A reader responds to “Life and Death” —

I don’t wish ill on anyone, but I’m sure Trisha and Scott would be grateful for their disproportionate compensation and benefits package and understand the importance of being treated like a human being if they faced the same situation [cancer]. We are not cogs in a machine, even if our acquiescence to the status quo and our commitment to working for the benefit of our community keeps the machine running smoothly. Tricia and Scott [executive team], et al, you are the “leaders” of a unique organism. Our health is important.

Why does Esalen not pay [nurse] Helen? She and [doctor] Geno and the other medically skilled people on property are vitally important to the community as well as to the paying customers. The nearest hospital is 45 miles away, the nearest medical clinic is 15 miles away, all on one unpredictable, curvy mountain road. Someone cuts or burns themselves in the kitchen nearly on a daily basis. I personally have been injured in my job and relied on the help of the medically trained members of our community.

It is irresponsible for the administration to be so blatantly uncaring about the health needs of the people who serve it.

—Anonymous

Some 20 years ago when I first wandered across that expansive green lawn beneath the cypress trees to gaze at the Pacific Ocean, I decided to change my life and enter into a new relationship, one with Esalen Institute, a community I thought was magical, pure and full of promise.

In the year or so that followed, I did see cracks in the pretty picture: the childish cliques, the pathetic jockeying for power involving manipulation and lies, the self–importance of some of the department managers and community leaders. It’s astonishing how people who could never make it in the real business world seem to gravitate to management positions at Esalen. Meanwhile the front line workers there have always been crazy enough to try to scratch out a living in exchange for their faith, sweat, and a tiny bit of money.

I’m lucky. I walked away from the Institute with my hard-earned wisdom, happy and proud, a product of a very brief golden age.

Over the years, I’ve watched many fine people crash and burn there, frustrated and mystified when their talents and devotion were overlooked and/or crushed. It has seemed like some kind of rite of passage, to outgrow one’s need to be loved and validated by a synthetic “community.”

Now though, what I see has me disgusted and outraged. It seems that Esalen, the world leader in the “human potential movement” does not bother to offer health insurance to its hourly employees, the bulk of its workforce, much of it long term, and many of whom have been waiting through multiple administrations to receive a living wage and a compassionate benefits package.

Case in point is my friend, a long-term Esalen community member and gifted worker in his department, who waited and waited and waited and waited for promised health insurance benefits. Seems he’s waited too long — he has cancer, and delayed getting critical medical attention while he continued to wait for his much-needed benefits. Most horrible of all, he was approved (by his direct manager and others) to enter a position this week that would give him health benefits that would save his life. Yet, the CEO Trish McEntee and HR Manager Scott Stillinger have flatly said NO. Not to him directly mind you, but by announcing in a community meeting yesterday that while “tragic,” he would have to do without the benefits promised to him for years.

If my friend dies on their watch, Scott [Stillinger] and Trish [McEntee] will have his blood on their hands.

Shame on Esalen Institute: Who let these evil snakes into the garden?

Esalen now spreads consciousness and bliss only to those who can afford it. Worker bees beware. And buy your own health insurance.

—Anonymous

What does it mean that, where we once had teachers gaining world recognition for Esalen in long-term residency, those programs are now eroded and our best teachers are turned into visiting outsiders?

What does it mean that, where the tone of Esalen life was once shaped by its attached philosophers and practitioners, they have been substituted in this process by policy consultants and outsider executives?

What does it mean that, where Esalen once praised radical self-expression and triggering as vital to healing and understanding, a workshop like The Max is being moved from the Lodge Deck to keep these things out of sight?

What does it mean that, where the staff wage disparity was once 3:1 and the institute was financially viable, it is now 20:1 and we’re supposedly on the verge of collapse?

—Anonymous

Esalen CEO Tricia McEntee, internal email, January 21, 2010:

In the interest of building a relationship of honesty, integrity, and trust, among organization employees, [survey] results should be communicated effectively by a unbiased professional and acted upon by the organization.

Who is being allowed to communicate the results of the Leadership Culture Survey in an effective way? How are the results of the survey being acted upon by the organization? The CEO should follow her own advice, gleaned from professionals, or resign.

—Anonymous

[Esaleaks invites the results of the Leadership Culture survey, to be communicated effectively and without bias through open publication.]

I request an appointment with the Director of Guest Services at an open community meeting, perhaps during staff week. That seems like a good time when we can all hear the results [of the Leadership Culture survey] without the risk of exposing our inner workings to seminarians.

I trust Jan entirely in her intentions and would like to stress my full hearted belief in her integrity.

I imagine the decision to do things this way was not in her hands, but I don’t know for sure.

I just don’t trust the mechanism of dispersal for this information. Why can’t we see the results in a more open forum where community dialog can be facilitated?

—Anonymous

The salary distribution at Esalen is disappointingly typical of corporations:

Perhaps the reality of executive compensation at Esalen would be digestible if not for the poor performance that has come along with it.

—Anonymous

[This data is 4 years old. The expansion in management through the ensuing 4 years has been immense. —Ed.]

In the recent CEO report to the Board of Trustees, this passage stands out:

Sponsored by Trish [McEntee] and Scott [Stillinger], Jan [Sinclair] and the EEteam conducted two 2 hour all staff meetings to communicate results of Leadership Culture survey

This is a misleading statement. Actual detailed numbers were never released because the results came out very poorly. The staff at Esalen has been told that the results are available only if one makes an appointment with Director of Guest Services Jan Sinclair. Unfortunately, the implicit motive behind that move appears to be one of intimidation.

—Anonymous

[Esaleaks invites the raw results of the Leadership Culture survey for anonymous publication on this web site.]

Thank you for publishing the Esalen Community Representative Report of October 2010. It is apparent that the issues we have as a community are being ignored and that when the issues are swept under the rug or thrown a token of appeasement we quiet down for a bit. Unless a real change is made and honest communication takes place I fear the same things will be true in 2012.

If the administration hasn’t paid attention in the past I invite them to pay attention now. The administrative class around the world is paying the price for their arrogant lack of attention to the people they are “leading.” Decades long dictators are being dethroned, tried and executed. Governors are being recalled by their constituents. Esalen is a microcosm. Please listen to us now and choose to be a hero for what is right, and not another example of disgraced elite, out of touch with the base of power that exists in the people.

—Anonymous

These executive compensation figures apparently do not include health insurance or housing allowances. With all benefits included, these seem to be very hefty compensation packages. The Board believes these levels are necessary to attract “top talent.” An alternative HR process might (1) compare Esalen top earners’ total compensation and benefits package with that of other similarly-sized non-profits and/or hospitality services. With this knowledge, we could then (2) advertise positions with a salary range that tops out somewhere slightly below standard levels, and see who bites. If the positions are intrinsically attractive, qualified candidates might bid the compensation cost down.

The executive team may claim they have already more or less used this approach, but it is highly questionable whether there has been enough transparency for those outside the cabal to verify the effectiveness of Esalen’s hiring practices.

—Anonymous

[The placement of Tricia McEntee in the CEO role without conducting a public talent search, or even interviewing qualified candidates put forward by the community, exemplifies administration's preference for opaque hiring practices and favoritism. —Ed.]

Esaleaks presents the Esalen Community Representative Report of October 2010. The report is now over a year old, yet the problems it outlines remain overwhelmingly unaddressed — including a hostile working environment, disregard for individual skills and potential, a lack of open collaboration, and the sense that management is orchestrating a major cultural shift without openly discussing its intentions.