Employers struggling with a severe labour shortage in Whistler are hoping a customer service training program will help attract and retain workers.
The program, which has been running for about a year in Whistler, has already shown measurable benefits to the companies using it, said Mark Colgate, a professor at the University of Victoria’s Gustavson School of Business. Colgate designed the methodology the program uses. The chamber released a report today highlighting the benefits of the program.
For instance, Whistler Blackcomb compared staff teams who have taken the training versus those who had not and found higher customer satisfaction ratings for customers who interacted with the trained teams.
Whistler has struggled with what businesses say is a severe labour shortage following changes to Canada’s temporary foreign worker program. Businesses in the ski resort have been largely unable to access TFWs for a year, leading several businesses to curtail hours or close locations.
Val Litwin, the president and CEO of the Whistler Chamber of Commerce, said the customer service training program is one way businesses can make themselves more attractive to employees. The program is available to all members of the chamber and around 6,000 Whistler workers have been trained so far.
“We want people to know that they can come to Whistler and not just have an epic season on the hill, but they can also gain a world-class skill set when they’re there,” Litwin said.
In the face of the labour shortage, many businesses in Whistler do offer higher-than-average wages for positions such as prep cook, Litwin said. But even with relatively high wages (for instance, $17 an hour compared to the $12 that might be offered elsewhere), it’s still hard to attract staff to what are often seasonal positions.
Businesses who want to keep good staff need to invest in them, Colgate said, noting that service positions won’t feel like dead-end jobs if employees feel they’re gaining new skills and have opportunities to advance.
“The people who meet the customer are generally the ones who are paid the least in an organization,” Colgate said.
“I don’t think it’s just the financial side of the service job. I think it’s how do we equip the staff with skills so they feel like they’re growing.”
But investing in staff and paying higher than average wages can be a challenge for small businesses, Litwin said.
The chamber will continue to lobby the provincial and federal government to find solutions to the labour crunch, he said.
@jenstden
