Whitefish summit aims to tackle staffing shortage

Seasonal staffing has been a persistent challenge for Flathead Valley businesses. The Whitefish Chamber of Commerce will look to address this dilemma at their first Summer Staffing Summit on Tuesday.

The announcement for the event claimed the seasonal staffing issue has never been more serious than in the summer of 2019. The statement detailed some of the difficulties local businesses have endured as they struggle to fill positions during the peak tourist season.

“Popular local restaurants had to shut their doors … , shops and hotels ran with skeleton staffs and curtailed services … ; business owners and managers were pressed into service … ; and competition for entry-level workers has pushed starting wages as high as $15 an hour,” according to the document for the summit.

In seeking to address this ongoing problem, the Whitefish Chamber is inaugurating their first Summer Staffing Summit at the Grouse Mountain Lodge. The event will aim to figure out an answer to staffing shortages. “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,” the announcement stated.

A variety of business leaders will be present at the meeting to discuss their approaches to staffing. Presenters slated for the summit include representatives from the Montana Job Service, various small businesses, Human Resources directors from Whitefish Mountain Resort, Glacier Restaurant Group and Pursuit, formerly known as Glacier Park Inc. These diverse local business experts “will talk about how their organizations have tackled the problem.”

In bringing together this diverse group of local business experts, the summit is designed to equip the Whitefish business community with creative strategies to ensure a qualified and reliable workforce going forward.

The event is free for members of the Whitefish business community. The summit will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Sept. 17 at the Grouse Mountain Lodge.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at bserbin@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.