Aspen Skiing Co. won’t fill ‘handful’ of positions

ASPEN — The Aspen Skiing Co. won’t fill about one dozen vacant positions this season, but it won’t follow major competitors by laying off any employees, a top company official said Thursday.

David Perry, Skico senior vice president, mountain division, said the company brass decided not to fill a “handful” of vacancies. When asked how many, he said 12 “at the most.”

Vail Resorts announced Thursday that it will lay off employees and eliminate positions that weren’t yet filled. Intrawest, another ski industry giant, eliminated an unspecified number of positions last month at its resorts, including three ski areas in Colorado.

“We’re absolutely committed to our course,” said Perry. “We’re not laying anybody off. We’re not cutting any benefits.”

When contacted after Vail made its announcement Thursday, Perry said Skico was trimming expenses every way it could without eliminating personnel. “People-related expenses is not what we’re looking at,” he said.

Later in the day he clarified that the company wasn’t filling the dozen or so vacancies. Most if not all of the unfilled positions are salaried jobs, he said. They aren’t “front-line workers” who have regular contact with the public.

One example of an unfilled vacancy, he said, was a management position in the human resources department. Restructuring will eliminate the need for the position.

The Skico employed about 3,500 workers at its four ski areas and hotels at peak season in prior winters. Perry said that is essentially what the company will employ this year.

There also may be some wage workers who don’t log as many hours as they would like, depending on business activity, he said, but that can be true any season.

Perry said earlier that the Skico expects its skier visits to fall between 5 and 15 percent this season.

scondon@aspentimes.com