Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Pique n' your interest

Lip service

During the last municipal election, staff housing and affordability quickly became the focal point of the whole affair. It was bigger than the Olympics, bigger than taxes, bigger than any two issues combined.

Attending the all-candidate meetings hosted by WORCA and the Chamber of Commerce, our would-be councillors and mayors were besieged with questions on how they would make housing and life and Whistler more affordable for staff.

Business owners and resort employees evidently feel that Whistler is behind in its commitment to provide housing for resort staff – both to meet the demands of resort growth and to compensate for the steadily shrinking pool of homes used for staff housing as the redevelopment of local neighbourhoods begins in earnest.

They have a point. But there is another side to the issue as well.

In my almost four years living in Whistler, I’ve been shocked and appalled by how some resort staff have been treated by their employers.

While housing and affordability no doubt contribute to the shortage of skilled employees in Whistler, the prevailing attitude that there is this unlimited pool of workers to draw from and that everyone is replaceable is equally at fault. People don’t stick around where they’re not wanted, and where the opportunities to advance are limited, no matter how good the skiing is.

I don’t intend to name names, because the business owners and managers know who they are. Some employers are exemplary by any standards, and they know who they are, too.

I know employees who work up to 20 hours of overtime in a single two-week pay period, but aren’t paid any overtime. When the taxes are deducted, these employees only make a fraction more than they would with a standard 80-hour pay period.

Not only is this illegal in Canada and British Columbia, it also robs employees of the extra money they could really use to pay high rents, buy toys, take vacations, and generally enjoy life in Whistler.

The employees I know that are in this no overtime situation won’t complain to the government because they are worried their employers will then to limit their pay periods to 80 hours to avoid paying overtime, and they need the extra money. They are also worried that they could be branded as troublemakers and let go. The word ‘union’ gets thrown around here and there, but not seriously.

For most employers and employees, the tourism industry is feast and famine – busy one minute and dead the next. By letting employees share a little more in the feast, those employees will get through the famines easier and might actually still be in town when things pick up again.

I know of at least one employer that used to demand one month of unpaid training from his staff. By the time employees had made it through that period, they still had another two weeks to go before they would see their first paycheque. The company no longer does this, but got away with it – it’s also illegal to demand unpaid training in most businesses – for years.

I know of another employer that actually charges prospective staff for a training program that doesn’t come with any kind of certification they can put on their resumes. It’s not a lot of money and they do learn a skill, but it immediately puts employees into a hole.

Some employees can spend their entire summer on call, coming in to work only when they are needed, and cut loose the moment things get slow.

Some tour guides I know get paid only for the hours they spend on tour, and not for the hours they spend at work between groups.

Although these guides get a lot of hours when the resort is busy, there are some pretty lean paycheques.

Other guides have to pay out of their own pockets for all of the equipment they use, and for the training that is required by the job. Some of these expenses cannot be reclaimed at tax time.

Some first aid courses that employers require can cost $700 the first time and another $500 to renew every couple of years, and some employers make no effort to cover any of these costs. They won’t even meet their employees half way.

Certified courses are a deductible education expense, but most employees don’t want to wait until next spring to get their money back.

Wages are generally lower in the summer than the winter, when employees aren’t in such high demand.

And while wages are consistently higher than the minimum wages adopted by the province, they don’t come close to meeting the minimum required to live any kind of normal life in Whistler, one of the most expensive towns in all of Canada.

As a result, some employees work more than one job.

While that affects quality of life, it also comes back to bite you in the ass at tax time.

When you only work part-time, employers only take off a fraction off your paycheque for tax. Meanwhile your overall earnings keep climbing, sometimes moving you into a higher tax bracket.

This happened to me in 2001, and I’m still paying the government the back taxes I owe.

I should also mention that I was never offered a raise in the entire time I worked at this part-time job, which is also illegal – wage reviews are mandated on a regular basis.

Some employees have been ripped off by their employers, being denied things like commissions and vacation pay.

Other employees decry the lack of benefits from their jobs, including bonuses, health care plans, and other perks like pension plans, RRSP plans, and paid vacations.

Talk to anyone who works in Whistler, and chances are that they will know someone who has gotten screwed by an employer.

Talk about employment standards gets swept under the carpet in Whistler, mostly because the tourism and recreation industry is a little bit different than the norm that employment standards were created to regulate.

Still, that’s no excuse.

Before businesses can challenge the municipality to provide more housing and address affordability issues, they should take a close look at their own practices first.

It’s an expensive town – so what are you doing to make it more affordable for your staff?