Skyline Queenstown celebrates impressive service milestones of staff ‘family’

160 years of collective service for one of New Zealand’s premier tourism operators is being celebrated in Queenstown this month.

The impressive milestone has been notched up by Skyline Queenstown, spearheaded by celebrations this month for 25 years of long-term service by Marilyn Smillie, currently Skyline’s Senior Retail Assistant.

Perched high above Queenstown, with stunning views towards The Remarkables mountain range and Lake Wakatipu, Skyline Queenstown has 21 staff in total celebrating momentous long-service milestones this year.

Skyline Queenstown General Manager Lyndon Thomas said the company had created a family-like culture over the years, ensuring a low turnover of key staff and a happy working environment.

“We continually recognise excellent performance, long service and the achievements of our employees. We know our staff is our greatest asset, and if they’re happy then ultimately our guests will be happy,” he said.

Skyline Queenstown currently employs 140 staff -- increasing to 170 in peak periods – of over 26 nationalities. However more than 50% of employees are New Zealand citizens or residents.

This year alone Skyline has one staff member celebrating 25 years’ of service, two who have achieved twenty years, three who’ve worked there for 15 years, three staff who have ‘done their decade’ and four who’ve been with the iconic company over five years.

“We believe it’s important to retain and nurture our talent though our management trainee programme and progression planning that’s led to many of them over the years taking up management roles in New Zealand and abroad,” said Mr Thomas.

Mr Thomas is also a long-time employee of the company having first worked at Skyline as a 12-year-old boy cleaning the toilets during the holidays.  Mr Thomas then took up roles at Skyline Mt Tremblant and Sentosa Luge in Singapore before returning to Skyline Queenstown in 2011 as General Manager.

Mr Thomas said the company offered a flexible work schedule and encouraged a healthy ‘work-life balance’. 

Longest-serving employee Marilyn Smillie said she had “always dreamed of working for Skyline” since her first visit to Queenstown in 1983.

“I remember standing on the Skyline deck with our two young daughters thinking ‘wow’, this would be a wonderful place to work,” she said.

“When I finally moved here I saw a job at the Souvenir Shop advertised and decided to apply. That was the start of my career with Skyline.

“My first day was very exciting as it snowed heavily all day and the decision was made to close the Gondola line. We were evacuated on the back of a work truck, slipping and sliding down in the snow. It didn’t put me off and I was back there again the next day.

“There were no Human Resources, Sales, Luge or even Health and Safety in those early days and we used a pen and paper to add up and do our sums. Skyline looked like a cute alpine chalet perched on the mountain,” Mrs Smillie recalls.

“Everyone knew each other as it was a small team and it was like a big family. Everyone chipped in and helped out when needed.”

Carrying on the family tradition, Marilyn’s daughters Charlene and Tania, her son-in-law Jason and her grandkids have all worked for Skyline, and Charlene herself is approaching 20 years’ service in November.

“My proudest on-the-job moment was when my daughter Charlene became my boss,” Mrs Smillie said.

“My favourite guest was singing star Kenny Rogers. He was totally unassuming in his red tracksuit and chatted to me for ages while his wife chose postcards. They spent $37.50 on postcards.”

Lyndon Thomas said team members were encouraged to undertake internal and external training opportunities and for those that were interested, apprenticeships in areas such as engineering, pastry, cookery and management traineeships were available and encouraged.

Skyline’s most recent Management Trainee graduate Mathew Carson has just been appointed as General Manager for North Sky Luge in Mt Tremblant, Canada.

Other staff members celebrating long-service achievements this year are Richard Hughes, Malcolm Officer, Haeyeon Yoon, Saori Sakamoto and Hai Qing Peng

Richard Hughes started at Skyline in 1998 on a short term paving contract, which subsequently led to roles as luge operator, tree feller, and luge maintenance. He went on to complete his three year engineering apprenticeship with Skyline which enabled him to take up a role as engineer at Skyline Sentosa before returning to Queenstown in 2007

Malcolm Officer started his Skyline career as relief gondola operator ten years ago and due to the flexibility it offers is still employed in this position today. Both Malcolm’s children started out on the Luge aged 16 and still help out during their study breaks from university.

Saori Sakamoto and Haeyeon Yoon have both worked for Skyline Queenstown for ten years and worked their way up from souvenir shop and restaurant assistants to more senior roles within the business. Hai Qing Peng is one of the company’s 4 staff who celebrates five years’ of service this year.

“There aren’t many businesses these days that can boast such a strong base of key staff,” said Mr Thomas.

“We’ve always encouraged our staff to up-skill and become the best they can be. Coupled with our friendly, relaxed atmosphere that’s has meant we’ve retained a great team which has stood the test of time.”