Aspen Skiing Co. announced a $3/hr raise for all hourly and salary staff beginning Sunday, February 13th. The raise represents a $12 million dollar investment, and with the combination of the November pay hike, which increased the payroll by three million dollars, and this weeks raise, starting hourly pay for most employees with Skico is $20/hr and salaried employees will see a $6,240 annual increase in pay.
“This is an investment in our employees, our community and our future as a business. I have heard from many of our employees about how tough this year has been. The goal here is to say thank you, to offer encouragement for the future and honor their commitment to their work.” – Mike Kaplan, Skico President and chief executive officer.
Despite the fact that the pay hike came midseason, according to Skico Vice President of communications Jeff Hanle, the pay hike was not intended to attract new employees for the season, but the company definitely wouldn’t say no if people applied following the raise.
It almost feels like this is Aspen Skiing Co.’s way of showing off to Vail Resorts, who offered employees a $2/hr bonus at the end of the season in January. At the same time, though, Skico really does seem to care about their employees, at least to some extent. Officials have acknowledged, on multiple occasions, the fact that pay hikes alone won’t fix the housing problems that come with finding staff for employees. The company recently spent $18.4 million on a 150 bedroom building, and provides around 1,000 beds in total to staff. All in all, for as big of a ski company as Aspen Skiing Co. is, it does feel like they care about both the staff and the ski vibe (unlike Vail Resorts, who, in my opinion, clearly doesn’t care about either, and are actively destroying the ski industry…).
Image Credits: Aspen Snowmass on Instagram