Backroads Trip Leaders: 2008 Leader Information for Canadian Applicants

Backroads Leaders

2008 LEADER INFORMATION PACKET FOR CANADIAN APPLICANTS

About Backroads and Our Leaders

Backroads is an innovative active travel company that offers more biking, walking and multi-sport trips in more locations worldwide than any other company in the industry. Since 1979, we have been sending our guests on exciting, luxurious and rewarding vacations, and we do so with an exceptional crew of trip leaders. In 1997 founder Tom Hale created Backroads Canada Corporation in order to support our presence in Canada. Backroads Canada Corp. is a subsidiary of Backroads, through which all Canadian citizens are hired. Throughout this application, when you see the name “Backroads”, it signifies Backroads Canada Corporation as well.

Backroads Trip Leaders come from a diversity of professional backgrounds. However, whether coming from careers in teaching, law, engineering, travel, technology, hospitality, public relations, advertising, outdoor education, or other vocations, all of our Trip Leaders share two qualities:

(1) the desire to provide top-notch customer service and create unforgettable vacations;
(2) the ability to "connect" with each and every guest on every trip.

Please read through the following 3-part packet for more basic information about the Trip Leader job at Backroads, as well as see our Canadian Leader Profiles on the website.

PART I: Leader Compensation & Benefits

Backroads sets the industry standard for the total leader compensation and benefit package. We will happily provide the most up-to-date information on daily rates of pay and average gratuities when we speak with you on the phone. In the meantime, a few things worth noting are:

• Allowances and Saving
While actively leading trips, Backroads provides stipends and allowances to cover nearly all costs of food and lodging, both during and between trips. Many of our regions worldwide have leader houses that are available to leaders free of charge while working, in wonderful places like Tuscany, Provence, and Canmore, Alberta. In fact, most leaders find that they are easily able to save money while working for Backroads. Of course, your individual savings potential will ultimately depend on your personal lifestyle and the number of trips you lead in a season.

• Trip-related fieldwork
Leaders are also paid for a variety of work in conjunction with, and outside of trips. Some of this income comes in the form of travel pay, area familiarization pay, research pay, support pay, and hourly pay for miscellaneous work.

• A health/dental insurance program
Backroads will reimburse up to $90 USD per month for provincial medical and/or supplemental medical insurance beginning one full year after your date of hire. Leaders are eligible for coverage during the months they are working for Backroads (10 days/month or a total of 120 days/year).

• RRSP plan
Backroads will match 10% of all RRSP contributions made during the year, up to a maximum of 15% of your Backroads salary, according to the percentage you are vested. Employees become 20% vested each year and are fully vested after five years of employment.

• Recreational benefits
Backroads also offers several benefits to leaders that are of a more recreational nature, including (but not limited to) generous discounts with brand-name equipment and clothing companies; Backroads trip discounts to family and friends; and multi-day social and outdoor staff festivities throughout the year.

PART II: Trips and Scheduling

Leaders may be scheduled for any/all types of our trips: biking, walking, multisport, and Insider. In addition, leaders may be scheduled for any/all versions of our trips: premiere inn, casual inn, camping, and family.

• Leading trips requires expertise of the area in which you're scheduled - either from previous experience in the region and/or from taking the initiative to gain in-depth knowledge. Examples of appropriate expertise include foreign languages, cultural or natural history, and food & wine.

• Although the leadership, customer service and knowledge you provide to our guests is the core of being a successful trip leader, you must also possess the basic skills to be scheduled for any/all types of our trips: biking, walking, multisport and Insider. On bicycling trips, you must be able to comfortably and confidently ride any of the daily mileages listed in our catalog, with panniers or a Camelbak holding extra tools, food, and water. On hiking trips, you must be able to hike any of the daily distances listed in our catalog, while carrying a full daypack. Leading any type of trip also involves a substantial amount of heavy lifting. For example, you will be trained to lift a bicycle and “tray” onto the top of the van, a combined weight of approximately 35 pounds (15 kilos). You are also expected to load and unload large pieces of luggage on a daily basis. In terms of mechanical skills, you must be able to learn how to repair bicycles, hitch a trailer to the van, drive a large vehicle confidently etc.

• All leaders submit requests for regions where they would prefer to lead. Trips are assigned according to leader performance, seniority and foreign language abilities (among other variables). Experience and/or language fluency in a certain region will increase the chance of being scheduled in that area. The ability to speak Italian, French or German greatly increases a first year leader's chance of being scheduled in Europe during their first season. Examples of appropriate expertise are natural and human history in the Canadian Rockies, wines in Burgundy and Bordeaux, human history in the Loire Valley, or culture and customs in Tuscany. You will not be eligible to work in the U.S. unless you possess the necessary working visas. Backroads does not supply working papers for Canadians to work in United States.

• Although Backroads runs trips all over the world during the entire year; the majority of our trips take place between June and September. You must be able to lead trips during our peak summer season—July and August. Although we strive to provide winter employment for leaders, we cannot guarantee trip-leading work through the winter/spring. As a Canadian citizen, if you possess the appropriate language skills, you will be eligible to work winter trips in South and Central America, Asia, and Northern Africa. Again, you will not be eligible to work in the U.S. unless you have valid working papers. Winter trips are awarded on the basis of performance and language skills, while also taking into account seniority.

• We expect first year leaders this year to work an average of 40-50 field days during the 2008 summer season, depending on the date of hire. We generally give leaders 60-90 days notice regarding which trips they will be leading. However, due to the complexities of scheduling trips and potential trip cancellations, trip assignments may change during the season. For the very first schedule new leaders receive, that notice may vary from 5-30 days.

• Backroads does not expect leaders to reside near our home offices in Salt Lake City, Utah, Canmore, Alberta or Pernes, France. However, leaders are responsible for getting themselves to the home office before their trip schedule begins in order to pick up trip gear from the office and warehouse; Backroads then pays for leaders to either fly or drive a trip unit to their next destination. Free housing is available to leaders while in Canmore.

PART III: Additional Career Opportunities for Leaders

Backroads rewards exceptional performance with many opportunities for career advancement throughout the company. Several leaders have spent a portion of their career with Backroads leading trips and then have moved into full-time staff or management positions throughout the company. Some examples:

• Trip Specialists and Regional Experts are leaders who oversee the design, development and all-important quality standards of a trip year after year. Trip Specialists "own" specific trips - not only leading the trips themselves, but also conducting research for those trips, managing relationships with subcontractors in the field, and collaborating with regional managers in Berkeley concerning long-term trip development.

• The Regional Systems Specialist position was created to support our various technology and equipment systems in the field. This position works closely with our Logistics and Transportation Department as well as the Leader Development department in making field operations smooth for leaders in centralized regions.

• Regional Manager positions are an excellent way for qualified leaders to expand their responsibilities at Backroads. Responsibilities include mentoring, providing feedback and evaluating leaders, ensuring smooth working systems within their regions, and working closely with all departments within Backroads to help ensure quality on trips.

• Full-time or seasonal office positions provide opportunities for leaders to use their skills in different ways at our Canmore headquarters or remotely. Leaders have contributed their valuable talents to our seasonal Hiring & Training staff. There are also occasionally part-time temporary opportunities to work in the Canmore office and warehouse.

We hope that the information we have provided gives you an understanding of the Trip Leader position and has allowed you to self-evaluate if it would be the right fit for you. We look forward to addressing any additional questions that you might have during the hiring process.

The guides “were more like family members with a neurotic desire to treat me like a team leader on a Pro Tour team. I am sure that if pressed you will supply a more traditional explanation but I am still holding to the clairvoyant and teleportation theory to explain how they could be so ubiquitous and quick to provide what I had just realized I might need. I would characterize their service as 'unobtrusive attentiveness' and for a week they surrounded me in a physical and emotional envelope that allowed me to ride well beyond my capacity. If you ever decide to diversify, these two could easily lecture on the art of good customer service. You must be very adept at recruiting, because I'm skeptical that you can train people to do what Jace and Alina did for a full week. They were very exceptional.”

—Mark Bayless
Bloomfield, MI