Jill Bruneau

▶0:01HostWelcome to the Built by People podcast, where we share the stories and insights of the world's top HR leaders. Join us as we dive deep into the minds of HR executives, uncovering their strategies, challenges, and triumphs in shaping today's workforce. I'm excited to welcome Jill to the Built By People podcast. Jill, thank you so much for joining us. And as a starting question, I always love to ask if you could share a little bit more about your career journey.

▶0:54GuestYeah, thank you for having me. I started my career actually as a vet tech, and after about 20 years decided to transition over to HR. So I worked, um, in my vet tech career in small animal medicine, wildlife medicine, zoo medicine, and then ended up in higher education, which is what kind of led me back to school. And I received my business degree with an HR emphasis. And, um, I feel like my medical training and that education background helped me, uh, with my kind of transition into HR. HR and into benefit administration. So I found myself navigating that space pretty well. And from there, I just enjoyed the total rewards aspect. And so that led me into compensation and, you know, the perk part of it and all of that.

▶1:44HostJoe, you work for a really cool company. I know many people listening to this episode know Reed Hastings. Who is, uh, one of the owners of, of Powder Mountain, uh, as the, uh, founder or CEO of, uh, Netflix. Uh, I'm— you mentioned also that Powder Mountain is transforming into a 50-year-old startup. Can you elaborate on what this transformation entails and what it means for the ski industry?

▶2:12GuestYeah. Um, so the resort opened around 50 years ago, so that was before Reed Hastings stepped in. And just like in tech startups, we've had to move quickly, be agile, innovative, and to do that to save the failing resort. So as Reed pivoted in Netflix from going from DVD rentals to the streaming platform that we all love, Powder Mountain has pivoted from a public resort to a hybrid public-private resort. So as with any successful startup, you know, you kind of hire the best team, have great business model. And solid funding. I was excited and honored for the opportunity to be able to help rebuild Powder into what we hope it becomes. And so with that, it, it's very much like a startup.

▶2:58HostAnd Jo, how have you applied your experience and skills from the tech startup world to drive innovation and disruption at Powder Mountain?

▶3:08GuestYeah, with not having resort or hospitality experience, I leveraged my tech skills by thinking outside of the box, really. Rather than doing, uh, what other resorts are doing, I looked at other successful companies and, you know, they're paying market rate for compensation, they're offering competitive benefits, and, you know, doing all of this while still thinking like a scrappy startup. And so for me, I love finding creative ways to enhance our benefits and perks programs, and I love it even more if it's affordable and it makes our employees happy.

▶3:41HostYou've mentioned that you've gotta focus on total rewards. How do you tailor compensation and benefit packages to attract and retain talent in such a dynamic and seasonal environment?

▶3:55GuestYeah, well, the seasonality of our industry was new to me, and so, you know, trying to figure out what, what those seasonal employees are looking for. And, you know, we have kind of an advantage at Powder Mountain with the mountain itself. So that definitely attracts people. And so, you know, that makes it a little bit easier, but we still, you know, it's, it's not foolproof. So you have to have, you know, things to attract people. And, and so with the season pass perks, we also, you know, made sure that we kind of adjusted our compensation philosophy and, you know, we increased our base wage from $15 to $20 as part of that, you know, change that we were making to kind of disrupt the industry and to make sure that we're attracting that top talent that I mentioned.

▶4:45HostAnd talking a little bit more about the seasonality of your business, managing seasonal operations at a ski resort is quite unique. Can you share some of the challenges and strategies you've developed to effectively manage the ebb and flow of seasonal staff?

▶5:03GuestYeah, so one of the things is we hired an exceptional people operations director that has ski and hospitality experience and embraces kind of our no rules rules approach. So as we build our people team, we better navigate that ebb and flow that you mentioned. And, you know, onboarding 700 people seasonally is no small task, and we did it in 2 months. And so I think one of the biggest things that worked was having a, we rented out a large conference center in Ogden and Reed came in and gave a keynote. And then we had breakout sessions for smaller groups to be able to kind of share what is changing, what we're doing, what we're trying to innovate in this industry. And so by being transparent and having the employees have the ability to ask questions and have those breakout sessions, I think really helped. Bring that trust that's needed to be able to say, hey, we're in this together and we're excited for what's coming. And I think our team members really appreciated that and they were able to ask questions and talk directly with Reed, which I think really helps.

▶6:08HostLooking ahead, what do you see as the major trends or changes in HR for seasonal industries like the ski industry? And how is Powder Mountain preparing?

▶6:20GuestThe biggest change is going to have to come in attracting that talent, and that's with every industry, not just the ski industry. And so we're fortunate again that the mountain attracts local and national talent. And so, you know, it's not foolproof by having the mountain as, you know, that attraction. But like I mentioned before, I think, you know, we're looking to continue to enhance our benefits and PERF program. And then the biggest is, you know, just base wages. So in our '24-'25 season, we increased that entry-level wage from $15 to $20 an hour, and then overall revamped our perk program. So I think that's gonna be the thing that's gonna have to happen is companies are gonna have to realize that people are looking for more.

▶7:06HostJill, what parting advice would you like to share with our community?

▶7:10GuestYeah, I'd say don't get locked into the mindset that you have to do something a certain way. Just because that's how it was done before doesn't mean that's what's gonna work now. And I've worked in consumer goods, high-tech, higher education, and even the maritime shipping industry. And so I draw from all of those experiences to kind of bring what I think is gonna be best for Powder. And so one thing I would encourage is that all HR leaders read the book, No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings. And this isn't a shameless plug, you can get it free on the Libby app, but it really when I read the book, it really helped me look at culture from a different perspective, and I think it's a really great guide. So definitely recommend reading that.

▶7:53HostJill, thank you so much for joining us on the Built by People podcast. It was a pleasure to have you involved.

▶7:58GuestYeah, thank you so much for having me.