Vail Resorts has become a global leader in luxury ski experiences, owning and operating 42 ski resorts in four countries around the world: the U.S., Canada, Switzerland, and Australia. This comes after a period of exponential growth. Just 10 years ago, the organization had only 10 resorts. So, its workforce has had to grow and diversify as rapidly as its portfolio.

Being inclusive in a business with tens of thousands of workers at peak season means developing leaders to broaden their skillset to engage with people in a more human-centric way. That calls for showing workers how they can explore a wide variety of jobs, to expand their capabilities, and have a sense that they belong. Everyone shares the same mission: to create the experience of a lifetime.

Engaging Seasonal and Year-round Workers

The vast majority of Vail’s workforce is seasonal, Lynanne Kunkel, chief HR officer at Vail Resorts, shared during a fireside chat at From Day One’s Denver conference. We have about 55,000 employees total at peak, and about 49,000 of them are seasonal. And our seasonal workforce is our frontline,” she said.

Being in the experience business, she says, the company’s mission is to provide guests with the experience of a lifetime. This value system is also embedded in the organization’s human resources approach. “We create the experience of a lifetime for our employees, so they, in turn, can create the experience of a lifetime for our guests,” Kunkel said. “We put a lot of emphasis on understanding our frontline employee experience to make sure we’re [accomplishing that].” A large part of the year-round workforce are the frontline managers, so the company also prioritizes investing in their ability to properly support the seasonal teams.

Housing in resort towns is notoriously pricey, so Vail Resorts offers a program to help employees live within a commutable distance to work. “We build housing that is owned and operated by Vail Resorts. We also have master leases with other developers in our resort communities so that we can support employees if they want to come for a season,” she said. This is especially crucial for first-time employees who may be unfamiliar with and have little connection to the area.

Prioritizing Employee Retention

“Seasonal employees have a choice every season to decide: Do they want to re-up with Vail Resorts? Or do they want to go do something different?” Kunkel said. “And so, over the years, we have spent a lot of time trying to understand what differentiates the frontline experience.” Vail Resorts used the global labor shortage during the pandemic as an opportunity to refresh its employee value proposition, which is now: “Explore. Grow. Belong.”

Investing in employees is also top of mind. “We invested $175 million in employee experience through a combination of wages, benefits, frontline development programs, [and] frontline recognition programs, all in service to the idea that our frontline employees don't just work for Vail Resorts. They are Vail Resorts. They are the experience that is the differentiator for our guests,” she said.

Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton of the Denver Post, right, interviewed Lynanne Kunkel, CHRO of Vail Resorts

Kunkel hopes talented employees will “come for a season, but stay for a career,” attracted by different job types and the opportunity to participate in development programs for career growth. The organization has a workforce management system that allows employees to qualify for skills outside of their core responsibilities and try out new positions through open available shifts. Not only does this allow for upskilling, but it also gives workers the opportunity to take on additional hours for extra income.

The highest performing winter employees are also invited to stay through the summer for a special development program. “Epic Service Summer is an opportunity for them to get a differentiated development experience as part of their summer employment,” Kunkel said. The program has had a marked impact on both growth and retention. “We found that the participants in that program are getting promoted in their next season at five times the rate of their peers, and at two times the rate of their other high-performing peers. If they’re not getting promoted, [then] they’re moving laterally at three times the rate of their peers and two times the rate of their high-performing peers.”

Creating a Diverse Workforce That Reflects the Future of the Industry

Moderator Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton, neighborhood reporter at The Denver Post, notes that the ski industry has a reputation for being “very homogenous.” Vail Resorts is striving to change that.

“We as a company have made a declaration that the future of the sport is inclusion,” Kunkel said. Vail Resorts has been using the CRM system Epic Pass to “understand our guests, and our guest behaviors and preferences, in an extreme amount of detail,” she said. “With Epic Pass and the data that comes from it, we’re able to make targeted investments in improving the guest experience in a data-driven way.”

Vail Resorts is also using data to understand the demographics of the industry and society at large–-and the gap that exists there. “Over 70% of skiers start the sport as beginners below the age of 18,” Kunkel said. With the majority of children in the U.S. being non-white, “the future of the industry is counting on these kids to start skiing before the age of 18. If we don’t invest now in building inclusive resorts where people feel welcome, our business will not be sustainable. The best way to make our resorts welcoming is to aspire to have our internal employee demographic mix mirror what we believe is the demographic mix of the future of the sport.”

Preparing for Continued Growth

“There are some changes happening within the company that were announced recently that are going to take place over the next two years,” Boyanton noted. Vail Resorts recently announced the commencement of a two-year resource efficiency transformation plan.

“We have three resorts in Australia [and] two resorts in Switzerland, and we are very committed to continuing to build out Europe as our next region of operation,” Kunkel said. “As we’ve looked at what it’s going to take for us to support the global expansion of our company into other geographies, this was a good time for us to take a look at our organization effectiveness [and] invest in some great organizational design work in order to scale the company to support that expansion.”

As it grows, Kunkel says, Vail Resorts will continue to invest in the employee experience. “The whole idea of this is to create a scalable platform as we grow, to allow our frontline teams to focus on the guest experience and give them the scalable tools and support that they need to be able to do that in the most efficient, effective way.”

Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.

Evolving a Strong Set of Cultural Values for a Remote Workforce

Pop quiz: What U.S. city currently has the most remote workers? That would be Austin, Texas, with a whopping 24.9% of its workers operating outside of a traditional office environment. Carmen Amara, chief people officer at Yelp, is one of them.While many companies have ordered their employees back to the workplace, others have remained committed to flexibility. During a fireside chat at From Day One’s Austin conference, Amara showed how Yelp develops its remote culture with three elements in mind: What are employees saying about it? What are the business results? And what is the pace of innovation? Plus: How to keep career development at the forefront in a distributed workplace.Responding to the Desire for Remote WorkEven among growing public discourse about the need to return to the office, many workplaces are still noticing a strong desire among employees to stay home post-pandemic. “We are a remote work culture now,” said moderator Ross McCammon, deputy editor at Texas Monthly. “17.9% of workers are remote, a full three times as much remote work as there was before the pandemic.” And Yelp is no exception.“In 2021 we said we were going to be ‘remote first.’ We opened up our office doors and employees voted with their feet. On any given day, we had less than 1% of our employees showing up in an office,” Amara said. Recognizing that remote work was, in fact, working, Yelp went fully remote in 2022.The job market today is different than it was in 2022, when there was heavy competition to attract the top talent and the Great Resignation was in full swing. Now, Amara says, “companies are hiring more selectively” and tenure is lengthening, which means productivity is up, but organizations must work harder to keep longer term employees engaged. We’ve gone from the Great Resignation to what McCammon calls “The Big Stay.”An Intentional Approach to Culture-buildingOne of the biggest concerns facing employers today: Can you create culture in a remote environment? “Yes, you can, but you have to do so with intention,” Amara said. “And it’s not the same playbook, you can’t translate what you were doing in an office environment and just do that at home.” Yelp does it by relying on its longstanding core set of values. “Culture is about the stories that we tell and the values we hold high. That has to be foundational. You have to live by your values. You have to show your values in action. You have to address breaches in your values. And leaders have to walk the talk,” she said.Yelp creates experiences for employees that allow them to feel the organization’s values in their daily work. It’s taken its formerly San Francisco-based employee resource groups global, so all employees can join in the conversations from wherever they are. It also holds awards opportunities tied to the values and select in-person and virtual community service events in cities where there happen to be a lot of what Amara affectionately calls “Yelpers.”Carmen Amara, chief people officer of Yelp, was interviewed during the fireside chatYelp has developed both structured and unstructured storytelling sessions tied to its corporate values and professional development initiatives. Amara herself recently recorded one about authenticity. Leaders and employees at all levels are invited to take part. Sessions are presented live, recorded, and then sent out for later viewing.Re-envisioning the Employee ExperienceAmara says Yelp has relied on employee listening to inform a lot of its actions during and after the pandemic. “We did more specific and targeted surveys and interactions with employees to learn from them, so that we could quickly create the new playbook,” she said, noting that the organization was even more willing to move quickly and learn on the fly while refining the employee experience, rather than waiting for it to be “fully baked” before launch.What came out of the listening sessions was a strong desire for flexibility and the benefits that can help support it–caregiver benefits, mental health benefits, and flexible health and wellness benefits, including a stipend that can be put toward gym memberships, acupuncture, fitness gear, or the like. “It’s about creating a person-first experience,” Amara said.Amara acknowledges that as an HR professional, it can be hard to capture employees’ attention when rolling out cultural changes and benefits opportunities. She suggests “trying to meet people where they are.” Yelp introduced a new framework called Connected by Conversation, which offers six templates of the most impactful conversations leaders can have with employees, such as goal-setting discussions and one-on-ones. “It’s not a script,” Amara said. “We want people to be authentic, but it gives them a menu of options in a two-page outline to enable them to amp up their coaching capabilities.”Addressing “The Big Stay” in a Virtual WorldKnowing that employees are now staying longer in their roles, organizations need to prepare to play the long game. When Yelp went fully remote, it revamped its employee value proposition. “The former proposition talked about what it felt like to walk into a Yelp office,” Amara said. Now, it focuses on “work-life fit,” and hires with an eye toward what sorts of people thrive in a remote working environment. “We look for people who are going to be self-sufficient, who are self-starters, but can also collaborate across geographies,” Amara said. “We tend to include other folks from the team in that interview panel, so that our candidates get a full understanding of what it’s going to feel like to work here.”Without the natural visual and emotional cues of in-office interaction, it can be harder to see if employees are fulfilled and thriving. Yelp uses tools to assist, sending automated reminders to managers to complete regular check-in protocols with employees. “And we're very intentional about creating robust onboarding experiences,” Amara said.Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.

Guiding Employee Growth With Inclusive Pathways to Success

Success in an organization is never a given, and without a clear pathway, it becomes almost unattainable for employees. Creating inclusive pathways for employee growth is a strategic imperative that fosters engagement, trust, and long-term retention. Five panelists spoke on this during From Day One’s LA conference in a conversation moderated by Nick Wolny, columnist for Out Magazine.Leverage Employee Resource GroupsOne way that companies can create inclusive pathways for employee growth and success is to make the most of their ERGs. Panelist Antonio Hairston, VP of recruiting, diversity outreach & early career talent for William Morris Endeavor, says that leaders should join ERGs. That way, leaders can participate, advocate, and promote them. “Over 2,000 members are a part of them, and it’s an authentic way to really build community,” he said. “Four of my team members are either a part of the leadership board or a part of a committee, and so as we think about our conversations and quarterly reviews or semi-monthly reviews, we talk about their personal development, and we talk about ways in which we can stretch them, ways in which we can give them stretch assignments.”This kind of collaboration and skill-building is instrumental in helping employees grow. Taking it a step further, Hairston became a mentor as part of the company’s ERG mentorship program. “It gives me the opportunity to connect with someone outside of my direct team,” he said. “We’re bouncing ideas off of each other, and I get a fresh new perspective from someone far removed from my direct team.”It’s really a win-win for both, with the mentor gaining insight, while the mentee learns from a leader in the company.Create Sharing OpportunitiesAt Chedraui, previously Smart & Final and El Super, where panelist Joseph Tischbern is VP of talent development and engagement, they focus on looking at employees as individuals. “We’re not just going to train you. We’re going to help you find the skills that exist in you, and we’re going to coach you until you believe that you can do whatever’s possible,” he said.Everyone comes to work wanting to be successful, but success may look different depending on each person. In order to feel comfortable to do that, there must be an environment of trust. To do that, companies need to create sharing opportunities.When Chedraui acquired Smart & Final, the company went from 12,000 people to 25,000 overnight. Tischbern said while many of the employees shared some commonalities with regards to Spanish language and culture, they needed to bond as employees and speak a common company language. “We put them in as many learning environments together as we possibly could,” he said. They also focused on developing consistent language. That included putting everyone through the Gallup Strengths Finder and the Seven Habits for Highly Effective People. From that, employees began speaking a common language, which ultimately helped them to trust the environment. One company leader, an immigrant from Iran, shared stories of hardship living in his home country. Soon others began sharing their stories. “Him being so transparent in that learning environment started breaking walls down,” Tischbern said. “Forty leaders in a room started to talk about their experiences. And that started to transform the culture.” Shift to Skills-Based HiringAn inclusive pathway always starts with the first step, and that’s hiring. Panelist Christine White, head of talent acquisition, North America, at Alstom, said they’ve changed how they approach getting people in the door. “We created a matrix for the core skills that we needed for all of our exempt and non-exempt positions,” she said. Still, letting go of traditional ways of focusing on degrees from specific universities can be hard for some leaders. To help change the mindset, shifting to a skills-based hiring model is a constant topic of discussion, White says. One thing they’ve done is put potential hires through tests, and share the results with leadership.The group of leaders spoke on the topic "Creating Inclusive Pathways for Employee Growth and Success"As they continue to share the results, a pattern emerges. It challenges the educational ecosystem and makes them ask the real question—what makes a person ready to work? If a person took the SAT or graduated from a prestigious university, does that automatically make them better? White concluded no. That’s a bias that needed to be challenged. This mindset shift to skills-based hiring has created an inclusive pathway for success. “We've been successful dealing with the education issue. It’s pretty much nearly gone in terms of a four-year degree,” White said. “Without the educational [barrier], we’re having them undergo a few more skill assessments in the pre-screening phase.” And any skills they still need, they teach, allowing for growth and success. Embrace DiversityThe current environment is a collision between DEI and talent development, says panelist Katie Oertli Mooney, managing director at Seramount. No matter what you call anything related to DEI, the focus is diversity, and it’s only going to become more important as time goes on. “Representation matters,” she said. “When we think about the future of work, students and those of younger generations are two times more likely to turn down a job if they don't see diversity in the organization.” Equitable access and opportunities is required so everyone can compete and move forward, Mooney says.Data from EEOC shows a 10 percent increase in new charges, meaning if inclusion isn’t at the center of an organization’s focus, there will be risks organizations would need to manage. Alternatively, leaders can proactively create a diverse workforce. “Having inclusive leaders, involving curriculum of that magnitude, leads to more effective, efficient workplaces,” Mooney said. A culture of belonging reduces attrition risks. Use the Power of AI for Job MatchingLarge corporations especially can find creating inclusive pathways challenging. That’s where AI can prove a useful tool, says panelist Michael Watson, senior director at Eightfold. There, they try to remove bias by not requiring an education and looking more at skills with the help of AI.“Every day I go to work, I’m trying to level that playing field for veterans, for working moms that didn’t have a chance to go to school, dads, everyone across the board that just hasn't gotten a fair chance,” Watson said. Some of his best recruits, he added, were baristas or servers without a formal education but plenty of skills in talking to people and dealing with rejection. “We’ve ingested over a billion and a half career paths. We’ve ingested over a billion roles,” he said. “Because of the size of our dataset, we can see those adjacent skills that you have.”Originally, Watson interviewed for a different position with Eightfold, and they turned him down for that role. But they came back and told him he’d be perfect for a different position—something he never would have considered, but thanks to AI the company matched his skills with what they needed. “Never in a million years did I think I would be running customer success,” he said. “But because we’re using these large data sets, we can see these anomalies, and we can see these patterns, and then we can lay those out for our employees.”By fostering inclusive pathways, companies can unlock the potential of their workforce by emphasizing trust, collaboration, and shared growth. Organizations that prioritize these efforts will not only build stronger communities within but will also drive sustainable success.Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.

Redefining Well-Being in Today’s Workplace

What does well-being mean to you? The standard six pillars of well-being are emotional, physical, financial, social, intellectual, and spiritual. Each one complements and impacts the other, and the most forward-thinking companies are careful to include each in their employee benefits package.Traditionally, employers viewed well-being through the lens of physical health and its impact on productivity. Today, the scope has widened, encompassing mental health, financial security, and social connections, in the context of hybrid and remote work as well as in-office. As this thinking evolves, how are leaders assessing the points where employers can be most effective–and how are they aligning those needs with new solutions? As workplace culture becomes a key driver of well-being, how are companies ensuring their efforts foster a sense of belonging for all employees?The key to an effective benefits plan is understanding how each pillar of well-being impacts the other, shared panelists at From Day One’s LA conference. “When you consider well-being, always remember it’s not one silo or one category. It’s about taking a holistic approach to well-being,” said Bernie Knobbe, head of global benefits & well-being at AECOM.Your approach should also be intentional. “Ambiguity kills culture and when you think about well-being and how people flourish in the workplace, if you don’t know why you do what you do and how it fits into the bigger picture, then you’ve got a very little chance of flourishing,” said Matt Jackson, GM & VP, Americas at Unmind. Holistic refers not only to the intersection of the pillars, but of the offering themselves. Vendors should work together to accomplish this, Jackson says.Creating a Space That Embraces WellnessAll panelists emphasized the importance of leadership buy-in to make a wellness program thrive. “Employees look to their managers for guidance and encouragement. So, you have to get those managers to buy into this concept in order for it to be successful. It shouldn’t be top-down… it should be middle forward,” Knobbe said. “Make sure you’re reaching everybody, and that it’s consistent.”Wellness can be a sensitive topic, but companies like BuzzFeed have created “safe spaces for employees to be able to share what they need for their physical and mental health,” said moderator Pamela Avila, entertainment editor at USA Today. Buzzfeed offers panel presentations, wellness fairs to highlight current resources, and manager dens for frank conversations on relevant current events. The company also tailors its offerings depending on role and department.“We also try to identify what different teams and different levels of our employee population need,” said Chandler Bondan, chief people officer at BuzzFeed. For example, those covering tough news topics might need additional mental health support. And honoring the lifestyles and values of a diverse workforce is key. Bondan shares that Buzzfeed ended a contract last year with its insurance provider due to its restrictions on IVF and LGBTQIA+ care, opting for “a carrier that would be more inclusive of our population.”The executive panelist spoke about "Redefining Well-Being in Today’s Workplace"Leveraging employee resource groups can be a pathway to making well-being offerings more inclusive. Jackson shares how Major League Baseball initially had an individual mental health ERG but found that it was more effective to have mental health integrated into all its other groups instead. “If you can talk about mental health in the context of how you experience life across those different ERGs, it’s going to resonate and have a much greater impact,” Jackson said. ERG’s are also “a great employee listening tool” to see which benefits are working, and which are not, he says.Well-Being as Company CultureMore and more, company culture is becoming a driving factor behind not only employee retention but also overall business success. “FOX Sports is a household name. But we’re no longer getting people because of just our brand. It’s really [about the philosophy,]” said Kim Beauvais, EVP, HR & business operations, FOX Sports. For Beauvais’ organization, offering an inclusive wellness benefits package helps build a culture of psychological safety, and therefore, risk-taking. “We believe it’s okay to fail, it’s okay to try things,” she said. “And listen, we’re not curing cancer. We’re putting on sports TV! It should be fun. It should be fulfilling. There should be a purpose in what you’re doing. And you should feel like it’s a fun place to come to work.”Culture needs to be cultivated with intention, especially when employees are being asked to return to the office at least some of the time. You don’t want all employees to feel forced to return only to continue to stare at a screen. “We have to help people feel connected when they’re back in the office, so that they have a sense for being there,” said Jack Schutzbach, VP, HR, Americas, Groupe SEB.Understanding Your WorkforceEspecially in large corporations, well-being offerings should speak to employees’ unique lifestyles and work situations, Beauvais says, citing different needs like childcare, at-home work set ups, physical labor vs. desk jobs, etc. “The shift that we had to make over the last five years was that empathetic leadership, that empathetic philosophy that not every employee is created equal. We have multiple buckets and types of employees, [and] their situations are all very different,” she said. HR leaders need to be visible among employees, listen to their needs, market current benefits, and carefully investigate potential offerings to make sure they are viable for the current workforce.And always remember that generally, use of benefits can be confusing or stressful to employees. “We try to make exceptions where we can, to make sure that it’s an easy part of someone’s day, not a hard part. Being as flexible as possible is a good [idea],” Bondan said.“The role of the HR business partner is changing,” Beauvais added, so that it’s less about enforcing rules and more about providing support and care so employees can stay healthy and productive. “Being a part of their world and understanding what they’re going through, so that they do lean on you in those moments that they wouldn't normally reach out to you, is really important,” she said.Understanding Your Role in the ProcessUltimately, you must remember that as HR you are in a people-first business. “One of my favorite sayings is, ‘We’re human resources. Human is our first name. Resources is our last name.’ Our customers are our resources, and we’re responsible for the human side of our business. So, we add value when we do that,” Knobbe said. “And ROI–it’s both ‘return on investment’ and ‘return on individual.’ If you can get your programs and your communications right, people feel like it's about them, not just about whatever it is they’re trying to accomplish.”Jackson shares there are three layers of well-being benefits: organization, interpersonal, and individual. For years, HR was mostly just focused on the individual, emphasizing personal resilience and being reactive to problems after they occur. In today’s workplace, that’s no longer enough.“What’s your responsibility as an employer? The organizational layer is all about how you want to talk about mental health. How do you want to talk about culture? How do you want to talk about well-being? How do you set the right tone for the rest of the organization?” Jackson said.The structural elements should be supporting your company values, be it mental health benefits, fertility benefits, parental leave or more. And manager training should incorporate these values, teaching how to be “empathetic leaders that create mentally healthy environments,” Jackson said. “If you are intentional and look across how you run your organization from a well-being, benefits, and culture perspective, and assess at each of those three levels, that’s a good starting place to think about what you need to do to create that mentally healthy environment.”Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, On New Jersey, and CBS New York.

Creating a Culture for Workers to Explore, Grow, and Belong

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