"Tricks of the Trade"
Everybody talks about it - but few are able, or willing to make the commitment to carry it out. Yes, I am talking about providing the tools to keep the line employees in a gaming environment motivated and interested every day that they show up for work.
The goal of any organization, regardless of its size, should be to provide a working environment that has a nurturing atmosphere. Simply put, a business is much better off if the people working in it are not thinking - and believing, that they are being treated unfairly, worrying about “office politics” and the many other distractions of the workplace. It is the responsibility of management to ensure that the guidelines and checks and balances are in place for this to happen. This we all know theoretically, but how do we put it to work practically?
When the systems are in place that eliminate, or minimize problems, the time invested in the program is time well spent. The employees become task orientated and are more likely to work with management to improve the business. The discussion, and plan explained below is for table games employees, but can be customized for other departments with minor changes in the process.
A fact of life is that the jobs of dealers and supervisors in a casino are very repetitive, monotonous tasks. Senior management are continuously focused on various benchmarks that move the company forward, with the marketing department moving from event to event, dreaming up ever more interesting ideas to attract customers and improve results. The employees on the casino floor, however, have no such system or short term goals, and each “exciting event” soon becomes just another opportunity to work very hard with little in the way of recognizable reward. In addition, it is probable that they are not involved in the bonus program, and if they are, it is on an annual basis - a timeline that is far too long to keep most people focused on their job on a daily basis.
Most companies conduct evaluations of employees, either on an annual or bi-annual basis, and this is the only opportunity that the line employees gets to discuss their thoughts on the work environment - unless they are being counseled about a specific situation. These annual sessions are reviled by all concerned, especially those assigned to complete the evaluations. They look upon it as an intrusion on their valuable time, thus the whole process is devalued by negative comments about the process, and that it is a “requirement by Human Resources” but “it has to be done”. This environment and the complaint/counseling scenario is clearly not the ideal method to get the best out of the employees, or encourage them to contribute their ideas in a neutral way to improve overall performance.
Despite the challenges inherent to the process, there is a way to make the employees more involved. It takes a secure, confident management team to implement and act on it. It comes under many names, “360° Review”, “Bottom up Review” and others. The MGM Grand Baccarat operation developed a program, modeled after the company wide “Temperature Check”, employee survey, called “Heartbeat”. This program was limited in scope and goal, and the purpose was simple - to measure the employees’ beliefs about the quality of life in their workplace. A limited number of core values regarding the working environment were measured, by each shift, to determine how the employees saw their life at work. While the compensation for this group of employees was equal to the rest of the table games personnel, it was essential that the group work as a team and provide the customer with a high level of service every day - the type of customer involved meant that mistakes and disgruntled employees could be very, very costly to the casino. Utilizing the program developed by the MGM Grand Baccarat operation as a model, below are the key criteria that must be in place for a successful review.
An example of some of the questions that can be asked are:
Each question should have four choices of response: Strongly Agree; Tend to Agree; Tend to Disagree; Strongly Disagree. There should also be space for a few comments about anything that the employee wants to elaborate on. The dealers are evaluating the supervisors, and the supervisors are evaluating the pit managers. In large casinos, where there are at least 10 pit mangers per shift, they can also complete the survey on their shift managers.
So, you have done the Review, now what? Question six in the example above is the most important indicator. The employees have to believe that the process means something, which requires that the management have to act on the results - whatever they are.
Once the survey is completed, it makes sense to put it into a database and produce the results in bar graph format, by shift. This visual method is far more effective than simply producing meaningless numbers, and makes future comparisons easy to read. The results should then be discussed and analyzed. If a particular category, the evaluation process for example, receives poor scores from all shifts, then the management should investigate why. If a particular shift receives low scores in a category, counseling for example, then management have to analyze the process, retrain the correct method to the appropriate group of supervisors as necessary, and monitor the results.
The first survey will no doubt result in some surprises for the management, but as long as the issues are dealt with, the next survey will show significant improvements. The comparisons that are available as the program continues are also very useful. Many casinos move their shift mangers and pit mangers from shift to shift, and the results from these different groups of employees give a far better indicator of how the casino floor is being managed than any other method. The results that measure pit manager and shift manager performance can be used in great part to evaluate the performance of these managers in the evaluation and promotion process.
Most casinos will find that they will receive a small percentage (3% - 8%) of the respondents that will always be in the “Strongly Disagree” category - no matter what is done. Our experience at the MGM was that it was same percentage on each survey - while all other categories moved up or down. This indicated to us that there was a small group of “rebels” who were not part of the team, and probably never would be. As many managers know, less than 10% of the employees create 90% of the challenges in operating a casino.
Suggesting that the survey be conducted every 90 days will get the response from many that it is too frequent, and to much work, but the effort is well worth it. Once the data base is set up to track the results, the process is easy to manage, with the survey forms being distributed, dropped off after completion, and then imput into the database. The whole process, from distribution to the final results being presented can be completed within one week.
Once the department is receiving consistently high results in all the categories, one can consider issuing the survey every 120 days - three times a year. Remember that each working environment provides different challenges, and while the example questions in this article are a good start, it may make sense to add your own question to suit your own particular needs, but don’t be tempted to keep adding questions, the effectiveness of this program depends on brevity and achievable goals. Finally, make sure that all participants in the survey understand the importance of the program. If you don’t treat it seriously, don’t expect your employees to do so either!
You can find the Management Review form here "CLICK"