snacks, additional help from other departments on busy days, more opportunities for ride breaks, dance parties, covid vaccines.
We have been trying to stock the team lounge with free Cliff Bars for our team members. It won't last all season but hopefully it helps with the snacks in the short term.
-Jeremy Riss
I love working at Meadows, but the main benefit of working here is riding. I understand the holidays are a busy time but I also don't understand how we are limiting ticket sales and still parking out before 10am.
Our team members are the ones on the front line, showing up every day to keep doors open and lifts turning. I love this place, but this season has made it really difficult to see the love and family vibe that usually lives at Meadows. Our team is getting burnt out fast, and I know that many long time team members are questioning their loyalty to the company. People that have worked here for years should not feel this way. No team member should feel this way. We should be focusing on fostering a sustainable workforce.
My commute home was never this extensive last season, my 8 hour days quickly turn into 10-12's on days like today. I'm completely drained by the time my weekend comes and have to reserve those days for rest to prepare for another week at work.
At the same time, employees are having privileges removed (Mtn. Exchange, Team Member Appreciation Events) and the very next day we're jam packed with guests. I'm having a hard time feeling like a valued team member when our privileges are being cut as we open our doors to thousands of guests from who knows where.
I would feel a lot more comfortable and appreciated working here if there was more emphasis on keeping our team happy and healthy rather than making money/selling tickets/keeping the guests happiest. Meadows doesn't operate without our team, there's no ticket sales if you don't have people running the mountain. Our team should come first, not the guests.
My suggestion is an employee ride night once a week, opening the lifts for team members only for a couple hours on days we don't offer nights to guests. If our team isn't able to visit other resorts and enjoy the winter the way we love to, we deserve some time just for us to enjoy OUR resort. It’s hard to cope with the fact that our team works so hard to create this space for people to enjoy yet we aren’t able to enjoy it ourselves due to exhaustion and overcrowding. I think giving us some time to enjoy what we create is vital to the wellness and future of our team.
Huge shout out to everyone that shows up each day and works like hell to keep this place alive – keep it up, it will get better.
Side note: Are the pizza warmers in Sahale adjustable? Can we get them turned up a bit?
We noticed right away that the restaurant design company did not put heat above the pizza (only the plate below) and have been working on a resolution. We are sorry it has taken so long. There was no power available in that area to add the overhead heat so that has taken some time. This will be resolved very soon (hopefully by the time you read this)
– Mark Fellows
Director of Culinary Services
Good Morning,
I have a lot to say this time around.
I want to thank Mel Toney for her unwavering support not only throughout the shoulder season but through our first 41 days of operations. By all rights, we should not have been able to open due to the current state of things. The leaderships dedication and fortitude is what made it happen, period. For anyone that feels like the upper echelon of the company does not care about us, I politely would state that you are wrong. MHM has gone to every length to support the team this season. I would ask people to remember that they paid everyone for an extra two weeks at the beginning of the pandemic when they did not have to. They frontloaded employees with 40 hours of sick time when they did not have to. They made OT available @ 40 hours when they did not have to. They do a lot of things that they do not have to do, they choose to do it because this company believes in integrity, wellness and passion. The number of hours that goes into thoughts of what they can do for the team is unfathomable.
I want to give some specific feedback to Marshal Woods, Derrick and Micah who lead the LM crew. Without them and their tireless dedication, the lifts would not turn. Their knowledge is truly irreplaceable and without them, we would be lost. I invite all of you reading this to thank them when you have a moment. They are an incredible group of people who work all hours to make sure that the lifts can spin for everyone else every day. Did you know that they often work all night to make sure the lifts do not freeze over for the morning?
Same goes for Skylar and Luke in Lift Electrical. They are just as instrumental in getting our lifts ready daily.
I want to thank the entire HR staff for the efforts that went into getting the administrative side of things ready for this season. The help with hiring, all the resources that are online, the uniforms process, etc. It all had to be retooled for COVID and if used properly, it actually makes things substantially easier. They have embraced change and ran with it. I for one appreciate the efforts they have put in not only for my team but for the entire MHM family.
I want to thank Greg and Matthew for guiding us through this challenging time. I am sure when Greg accepted this position, leading a growing company through a pandemic was not on his to do list. I have appreciated the transparency, the guidance and the hands on help that is provided on a daily basis.
I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Trag and the marketing team who have tried their hardest to get our messaging out to our team and guests and have had to deal with all of the resulting blowback.
I would like to thank Jeremy Riss for all the work that has gone into limiting pass sales and all of his data and spreadsheets that have helped us find a way to make our team safer.
The COVID Response Team (CRT) for their tireless efforts on a daily basis to make sure those that get sick are taken care of.
Chris Olsen and the MLC team for providing us help when we need it. It is very much appreciated. I don’t like when we have to ask for help but I am deeply grateful for when it comes.
I want to give Mark, Caitlin and Chef Matt a huge shootout. Typically, when you think ski resort, you don’t associate it with good food. That’s been my experience over the years anyways. I have been absolutely shocked at the quality and the value of the food this season. So far I have had the cheesesteak, the pizza, and most recently the spare rib meal at the Far East. I would argue that the food I have had this season is some of the best I have tasted in Oregon. I consider myself somewhat of a foodie and I have been highly impressed with the fare this season. I had the spare rib today and I thought I was eating a 30.00 meal at an upscale restaurant in some major US city. Thank you for the meal choices and the effort that has gone into the prep. It is delicious and I will be back for more.
Marcos, my thanks to you and your team for assisting us on a daily basis. When you guys show up we know that you have our backs. Todd, thank you for all the important items you provide for us like keys and fuel cards. Also to the Janitorial team for keeping the resort clean.
Thanks to Grooming for their outstanding pre-season efforts as well as the daily efforts. I apologize for the snowmobile tracks, we are working on it.
Ben and Jess for the parking and team transportation efforts. I know a lot of work has gone into this and it is greatly appreciated.
Lastly. I want, no I need to speak directly to each of my team members in LOPS. I know these last 41 days have been tough. I know that we have taken a lot and I thank you for sticking with it. I am proud of each and every one of you. What we have accomplished so far could easily be one of the greatest things that I have ever seen. Through the pandemic, staffing challenges, weather, loss, fear, you have all held your heads high and pushed through it. I have worked here for 8 seasons and without a doubt, this was the hardest holiday period I have experienced. Through that however, I have witnessed extreme growth, perseverance and dedication. To my Assistant Managers and Leadership team, I could not have done this without you. I am so incredibly proud of you I do not have the right words to articulate it. You impress me daily and I am touched by the level of your dedication. I know that we have picked the right people to make this work and I thank you all for sticking with me.
In closing, yes it has been rough. People have disappointed us, we are tired and stressed. We are all in this together and we will make this work. We have the opportunity to make this an incredible season for ourselves and our guests. It is up to us to make it happen. If you have any ideas that could help us improve our lift experience, please feel free to email me at cody.howe@skihood.com.
Cody Howe
Lift Operations Manager
Wow. Those are great comments and we really appreciate the feedback! Thank you so much! We will pass this on to the team.
-Mark Fellows
Director of Culinary Services.
Let's talk about the Hipocracy that is currently Mt. Hood Meadows. As your employees, you expect us to follow state guidelines that MHM has adopted to the letter. We will be punished for travel and out of work for 10 days. So why, as I sit here and look out the window am I seeing MASSIVE GROUPS of people everywhere? I am by far more at risk, here, at meadows than any trip I could possibly take. Meadows laid out a covid prevention plan that was structured around limiting guests on a given day. I watched the youtube video and read the lay out. This has not happend and today I hear over the radio that 6500 guests will be here today?!? How is 3000 more people acceptable? How is parking a single car in twilight acceptable? I was told by several that using twilight was out of the question this season. Why does meadows view lift ops as sacrificial? The rest of our employees sacrificial? For what? You ask us to keep to strict rules, but do not follow through with your own. There are people massing in parking lots, in the lodge, on the decks. Everywhere. I do not feel safe here. I feel at risk. What what ever happened to mask patrol? Instead you are forcing people who are already doing another job to take on the laborious task of being mask baby sitters. How can you tell us in one email that hood river county is among the highest covid cases in all of oregon, then allow 6500 people up here? Meadows, you are not holding up your end of this very serious public health issue. It sure seems like you are gunning to be the premier super spreader event of oregon. I know of many planning to file OSHA complaints.
I want to shout out to Adam Kinzinger. His commitment to serving the team and their payroll experience has greatly improved the team member onboarding experience and has relieved HR to focus on helping team members with the rest of their onboarding. I cannot say enough how awesome of an addition to the team Adam is.
Some nice to haves off the top of my head:
*Increased resources for project management - Jira is great, I would hate to see it go or replaced with WordPress and confluence. I also know there's other project and ticketing help desk management tools out there that would provide a collaborative platform for projects and help our teams out a lot. Processes such as CRT tracking, collaboration between recruiting and marketing, collaboration between HR and departments for onboarding, HR internal investigations, compensation planning and wage matricies
*Wordpress is working OK but it feels like a bandaid and is not admin friendly for managing complex processes and approval steps - we could use a web-based application that provides secure form submission, e-signature and better process tracking for admins
*Confluence works great as a knowledge base, it lacks in functionality when it comes to project management - this is apparent with CRT tracking
*Resources and executive support to collaborate with department continuing to simplify the onboarding process for new and returning team members, especially instructors. We get a lot of comments and feedback from instructors that they are confused and lost with multiple logins, website resources, and tasks to complete between Dayforce and the sno pro portal
*work on moving to a more flexible workforce by leveraging technology - better lap tops for our team, work stations that we can dock into and utilize shared office space, cloud based services to allow us to work remotely without remoting in to a on-site workstation that's subject to power outages, network outages, etc.
I am very glad we have decided to implement a "punishment" system for the mask situation. Each day I get yelled at at least once for someone not doing it.
Each day we get yelled at for the no boards/ski's in the building too. I am just so glad that security has our back. They do an excellent job enforcing situations and having our backs, I really appreciate that.
I also am glad we have great parking attendants, lift operators are fantastic even with all they go through as well each day. I was in line and heard one lady reminding a boarder about his mask and they were doing a great job reminding people kindly.
A also appreciate the ski patrol. I stopped mid mountain to take a phone call, decided to sit and the guy stopped to make sure I was okay. It is always comforting to know they are out there keeping an eye out on everyone.
Thank you MHM team - you are all doing an excellent job to keep this winter season safe and still have fun. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for the positive comments and recognition of some departments! If there are guests acting aggressively towards are team we definitely want to know about it and help out.
-Jeremy Riss
Hello all,
My name is Kayzia. You many know me as the only Non-binary person (female looking) in Facilities Maintenance. I have been very dismayed this season by the sheer quantity of unsolicited "advice" and "assistance" I have been receiving from our fellow meadows employees that I do not know and do not have any relationship with. I have no idea why this has been happening. Unsolicited help was not an issue for me last year. I have literally NEVER seen any of my fellow crewmembers (who are all male) ever be approached like this while they were working. I dont know if it's my appearance or jovial demeanor that has been getting people to think I dont know what I'm doing, but please realize that approaching me as a stranger, in front of guests or employees and questioning my work (telling me I'm "doing it wrong") is demeaning and embarrassing to me (and frankly, highly sexist). It also makes us look as a whole as a company like we dont know what we are doing. I have even had an employee take tools out of my hands while I was working. This needs to stop. It is really frustrating to me that I feel the need to list my qualifications, but of it gets people to show me the respect I deserve, here it goes. I grew up on commerical gold mining camps in rural Alaska as a child. I went to trade school and became a welder. For a while I was a union pipefitter. I have worked in the commercial fishing industry in Alaska for more than 9 seasons. I ran a commercial ice making operation and fish buying station for many years. I currently work as cheif engineer on salmon tenders in Alaska in the summer. I have fabricated many things inside and out in the new Sahalie Lodge, including the boot bridge handrail. I am highly qualified to be working here in maintenance at meadows. My facilities team is awesome and they treat me with the utmost respect and equality. Please, please let me do my job in peace.
(Rattlesnake tail noise)
Thank you for leaving your name and sharing your frustrations. It seems like an in person conversation about some of these challenges would be helpful and identifying those who are causing them. I have asked Kent and Rod to follow up with you directly.
-Jeremy Riss
You all are doing a great job with all of the challenges this year. My only struggle is the traffic (5+ hour commute is insane) and parking. A 7 hour work day requires about 3-5 hours of driving, plus a long break before we start since I have to arrive over an hour before my shift. That paired with being confined mostly to my car for breaks makes the whole day extremely exhausting. In the end it’s often a 15 hour day with driving, unpacking gear to dry then packing it up again to leave my house at 5:30am. I would almost prefer a half day. The logistics of doing just one day of work are daunting and I have another job. I know this can’t be helped really but I fear burnout when most of my energy goes to just trying to get to and from work and keep warm between lessons. I try to carpool but that isn’t very safe now and I also try to camp in the sno parks to avoid the traffic. That’s about all that can be done I suppose.
The travel restriction has been a huge blow to morale; biggest we have seen. We were all doing good pulling together and getting it done, considering everything that's happening- until that news was given. Had numerous trips planned, all are now gone. My company is now telling me what I have to do in my private life with penalty of discipline/termination if I don't comply with a 10-day stay home. Far more strict than the state which says "advised, but is not required". No matter how you put it, you are saying it is required. Advising extra time at home is fine, advising safety is fine-of course. Asking to consider travel is fine to ask... But, compliance through fear of losing one's job is what you are doing here, and that is NOT ok. If I was fired for what I do in my private life I'm sure that could be debatable legally. Is this the future of Meadows? There are many of us that care more than you know and will do what we need to do to do the best we can for our company. With this measure, the company is definately not doing the best the can for us. No matter how you spin it up. We hope to see this relaxed sooner rather than later to try and salvage something of the year.
I hear a lot of talk on how we should be safe and encourage good practices yet Meadows managers and owners still chose to pack the parking lots, sell as many tickets, and have lift lines literally to the ski way of HRM all while these paying customers complain about how long it is taking for us to start the lift and make it operational for the public.
Also I am hearing that "they" will be taking away letter exchange passes. This is just one of few perks we get access to and to work hard everyday under my own passion 40-50 hours a week, year round, and not receive such perks would be a huge bummer. Also taking time off in the winter is a necessity for skiers/riders. Its what we do and its why we are working on this volcano in the first place.