Keeping camp and lodge staff for more than one season

Cooks, housekeepers and camp jacks turn over faster than guides — and it's almost always fixable.

Guides get the attention, but the season falls apart just as fast without a cook, a housekeeper or a camp jack. These roles turn over the most, and the reasons are boringly consistent.

The three things people leave over

• Hours that quietly grew from the ones described at hiring.
• No real day off, ever, for eight straight weeks.
• Living conditions nobody warned them about.

What retention actually looks like

Write down the schedule before the season and stick to it. Rotate the worst shifts. Give the kitchen a budget it can work with. Tell people at the end of the season whether you want them back — and put it in writing.

A returning cook is worth two new ones. They already know your guests, your suppliers and your stove.

Keep crew history season by season. When you know exactly who worked which camp and how it went, next year's hiring starts with a shortlist instead of a blank page.