Pros
Free ski pass, talented and supportive co-workers, team ski days at the resorts (pre-Covid).
Cons
While criminally low seasonal pay grabs most of the headlines, salaries in corporate are also well below-market rates despite grueling hours and high levels of stress. I was once reprimanded by a colleague for not immediately responding to a text message after 10 PM on a Thursday (and no, the sky was not falling). Most managers keep a very tight rein on their programs, with virtually no risk-taking for fear of making mistakes. Subject matter experts have little autonomy and were required to solicit endless layers of approval in order to move projects forward. Innovation was the exception in this oppressive culture. Though I’ve worked for many public companies over the years, I’ve never seen a more investor-obsessed management than Vail Resorts. Virtually all corporate teams were corralled together in conference rooms each quarter to listen to earnings calls with Wall Street, wasting tremendous amounts of staff time that would have been better spend focusing on improving the customer experience. Despite Vail’s voracious appetite for acquisitions, the company has chronically underfunded the tech that supports its business—from an infrastructure and people perspective. Working at Vail could also sometimes resemble a cult. In one of the weirdest experiences of my professional career, a mandatory ‘team-building’ activity at a managers’ offsite (pre-Covid) involved singing solo and a capella in front of one’s peers. You cannot make this stuff up.