another human
Humor is not a justification for supporting an us vs them of any kind
Unity will only happen, the divide will only be bridged when we can see each other as human -
Yes, humor is good.
Yes, we should be able to laugh at ourselves
No, not everyone should get a trophy
but everyone should be given the opportunity to play
It’s the little things that add up
Please don’t perpetuate the divide with humor that does nothing positive
Thanks for listening
I have been at Meadows as an instructor since 1997. It has continued to get better every year. I have a small business with 29 employees and it has been a super stressful year. I have to admit that I sympathize with Matthew Drake. Stress in keeping your business alive and functioning is not unique to the employees. As an owner or the person in charge, you have so much more to lose. You try to support people and provide jobs and try to be as generous as you can be and yet people criticize you. I see great effort from management in trying to make things work and support us. I see them on the ground every weekend I am up there. They are not idle. My 30 years of experience with employees has shown me that if someone is not happy and then it is best for them to leave because being disgruntled is like a cancer. You can only do so much to keep people happy and I do see Meadows trying a lot.
The added discount has goaded me into sampling the offerings in Sahale. I want to offer Kudos to those guys working there and to say the food was excellent. I had a guest that I was teaching from Arizona and she stated it was some of the best food she had ever had at a ski resort.
I love teaching first time lessons, I just wish we had more terrain for that and lift service. I often times look at the area at the bottom of stadium and imagine a much wider area that could have a carpet. Unfortunately it would be a long walk. Perhaps there are other areas under consideration.
Thank you for weighing in (and trying new food!). I will attest that since April the entire management team has made strong efforts to operate both resorts in a pandemic, and those efforts have been even larger since opening day, assessing and adjusting to improve all aspects. Gratitude goes to all team members who have pitched in and focused on how to be helpful, accepted that it won't be perfect, and continued to strive for excellence in constructive and professional ways. Together we will have a lot to look back on with satisfaction, and increased resilience. - Matt Troskey, VP People
Is it possible to have a mid-evening Sandy-side employee bus? Perhaps even just on the weekends? With multiweek programs running from 4-6, and clinics running 330-530, many coaches simply cannot catch the 415 or 515 bus. That leaves us at the resort until 1015. Being assigned to set up, working a double, and then not being able to get home until at least midnight is really difficult. I've had to start driving myself up, which adds to the parking problem. If we could get a mid-evening bus, perhaps around 815, it would help ease some of the parking problem and help keep everyone more stoked and less exhausted.
In the past we have tried to offer a Sandy side mid-evening shuttle down. The issue with that this season has been the lack of driver availability for the Sandy side. Our evening driver on the Hood River side is the CAT driver so they are only on the Mtn. for a short time and that leaves us with a mini shuttle driver and 1 other cdl driver at night. On nights that are super busy the drivers we have are not enough top shuttle the guest back to the remote lots. I have asked day shift drivers to stay late several time to assist with getting guest back to their vehicle. I hope that in the future we are able to offer this shuttle time.
-Benjaman Tucker
More gravel! For the last couple of weeks the parking lot has been iced over. That's ok as long as people walk between vehicles and have something to hold onto. But once they have to traverse the big open space between front row and the big berm in front of the lodge it's a slip and slide fest with kids and equipment flying any which way. It would be great if we had gravel not just for the car traffic lanes but also the loading area.
Dayforce. When no work is available can you change the color of the day from blue to, say, red on the opening screen that reads Next Scheduled Shift, and the Calendar page for the day that no work is available, and the Scheduled Shift window. I find it a pain and occasionally forget to click through two screens and a scroll to check work status. Or, alternatively have DF push message an alert to SMS. There should be a macro for that.
I have also found the parking lot to be quite slick and have spread gravel myself out in front of the lodges. Thanks to all the snowfall lately this has been less of an issue. Be sure to "walk like a penguin" as Anna L. would say. I also believe you may purchase "shoe chains" from the Team Member store at a good price. Thoughtful idea on the visual suggestions to the Dayforce app. This would be up to Ceridian, the company that supplies the time and attendance web app / device app for us - and this would likely need to be a global change. They do appreciate our feedback and we share suggested improvement ideas with them. In fact, Steven Dowling, the Program Lesson Supervisor, discovered the timesheet issue on iOS, reported it to them, and they were able to make a change and update the iOS app. But for now ... don't forget to scroll the screen to see your assignment. And keep in mind that your scheduled assignment may change, so check when you arrive at the mountain. Assignments change often due to various reasons - both due to team members and guests. - Tyler Barnes, Learning Center Operations & Training Manager
“More information on this specific request would be helpful in order for us to determine which settings are adjustable in Dayforce. If you could email us screen shots to jobs@skihood.com or stop by the HR office and ask for Kenzie, Lenore, or Lara to demonstrate which features in the Calendar you are referring to. Thanks!”
I like skiing, I love teaching skiing. I love skiing in a green jacket, love advertising what we have to offer. I can only imagine the logistics with operating a ski school, let along during a pandemic but I wish we had more opportunity to reach more skiers and snowboards. I personally would love to work with the Hosts and even Patrol that would like just a tune up - anything to keep busy on weekends. I think this is a great opportunity to look at improving our "reach" on the Mt.
I'm glad you are enjoying the job! Volume is down this season for sure but I would expect it to return next season.
-Jeremy Riss
Why did we install benches in the lobby of Sahale? All that did is put extra work on employees to keep guests from lounging there!
And can we put a reminder on the conditions page that the buildings do not open before 7:30am? Even if you have to potty.... the buildings are closed. please?
and maybe we take photos of guests wearing proper masks and post those on the website or blog? Everyone likes to see their photos.....maybe that would encourage good mask wearing? Just a random thought
That is a good idea to put the lodge opening time on the conditions report, I will see if we can make that happen. I also like the idea of trying to do something to positively re-enforce those that are wearing masks properly. When I help out in the lift mazes I do try to thank guests who are. I will pass your photo idea on to Marketing.
-Jeremy Riss
It would be great to get support from other departments with mask enforcement. It seems to be F&B only that is walking around the lodge to ensure that guests aren't loitering and wearing their masks. DPS helps sometimes, but only if/when they're called.
I try to spend time daily either in the lodge, lift lines or both doing mask reminders. I hope all team members who are in uniform would do the same when they see guests that need a reminder.
-Jeremy Riss
I want to start off by thanking you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read this. I think it is safe to say that the entire Mt. Hood meadows team works really hard to ensure that all guests have a great visit. In fact, a lot of employees often go the extra mile to ensure that the guests needs are met and that they leave feeling happier than when they first got to the resort.
As presidents day slowly approaches, the employees food discount is slowly beginning to teetertot back the original employee discount. The employees will thus have to spend more money to get the same amount of food they have grown accustomed to. With colder weather coming just over the horizon and more money being taken from the employees spending budget, I am worried about the mental health of my fellow colleagues. A common symptom of poor mental health is separation from friends and family. In years past employees would often take advantage of the PNW resort passes that would allow them to try out other resorts in the region. However, being that we are combating a pandemic the idea of opening up the pass to far off resorts is far fetched. A fantastic way to combat this mental health crisis would be giving more buddy vouchers to the employees. The company would still make money and the employees would be able to mentally escape from the day-to-day operations with close friends/family. If the employees are happy, everyone is happy.
I hope you take the time to think over giving the employees more vouchers. Such a small gesture can often go a long way.
Thanks for the comment. We did decide to extend the meal discount at 70% through February but it will end after that. I am also stoked we were able to reinstate the Mt. Exchange for Oregon and Washington. At this time we do not have plans for additional vouchers for team members however if you are looking to get a friend out on the hill you might check with your Manager and they might be able to help you out during off peak timeframes.
-Jeremy Riss
Focused on the break area:
The employee lounge expectations are lacking recently, especially in regards to folks cleaning up after themselves as there is often food containers left over, especially after the younger team members have left from lunch break it seems.
It would also be nice to be able to get coffee or cocoa in the mornings but I often find them empty from the night before.
Love seeing the free snacks on weekends!
Thanks, I believe the Culinary Team is planning to make additional rounds to refill coffee and cocoa on the weekends.
-Jeremy Riss
I have been enjoying my experience as a snowboard instructor at MHM and teaching people one of my favorite sports. My suggestion would be to give >24hrs notice for days we are called off of work. I usually work a few consecutive days a week, and sometimes I have shown up to the mountain when dayforce shows I had to work the night before but then show up the morning of called off. After preparing to work an entire weekend and finding out I have a day off isn't bad. But would like to know in advance for transportation and lodging purposes. If its my own user error. Maybe having an easier to identify label for shifts we are not scheduled for/ taken off of.
I’m stoked you like teaching people to snowboard. This is the most fun job I’ve ever had and it’s very rewarding – but also disappointing when there is no one to teach! Thanks for your comment about the “No Work Available” issue. We’ve had to use this more this season than ever before due to our Covid Response Operations Plans that limit visitation to mountain. And with our advance sales lesson cut off of 1pm the day before does pose some operational challenges in scheduling and letting people know if we’ll be busy or not.
The purpose of letting you know your schedule by 5pm the day before (or earlier if possible), is so you don’t bother coming up if you’re not needed. Many instructors still come up on their own accord because they want to be here and are open to picking up other duties if available, but we also don’t want you to make a special trip, incur travel expenses, the risk of winter travel, etc. and not get any work if it’s not necessary.
In previous seasons, instructors would sometimes drive all the way to the mountain, and then not get any work on a scheduled day, which was disappointing for some, but not all, as not getting work means you can get some free runs in. We are trying to advise instructors that they’re not needed the day before by 5pm (or earlier if we are able). And yes, we are willing to be flexible and accommodating to those instructors, that are traveling great distances and planning well in advance for their scheduled day at the mountain.
If we don’t give you adequate notice of the “No Work Available”, you’re more than welcome to “call in” if our scheduling of your shift is conflicting with your availability. We certainly are not expecting you to be “on call” for an indefinite period of time prior to your available day. Thanks for being patient with us as we try to adapt our approach with all that’s going on with operating a seasonal, weather dependent resort during a pandemic.
Yours in snow sports,
-Tyler Barnes