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New tourism industry program aims at training and keeping workers

Whistler already out-front in development of programs for tourism employees More workers will be needed in a dozen tourism related industries if growth continues at the same pace as it has for the last decade in British Columbia.

Whistler already out-front in development of programs for tourism employees

More workers will be needed in a dozen tourism related industries if growth continues at the same pace as it has for the last decade in British Columbia.

The industry projects it will need 44,300 new workers in food and beverage, 19,150 new workers for accommodation services, 13,100 new workers in adventure tourism and outdoor recreation, 12,000 new workers for attractions, and 500 new workers for travel services.

It’s an issue Whistler is well aware of and for the last 18 months a Tourism Whistler representative has been working with government, tourism agencies, and other stakeholders to formulate a strategy for growth.

"What we will hopefully get out of it is a more stable workforce in the future to help us ensure that we are able to continue to deliver a fabulous product," said Jennifer Geddes, manager of employee experience at Tourism Whistler.

In B.C. the tourism industry ranks as one of the largest sectors of the economy as measured by revenue generation and employment.

The government target for 2010 is $20 billion annual revenue, with 33 million overnight visitors and 200,000 direct tourism jobs. That’s almost double today’s figures.

Tourism will generate $8.2 billion in GDP and contribute $2 billion revenue to the Provincial Treasury.

These numbers do not take into account what will happen to the industry if Vancouver and Whistler are chosen to host the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee will decide the winner July 2.

In order to face this challenge in the fall of 2001 28 CEOs, general managers, human resource directors, industry association leaders and tourism educators formed a task force to lead the Recruit, Retain and Train: Developing a Super, Natural Tourism Workforce in British Columbia project.

Several workshops have been held around the province, including one in Whistler.

The task force developed a five-year plan and established a co-ordinating organization, go2.

The go2 organization will have an operating budget of $1.2 million and will be funded in part through the sale of courses, including the "Serving it Right" and "Foodsafe" programs.

It also gets funding through the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council and other stakeholders.

It is projected that go2 will attract 50,000-84,000 new workers to the province before 2010.

It also wants to develop high profile career pathways, help position tourism as an employer of choice, contribute to a drop in turnover rates, help establish learn-while-you earn part-time upgrading options, encourage education to develop tomorrow’s tourism industry leaders, and forge co-operative human resource efforts and partnerships.

Whistler faces some unique challenges in these areas said Geddes.

Because of the seasonal nature of tourism in Whistler, some businesses need employees with different skill sets in the summer than in the winter. There is also sometimes-fierce competition from the Vancouver labour market for professional and management staff, she said.

And Whistler has a large number of transient workers. Our labour pool is also limited because of our geographical location and all the issues associated with affordability in the resort, said Geddes.

"As a resort we need to work together to ensure that we are building up our industry and we are building up and training our staff and retaining them for the long term," she said.

"The bottom line is that we have to understand that in the years to come as we compete, and we are always competing with the Vancouver market and other areas of B.C., the competition for good resources is going to get tougher and we need to be ready for it."

It can cost an organization up to 18 months’ salary to lose and replace a manager or professional and up to six months’ salary to lose and replace an hourly worker.

The task force found that attrition can be reduced in the first year of employment by as much as 41 per cent by simply saying thank-you to employees, holding regular meetings communicating your efforts to employees, creating an open environment and shifting to a performance-based compensation.

Brent Leigh, president of Whistler Chamber of Commerce, firmly believes Whistler is way out front when it comes to addressing these concerns.

"Whistler-Blackcomb and the major employers all have long-standing and very sophisticated customer service training, and Whistler Chamber also has long standing programs picking up small and larger employers with the Spirit training," he said.

"And we are looking at strengthening that program and adding other dimensions of customer service training with additional programs."

Whistler’s customer service training grew out of many of the programs developed for Expo 86, such as the Superhost program.

"A lot of things that the resort has been doing for a long time to foster tourism and skill-based work development is part of our history," said Leigh.

There is no doubt there are issues surrounding keeping labour here all year round, said Leigh. But it has more to do with community problems such as affordability rather than disenchantment with job opportunities.

The silver lining to that cloud, said Leigh is that, "we have become an excellent university for the rest of the world.

"The University of Whistler does teach more than skiing. It has taught customer service for a long time."

"But the whole of Whistler has the alarm bells going about how you make the community and the jobs less seasonal and more achievable for people.

"This really centres around the sustainability plan."