Staffing and Students: An Esalen Case Study

Tatyana Sanikovich, Director of Human Resources at the Esalen Institute, hosted our October Webinar – Staffing and Students: An Esalen Case Study. Birthplace of the human potential movement, Esalen was founded in 1962 by Michael Murphy and Dick Price. Michael is still an active founder and closely involved in the Center for Theory and Research.

“We offer 500 to 600 workshops a year,” Tatyana explained. “There are 149 beds available in circulation and we try to stay around 120 in terms of occupancy, that’s our new model.” In February 2017, a huge landslide buried a large section of California’s scenic highway in Big Sur, closing Esalen to guests both north and south for over six months, the longest closure in their 50+ year history.

Prior to this they were operating at full capacity. During the closure the institute had no revenue except for donations to the closure appeal and lost $4.8M. The critical situation required a radical response. In the words of General Manager and CEO, Terence Gilbey, “We took the hit as a gift!”

“We are a working community of about 135 members. About 50 of them live on property. Some of us commute and stay in commuter housing. We try to minimize that impact,” said Tatyana. “We now have quite a high number of full time employees, we didn’t have that before we closed. It’s a change in the model and they all have full benefits”.

Before the Closure

The compilation of staffing was quite varied and and there were a lot of people on payroll. “The 24 work scholars were working about 32 hours and studying a topic for 28 days. That was our residential program that existed before. They are still are a part of our labor force. However, the extended students program is no longer offered. It was quite a task when we had to lay people off and have the difficult conversations.”

After the Closure

It’s a major change for Esalen to no longer offer the Extended Students year long program, a combination of work in a department as well as personal / developmental work. This is an area of interest particularly to legacy centers established for 30+ years, who all offer a variety of student and apprentice programs that in some ways struggle to meet the needs of the organisation. “People felt undervalued by being paid minimum wage and it’s important to find that balance with your students,” said Tatyana. “That was one of the issues before we closed.”

The extended students program also created a constant flow of people that were coming and going and this was a challenge. “That’s one piece we definitely changed.” Another significant shift included single occupancy housing, made possible by fewer people being on property. “It was for retention and the quality of life for our staff that live here. So they had a personal space.” The new hiring model is based on competency first and foremost, followed by being mission aligned and the desire to be at Esalen.

“My personal philosophy is I will inspire all I can for action”.

The operational change was also driven by the need to break even between the revenue and expenses, before public support. This is another struggle faced by most centers, the need to rely on fundraising and other income streams beyond education. “We try to communicate as much as we can that we’re a nonprofit organization. Sometimes people come here and they assume we’re not a nonprofit because we run well, everything looks beautiful.” Getting that message across successfully is an area that most centers could benefit from, to really support each one to thrive in it’s fullest potential.

During the hour long call Tatyana discussed:

• • • Change in working hours and the positive impact on culture
    • Increase in skilled labor and lower staff turnover
    • Single person housing and ownership of housing
    • Fewer morale issues
    • Noticeable benefits from the operating model of 120 beds – campus less crowded
    • The importance of job descriptions
    • Benchmarking wage ranges within the industry and nonprofit sector
    • Performance evaluation processes – professionally aligned and directional conversations
    • The importance of staff being mission aligned
    • Personalized information for individual’s compensation packages – wages, benefits and how much it costs Esalen (not all staff value benefits in the same way)
    • Goal setting and strategy for mission aligned companies – KPI tracking, OKRs and SMART goals
    • Applicant tracking system and her personal philosophy of fairness and consistency
    • Challenges of location and environmental concerns

  Representatives from Mount Madonna, Clear Sky Retreat Center, Findhorn Foundation, Kashi Ashram, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, Retreat Guru, Institute of Noetic Sciences, The Haven and Guest House Center all participated in the call. One of the benefits of connecting in this way is the opportunity to learn from other centers during the webinar, and also continue conversations offline. To sum it up, General Manager and CEO, Terence Gilbey proclaims, “You can provide benefits and better conditions for staff and operate more effectively!” I’m sure for many of us this is music to our ears!

  The full hour long recording and transcript will be made available to HCN members shortly. We welcome you to participate in next month’s call – Diving Deeper into Analytics and Trends co-hosted by Retreat Guru and Menla.