2 days ago
International workers help the Black Hills thrive in tourist season
CUSTER, S.D. (KELO) — The Black Hills is a travel destination for many across the country and can see millions of people taking in everything these areas have to offer each summer.
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With that comes a demand for seasonal employees to help provide quality care and service for those visiting.
Each year, around 66,000 workers come to the United States under the H-2B and other programs.
'We use an international lawyer, we start in the fall of the current season to prepare for the following summer season and folks start arriving in the middle of May,' Mount Rushmore Brewing Company Owner Janet Boyer said.
To be able to get this process started, petition fees are needed for the positions these businesses are hiring for, something Janet Boyer has been doing since 2014 under H-2B.
'We've been doin it as I've said for a long time and we have been established, we have a good reputation of being a wonderful town to live in and an excellent place to work,' Boyer said.
Boyer also said that she has many employees return each season.
Custer Hospitality has seen new challenges recently while working on the program to find staff and start working for the next season before the current year is over.
'I think there have been new hurdles that have come with the current state of the nation. Procedures and policies that were previously put in place are still what are put in place. The time that it currently takes though has multiplied significantly. The processing takes longer, the filing takes longer,' Custer Hospitality COO Leah Scott said.
These businesses are in the same lottery system for these international workers who visit the US to work, which means there is no guarantee they will get all employees needed.
'In full really I would say up to 90% of our employees are within those H-2B and J-1 Programs. It seems to get more difficult every year, it's also based on a lottery so there's always some concern of whether we're going to make it in the lottery and whether we'll have the people we'll need. It really is detrimental to the success of Custer Hospitality,' Scott said.
The H-2B program provides a majority of the seasonal staffing each tourist season.
Custer and other Black Hills towns see employees traveling from Mexico, Jamaica, Turkey and many other countries each year with these communities making their place home for these traveling workers.
'So it has a summer home environment for them. They appreciate the business that we have built here that provides a good income for them and that is the whole goal. So when you serve people that serve us as well as they do then it's all just perfect,' Boyer said.
'We take a hands-on approach in the recruiting process as well, so whether they are in Turkey or Jamaica or Mexico or wherever they are in the world we personally make an effort to meet them and interview these people over zoom interviews or whatever just to get a personal feel. Just because it is an intimate relationship, we spend more time with people we work with than our families a lot of times in this industry,' Scott said.
Businesses from Custer to Spearfish to Wall and everywhere in between wouldn't be able to thrive and support the tourism season each year without the help of these international employees.
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