Staffing Summit

Sept. 17 at 9 a.m., at Grouse Mountain Lodge
'Summit' set to discuss summer staffing

     Staffing-up for the peak summer season has always been a challenge for Whitefish businesses, and never more so than in the Summer of 2019.  
 
     Popular local restaurants had to shut their doors because they couldn't find (or hold onto) workers; shops and hotels ran with skeleton staffs and curtailed services; business owners and managers were pressed into service to change beds, run cash registers and do the "heavy lifting;" and competition for entry-level workers has pushed starting wages as high as $15 an hour.
 
     So ... what's the answer?  That's what we'll focus on at the Chamber's first-ever Summer Staffing Summit on Sept. 17 at the Grouse Mountain Lodge, when we bring employers large-and-small together to share what's worked -- and what hasn't -- in their efforts to deal with the ever-worsening worker shortage.
 
     HR directors from Whitefish Mountain Resort, Glacier Restaurant Group and Pursuit (formerly Glacier Park Inc.) will talk about how their organizations have tackled the problem, as will representatives from the Montana Job Service and a host of local small businesses.
 
     The Sept. 17 event runs from 9-11 a.m. at the Grouse Mountain Lodge, and is free to members of the Whitefish business community.