You’ve seen us skiing with kids (and possibly a Minion) on the slopes. You’ve spotted our bright North Face jackets from a mile off. And you probably know we have some bubbly Italian instructors charming the socks off of our clients on a daily basis. What you many not know is that we have an experienced team working year-round, to ensure we continue to offer the same service you’ve come to expect. Here’s a few other facts about New Generation that you may not know…
Yep. One of the original four people who founded New Gen, Tom Saxlund, is still leading the team 18 years later. And who knew, he’s only half Brit!
Although often touted as a British school, we prefer to think of ourselves as international. With a mixture of 13 different nationalities working on the team, the diversity of perspectives and personalities add value and help us evolve as a company.
Can we name all 13?? Yep. We’ve got (in no particular order) English, Norwegian, Italian, Dutch, American, French, Swedish, Scottish, Slovenian, Austrian, Welsh, German and Australian! Phew.
Here at New Gen we think it is important to consider how we work together, and with our partners and clients in a values-based way. The values we feel are most important to us as a company and as individuals are:
Passionate, Fun, Fair, Innovative, Supportive & Honest.
This summer we’ve been renewing our focus on our values, what they mean to us, and how we can continue to incorporate them all aspects of work. From the office to the slopes and everywhere in between. We took a site visit to Yorkshire Coast Radio, a company that has been living its values for a long time, to get some ideas on how we can incorporate our values into the framework of our company. It’s a continued work in progress, but we’re working on it each day.
We offer instructor training courses in several resorts across the Alps, and it’s amazing to know that several of our instructors started training with us many moons ago! Having trained hard to become fully qualified, they were snapped up to become part of our instructor team. There are even some “lifers” – Sam Taylor & Pete Miles – who started their very first instructor BASI level 1 and 2 courses together in Courchevel, and still teach for us in the 3 Valleys today.
And yes this is how seriously we take ourselves…
This autumn we held our own New Gen Bake Off in the Le Praz office each Monday. From breads to frangipane and everything in between, we really just wanted an excuse to eat something sweet every Monday. OK so our judging had nothing on Paul Hollywood’s, and our sponges might not have wooed Mary Berry but we got to eat cake each week! The winner is still TBD…..
With a team spread across various resorts and countries, and even further spread in the off-season, staying connected can be challenging. We have tried other platforms in the past, but we’re currently really enjoying Workplace by Facebook. Or as we like to call it, Facebook at New Gen.
We were lucky enough to be chosen as one of the 500 companies that got to test it in beta stage for the last 6 months, before the platform launched publicly. The biggest benefit is that it’s a tool that everyone is already familiar with. No time is lost training people on how to use Facebook! It gives us a place to brainstorm and pass along pertinent company information as well as a place to share memes and a bit of ski banter. But one thing is for sure, it’s helping us stay connected.
This autumn Verbier Resort Manager Tom & Sales Team Leader Gabby ran the Lausanne Marathon to raise money for a sit ski in Verbier. With a qualified adaptive ski instructor in resort, and requests coming in for adaptive lessons, we knew we needed to put further effort towards making this a long-term possibility. But we needed the equipment to do so! So, with the help of Disability Snowsport UK and Tom & Gabby’s blood, sweat & tears – they successfully raised enough money to buy our own sit ski for Verbier. We’re really excited to expand into this aspect of the sport and offer adaptive ski lessons on a regular basis so that everyone can enjoy the mountains as much as we do.
Read more about Tom & Gabby’s race journey
We’d been looking for a charity giving method for some time and came across Buy1Give1 (B1G1). We were really impressed by their individualised giving system. Unlike conventional giving models, B1G1 helps small and medium-sized businesses achieve more social impact by embedding giving activities in their everyday business operation. Thus, at no extra cost to our clients, every business transaction is impacting lives, from just as little as 1 cent.
Through B1G1 we are linked to over 600 charities across the world, and each month we chose a programme to support inspired by what is happening at the ski school at the time. For example, in weeks where we’ve had a lot of women booked into our ski school, we’ve chosen to support women’s rights projects on their behalf.
And because the money we donate goes directly to the projects we support, we’re able to measure the exact impact we’re having. And we are proud to say we have just tipped over 100,000 impacts!
Read more about our B1G1 Charity Giving programme
