SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., March 14, 2022—Ahead of its second-quarter earnings call, Vail Resorts rolled out a new incremental annual $175 million investment in its employees that includes a $20 per hour starting wage, a commitment to “aggressively” expand affordable employee housing, and the hiring of more centralized HR staff, among other things. 

In a company-wide email, CEO Kirsten Lynch reflected that Vail Resorts could not fulfill its goal to provide guests with the Experience of a Lifetime without first providing that to staff, and acknowledged that the company had “fallen short on that.” “Addressing this,” she said, “requires a pivotal shift in our company’s direction with a new strategic focus on all of you—year-round and seasonal, hourly and salaried, mountain resorts and corporate.”

Pay. That shift includes the $20 per hour starting rate for employees across all of its 37 North American properties and corporate, effective winter 2022-23. Tipped roles are included in the bump, and maintenance technicians, certified commercial vehicle drivers, and patrol will start at $21 per hour. The company upped the starting wage to $15 per hour at 10 of its properties—not the entire portfolio—ahead of the 2021-22 season. 

Year-end merit increases for salaried employees will double from an average of 3 percent to an average of 6 percent, effective October 2022. There will also be increases for hourly employees with compression adjustments based on “career stage and leadership differentials.”

Career development. VR will also add seasonal frontline leadership development programming. While the specifics of the programming were not outlined, Lynch said this about the company’s leadership development goals: “If you come for a season, we want you to have the opportunity to build a career.”

Housing. Vail Resorts plans to add to the roughly 7,000 affordable housing beds it provides across its mountain resorts. While the details were not provided, Lynch said several key projects were underway and that the company is looking both to build housing on the land it owns and pursue company leases in existing affordable housing developments.

Human Resources. The company will invest “an additional $4 million per year in HR immediately,” Lynch said, in response to payroll and HR support challenges that staff has continued to experience. This includes adding 66 members to its central human resources service staff, effectively doubling its central HR and payroll team. VR said it also intends to upgrade its HR technology systems and simplify its HR processes.