THE IMPACT OF CULTURE IN THE WORKPLACE
A Project
Presented to the faculty of the Department of College of Business
California State University, Sacramento
Submitted in partial satisfaction of
the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
in
Business Administration
(Finance)
by
Christina Marie Fichera
SPRING
2014
© 2014
Christina Marie Fichera
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ii
THE IMPACT OF CULTURE IN THE WORKPLACE
A Project
by
Christina Fichera
Approved by:
__________________________________, Committee Chair
Dr. Jerry Estenson
____________________________
Date
iii
Student: Christina Marie Fichera
I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format
manual, and that this project is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for
the project.
_____________________, Associate Dean for Graduate & External Programs _______
Monica Lam, Ph.D.
Date
College of Business Administration
iv
Abstract
of
THE IMPACT OF CULTURE IN THE WORKPLACE
by
Christina Marie Fichera
Organizational Culture has become an evident part of a company’s success or failure. For
CF and their clients, it was apparent that there was a lack of positive culture throughout all of the
organizations, which was causing the companies to be less sustainable and therefore profitable.
The newly developed Executive Team knew that they needed to implement a culture based on
customer service in order to gain sustainability and profitability.
Through team member surveys, turnover reports, claims, and lawsuits, the Human
Resources Team was able to develop a strategic plan based on policies, processes, procedures,
and trainings to implement the new culture. While there are still plenty of opportunities for
improvement, they have managed to create a foundation for the culture amongst all the
companies. Within a year of implementing the new culture, they have already begun to increase
their sustainability and profitability.
_______________________, Committee Chair
Dr. Jerry Estenson
_______________________
Date
v
DEDICATION
I dedicate this project to the memory of my Mother.
Thank you for being my guardian angel, I love you.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As I conclude my academic career with this final project, there are many people I would
like to thank for helping me reach my goals.
To my Father: thank you for your endless love and support, but most of all for life. You
are the greatest father and friend a girl could have been given. I would not have gotten
this far without you, I love you Papa!
To my Grammy and Grampy: words cannot express the undying gratitude I have towards
the both of you. When my life shattered 10 years ago, you guys picked me up even
though yours had shattered too. I will never be able to thank you enough for you support,
guidance, friendship, and endless love. I love you more!
To Tyler: you are my rock, my happiness, my best friend. This journey has been a crazy
one, and without you I would not have made it through. Thank you for keeping me
grounded and calm in times of frenzy, thank you for putting up with my moodiness when
I was completely stressed out, and thank you for loving me every single day. This is just
the beginning; I love you!
To my brother Mikey: I love you more than you will ever know. Your support and
encouragement mean everything to me. I feel honored to be your sister. Thank you, I love
you.
To Dr. Jerry Estenson: I am pretty sure the dictionary’s definition for brilliant is your
name. Thank you for inspiring me to think outside the box, stand up for what I believe in,
and introducing me to organizational culture on an intellectual level. The experience I
have had in this program would not have been the same if it were not for your dedication
to your students. Thank you, thank you, and thank you.
Finally, to my Mother: thank you for making me a fighter and instilling in me the
strength I need to conquer my fears and achieve my goals. Thank you for guiding me
through life everyday from up above. I hope I have made you proud. I love and miss you
so much.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Preface ...................................................................................................................................... v
Dedication ................................................................................................................................ vi
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ vii
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION ………………...…………………………………………………….. 1
Background of the Problem ......................................................................................... 2
Statement of Research Problem .................................................................................. 6
Purpose of Research..................................................................................................... 6
Methodology ................................................................................................................ 7
2. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ................................................................................... 8
Where to Begin? .......................................................................................................... 8
Human Resources Roadmap ...................................................................................... 11
3. EXECUTION AND IMPLEMENTATION ..................................................................... 13
Policies ....................................................................................................................... 13
Why Were the Policies Created? .................................................................. 27
How Were the Policies Implemented? .......................................................... 36
Processes and Procedures .......................................................................................... 38
Recruiting Process ........................................................................................ 39
Progressive Discipline Process ..................................................................... 41
Leave of Absence Process ............................................................................ 44
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Recognition and Communication Program ................................................... 46
Full Time – Part Time Process ..................................................................... 53
Workers’ Compensation Process and Procedures......................................... 56
Guest Service Procedures ............................................................................. 60
Training....................................................................................................................... 61
All Team Member Trainings ........................................................................ 63
Leadership Compliance ................................................................................ 65
Leadership Fundamentals ............................................................................. 67
Leadership and Professional Productivity .................................................... 71
Policies, Procedures, and Other Changes ..................................................... 72
Why Were the Trainings Created? ................................................................ 74
How Are the Trainings Conducted? ............................................................. 75
4. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA ............................................................................................ 79
Casino A .................................................................................................................... 80
Casino B..................................................................................................................... 86
Casino C..................................................................................................................... 93
Overall Analysis ...................................................................................................... 100
5. FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS ....................................................................... 103
Appendix A. 2011 Team Member Survey Results .............................................................. 109
Appendix B. Comparison of Turnover Rates for Years 2011 – 2013 ................................... 115
Appendix C. Human Resources Roadmap ............................................................................ 116
Appendix D. 401k Vesting Chart.......................................................................................... 119
Appendix E. Unresolved and Resolved Variance Discipline Charts ................................... 120
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Appendix F. Employee Benefit Contributions ...................................................................... 121
Appendix G. Workers’ Compensation Claims From 2011 – 2013 ....................................... 122
Appendix H. Greet, Guide Appreciate Training Guide ........................................................ 123
Appendix I. Training Calendar Example ........................................................................... 125
Appendix J. 2013 Team Member Survey Results................................................................. 126
Work Cited ........................................................................................................................... 132
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1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
When I began my graduate studies at California State University, Sacramento in
September of 2012, I had the pleasure of taking a course in Organizational Behavioral
Management. Throughout the course we studied many different topics, but each one
always reverted back to the culture of an organization as a whole. It was during that Fall
semester that I decided I would use my current employer to create a project based on
culture in the work place and use them as the backbone of my research and studies.
In January of 2011 I began working for a consulting firm that specializes in
Finance, Marketing, Technology and my career of choice, Human Resources. For
privacy purposes, the consulting firm will be referred to as CF throughout this paper. CF
serves as the administrative group for many card rooms and banking companies
throughout the state of California. When I accepted the Human Resources Administrator
position at CF, I had no idea what kind of company it was, the history of the company, its
purpose, mission, goals, etc. While this should have been my first sign at how
underdeveloped the company’s culture was, I was too naïve at the time to know any
better. However, on my first day, as I walked into the office, it was apparent that this
company was missing a big piece of their puzzle, organizational culture.
As an employee of CF, I started my first week off without a clear direction, job
description or duties, and without any formal training. This would continue for my first
month of hire, through my first year of working for CF. CF is contracted by several
different card rooms, for privacy purposes, we will refer to the three that are being
2
observed in this project as Casino A, Casino B, and Casino C, to serve as their
administrative group, and overseeing the operations group as well. The owner of CF is
also the owner of each of the casinos, so it was to my surprise that a company like CF
that was disorganized and lacked organizational culture was supposed to be the means for
helping create and manage culture in each of the casinos.
This is what led to the problem. There were several companies, with the same
owner, which were all constructed and the same way and lacked any clear mission,
vision, and principles, and therefore organizational culture. The problems that needed to
be solved were: how to define all of the companies’ missions, visions, and principles and
develop order throughout the companies by creating an organizational culture? The rest
of this paper will articulate the problem, data, and findings, I have compiled throughout
my studies in the Masters of Business Administration Graduate Program.
Background of the Problem
Before CF started, the owner had a dream and a few dollars to start his own
banking company. He and a partner successfully started their own banking company.
They were contracted by several different card rooms to bank the table games that were
being played. From the beginning, the casino industry has not been known for its
upstanding morals and ethics, it is considered a shady industry. Card rooms were, and
besides PW casinos, I am sure still are, run with very little rules, standards of operations,
or proper procedures.
As the banking company grew, the owner decided that he wanted to go to the
other side of the business and begin owning and operating card rooms; and eventually he
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did, five of them to be exact. There were several problems that came with this desire that
was made reality. First, the card rooms all seemed to be purchased within a three-year
span. This made it difficult to focus on one property for any length of time before diving
into the next. Second, some of the acquisitions were already existing card rooms, and
some were titles to having a card room in a certain city. With the existing card rooms
came existing problems that were acquired along with the property. As discussed
previously, card rooms were generally controlled and operated in a shady, unethical way,
many problems were caused from broken promises and the absence of protocol and
procedures from the previous owners. Also, people that were satisfied with the shady
culture were unhappy when change occurred in order to bring the card rooms up to
standards and be within compliance of the law. Either way, people were unhappy, which
caused more problems.
In order to support these new card rooms, CF was created to aid in managing
Finance, Marketing, Technology, and Human Resources. It would act as a consultant to
each of the card rooms and provide corporate services. The business had now changed
from managing a body of people in the same position, to running several businesses,
properties, and people in different positions. It was no longer just overseeing people,
headcounts, and paying an agreed upon amount of rent to the card room the banking
company was occupying, it was now about being the card room a banking company pays
rent to, running a card room and restaurant in several different locations, managing
several different positions, etc. This created another problem. While the owner of all the
companies had grand ideas, those grand ideas only went so far and then came reality. He
4
did not have any business background, especially in Human Resources, to put policies
and procedures in place where they were needed.
As I mentioned, when I started with CF in 2011, I was shocked at how the
company, the card rooms and restaurants, and the banking companies were still profitable
and functioning. Due to the lack of standards of operation and procedures, uneducated
management, and minimal policies and procedures, along with outdated tools and
operations, had this company not been in the profitable casino industry, there is no way
that the company could have survived and been profitable. There was no accountability,
everyone blamed everyone for what was wrong instead of focusing on solving and fixing
the problems.
In May of 2011, CF hit a rough spot. It was at this point that accountability
became top priority, and if the company could not rely on someone, they were packing
their bags. During this time the Human Resources Department suffered, we were a fourman unit trying to serve 1,000+ employees. The card rooms and CF did not have a good
foundation of policies and procedures, and we were holding on for dear life as we
watched our Director of Human Resources get terminated. A Human Resources
Management consulting firm came in to assist with trying to repair what few policies and
procedures we had and try to establish a culture throughout the companies. In theory it
sounded great, in reality it would never work. They did not understand the industry or
business, but thought they had all the answers. They did not have the experience needed
to fulfill CF needs in order to revitalize itself and its adjoining card rooms.
5
Eventually by July of 2011 the consulting firm was no longer consulting for us.
Instead the problems at hand would be realized, and the company, would use the
resources from within to build a culture of strength and consistency, which would lead to
sustainability and profitability.
Since the tech boom with Microsoft and Apple, organizational culture has become
a more discussed topic. As we sat around the table discussing human resources, in one of
our Human Resources Team meetings with the consultants, the lead consultant looked at
us and said, “we are going to change the image that Human Resources’ job is baking
cookies.” Maybe at some point in the past it was Human Resources job to bake cookies,
but nowadays, at least from my experience, Human Resources is in place to back the
company and it’s potential liabilities, and help create an organizational culture that
incorporates a company’s mission, vision, and principals, and creates a way of work life
for the company and its employees.
It is apparent that CF and its sister companies did not have a developed culture
before because they lacked clear missions, visions, and principles, and were therefore
running under complete chaos. Because it was running under complete chaos, lawsuits
happened, battles were lost, resources were wasted, and the company could not reach its
full potential, or even come close to it. The company had two choices: 1. Watch the
company fall apart and allow chaos to lead it to the point of no return, or 2. Define itself
as an organization and adopt a culture that would help the company thrive and reach
sustainability and profitability. The company proved to be somewhat business savvy
when it chose the latter.
6
Statement of Research Problem
CF lacked the knowledge that was needed in order to build an excellent
organizational culture, causing the company a great deal of credibility and money. In
order to improve the company’s sustainability and profitability, a clear mission, vision,
and principles would have to be developed so that the organization could develop a
culture that engulfs these concepts. Once these concepts have been developed, policies,
procedures, processes, and trainings can be developed that encompasses these concepts
and builds the organizational culture. The policies, procedures, processes, and trainings
will be used as a tool to measure the impact of the presence of culture in the organization
and the improvement of sustainability based on the implementation of the culture. As part
of the Human Resources Department at CF, I will contribute by helping seek resolution
to these problems by using my academic studies, research, and the Human Resources
Leadership Team.
Purpose of Research
The purpose of this research is to prove that by developing an organizational
culture, a company’s sustainability and profitability will improve. Using Company A,
Company B, and Company C, I will show how these companies started out with a
negative sense of culture, implemented a new culture, and due to the implementation of
the new culture grew in sustainability and profitability.
In addition, I will be analyzing the companies individually to show that what
might work for one company, might not work for another; creating a slight difference in
the organizational culture of each company although they are the same type of business. I
7
will use both examples as a means of proving the importance of creating the right kind of
organizational culture specific to each business.
Methodology
The set of methods that will be used to measure the significance of the change in
the culture throughout the companies will be surveys both before and after the
implementation of the organizational culture, yearly turnover, unemployment claims, and
a comparison in the number of lawsuits. In addition, a comparison of the data for each
casino will be used to distinguish if certain implementations of the culture work better for
one casino versus the other, and why that might be the case.
8
Chapter 2
BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Where to Begin?
2011 was a busy year for CF. By busy I mean they did a lot of renovating to the
Executive Management Team. With a new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), new Vice
President (VP), new Human Resources Director, and new Legal Counsel, the Executive
Management Team did a complete 180, all within the later part of the year. As each
executive joined the team, they realized that there was a lot of work that needed to be
done across the companies, but no one was too sure of where they needed to begin.
According to Edgar Schein’s Organizational Culture and Leadership,
organizational culture is a pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it
solved its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well
enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct
way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems. (18) They began with
focusing on what the mission statement for the company should be in order to determine
the type of corporate culture they wanted to create. The mission statement was needed in
order to shape the direction of the culture they wanted to create for all the companies, so
they could ultimately achieve their mission. The mission statement that all of the
companies’ cultures are centered around is; PW Casinos provides a consistent gaming
and dining experience centered on customer service in a friendly, safe, and pristine
environment. (PW is abbreviated to protect the privacy of the company.)
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Once the mission statement was developed, a vision could be created. The owner
of all the PW Companies had a vision for a long time. He wanted to transform the stigma
of card rooms. What most people knew of card rooms was that they were dirty, smoky,
dark hole in the walls that were run with very little rules, standards of operations, or
proper procedures. When a person walked into a card room, it was not like walking into
the Bellagio or even Thunder Valley. Card rooms were small-scale gambling
establishments that were heavily regulated by the State of California and were only
allowed to offer card and tiles games to play. Organizational Ambidexterity in Action:
How Managers Explore and Exploit suggests that, “central to the ability of a firm to
survive over time is its ability to exploit existing assets and positions in a profitproducing way and simultaneously to explore new technologies and markets – to
configure and reconfigure organizational resources to capture existing as well as new
opportunities.” The owner’s vision was to give card rooms a makeover, and transform
them into establishments that offered a clean gaming and dining facility, that provided
guests with excellent customer service and every reason to come back. In order to do this,
his establishments would have to be inviting, clean, and pristine, which they were, and
his parent company, CF, would have to create a culture for the team members that would
in turn create an external culture based on incredible guest experience centered around
customer service.
In August of 2011, CF rolled out a team member survey to each of the casinos.
The survey asked 42 questions that were based on Casino Management, Company, Direct
Supervisor, Emotions, Job, and Team. For example, My GM/Senior Manager cares about
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the employees in my company; then the team member would have to rate whether the
strongly agree, somewhat agree, neither agree nor disagree, somewhat disagree, strongly
disagree, or does not apply. The survey was not mandatory, but the team members were
strongly encouraged to take it. Please see Appendix A for all 2011 team member survey
questions and results for each casino.
Although the survey built the backbone to the Human Resources roadmap that
would help build and define the culture at Casino A, Casino B, and Casino C, other
principles were taken into consideration as well. The turnover rates for each casino were
evaluated greatly, management styles and techniques, staffing of all companies,
processes, procedures, lawsuits and claims, and overall compliance of all the companies,
were all looked at when developing the roadmap. Please see Appendix B for a
comparison of the turnover rates from 2011-2013.
Building a culture or changing a culture takes time, and we knew there would be
hesitation, complaining, hostility, and refusal. We also knew that by reinforcing the
mission, the principles of the company, and the culture we were trying to create, that
eventually those who refused, were hesitant, complaining, or hostile, would eventually
adapt to the culture or they would leave the company. That is a common problem with
building a culture, not everyone is going to fit into a company’s culture. There are good
fits for the company, and there are not the right fits for the company. Developing a
culture will at times weed people out because they simply cannot conform or do not fit in
with the culture that is being built.
11
With this mindset, we were ready to start building our roadmap, so we could
begin developing and building a culture based on customer service in order to help create
sustainability and profitability for the company.
Human Resources Roadmap
Now that we knew the direction the company wanted to head in, it was time to
develop a strategic plan in order to get there. Strategic development and planning is a
very integral part of business, especially when developing or changing a culture. In Dr.
Jerry D. Estenson’s lecture “Changing an Organization’s Culture” he lists six steps to
changing an organization’s culture. After assessing the external and internal environment
to determine what changes need to be made, knowing how the organization needs to
function in order to survive and creating a vision, and deciphering the organization’s
current culture, step four is to create plans to change the organization. In step four, the
company develops a strategic plan by understanding where the company is now, knowing
where the company wants to be and when it wants to be there, and determining how to
get there.
In Human Resources we did this by way of a roadmap for 2012. Please see
Appendix C 2.6 for the full roadmap. The roadmap consisted of seven different
categories: Training, Policy Development, Compensation & Benefits, Employee
Relations, Employment, Communications, and Recognition. The roadmap would act as a
task list for Human Resources with designated deadlines for each task. With the roadmap
completed, we were ready to begin executing. During this time different areas of the
department handle different tasks, but we were always informed and trained on each of
12
the completed tasks so that we would be able to effectively execute, implement, and lead
by example as a whole department.
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Chapter 3
EXECUTION AND IMPLEMENTATION
In The Five Messages Leaders Must Manage by John Hamm, the fifth message he
discusses what corporate culture is and why communicating it clearly and precisely is
important. The article states that, “culture is not created by declaration; it derives from
expectations focused on winning.” The article goes on to state that the only way to have a
culture that encourages performance is by hiring people that are the right fit, requiring
them to behave and act in a way that is consistent with the values the company believes,
and implementing processes that will allow the company to win in the marketplace. Over
the past two and half years, we have implemented many policies, processes, procedures,
and trainings in efforts to create a customer service based culture that is consistent and
fair at each of the casinos. Each of the policies, processes, procedures, and trainings have
been executed, implemented, and introduced at the same time and in the same way for
each casino. This section will discuss what policies, processes, procedures, and trainings
we have created, why they were created, and how they were implemented and introduced
at each of the casinos.
Policies
The following are the various policies we have rolled out and a description of
each policy. They are listed in alphabetical order, not in order of importance, which will
be discussed later.
401k Policy – This policy was created in order to inform the team members of the
company’s 401k plan. The company offers up to a 6% match on a team member’s yearly
14
salary, $.50 for each $1.00 they put in. The plan is based on a five year vesting scale;
after five years of working for the company, a team member is fully vested. Please see
the 401k vesting chart in Appendix D.
Alcohol and Drug Policy – This policy was created in order to inform the team members
of our zero tolerance policy towards alcohol and drugs in the workplace. Team members
are not allowed to drink or consume drugs before, during, or at work. If a team member
comes to work intoxicated, we reserve the right to perform a Breathalyzer or drug test. If
there is suspicion of alcohol or drugs at the work place, we also reserve the right to search
a team member’s locker, purse, car, etc. This policy also includes the right to perform a
Breathalyzer or drug test a team member before they can receive workers’ comp
treatment in the event of a work related injury.
Appearance Policy – This policy is intended to inform team members of our appearance
standards. While at work, all visible tattoos or piercings must be covered, hair must be of
a natural hair color (i.e. not purple or blue), fingernails must be kept clean and nail polish
must be of a complimentary color to the team member’s position’s uniform. Each
position has a specified uniform that the team member is expected to wear. If a team
member comes to work without the full, complete, tidy uniform, they can be sent home.
Other standards such as no sandals have been implemented for safety reasons as well.
Attendance Policy – The Attendance Policy was implemented so that team members had
a clear understanding of what attendance expectations are and what the consequences are
for not coming to work. This policy is point system that is based on a rolling 12 months.
A team member starts out with zero points, and if they are absent, tardy, leave early, call
15
out on a holiday, or no call no show, they accumulate a certain number of points that are
associated with each mishap. At three points they receive a coaching, four points a verbal
warning, six points a written warning, eight points a final written warning, and at nine
points they are terminated. In this policy, we have also made it possible to earn points
back for covering a shift when the business is in need, and for perfect attendance over a
straight 90 days. This helps show that we are willing to work with the team members if
they are willing to put the work and commitment into us. Ultimately the team members
decide their own fate with this policy; if they want to work they will show up and if not
they will be terminated based on the Attendance Policy.
Bereavement Policy – This policy allows team members to take up to three days of their
scheduled workdays off with pay in the event that a close family member passes away.
While the policy only allows for team members to get paid for three of the days, the team
members can take more time off if needed and approved by their manager. The policy
lists out who is considered a close family member so there is not any confusion, and in
order to prove that they are not making up a death in the family to get off of work, a
token from the services must be provided to Human Resources.
Bulletin Board Policy – This policy was created to allow for more communication
between Human Resources and the team members since Human Resources is not present
in every casino. Each casino has a bulletin board that showcases different memos,
monthly birthdays and anniversaries, recognition program award winners, benefit
information, etc. We change the boards monthly so there is something fresh for the team
members to look at and check back on every month.
16
COBRA Policy – This policy makes it known to team members that if they leave the
company or they switch from a full time to a part time team member, they will be able to
keep their benefits through the COBRA program.
Compensation Administration Policy – The Compensation Administration Policy outlines
whose approval is needed when a General Manager is asking for a raise for a team
member, or a General Manager is asking for a change in staff.
Electronic Communications Policy – This policy controls how and what is communicated
through email, text, chat, etc., for work or while at work. It indicates that any electronic
communications are records for each of the casinos and will be used as so if needed. This
policy also prohibits the use of surfing the web on a work computer for any personal
reasons, streaming, downloading, or pirating while at work or on a work computer, and
using computers for any reasons other than what has been deemed okay by the casino.
Employment Verifications and References Policy – In order to make sure that all
verifications and references are accurate, we have implemented a policy that makes it
Human Resources job to complete any verifications or references. Without a signed
authorization we only allow name, dates of employment, and job title to be discussed
with outside companies. If a signed authorization is received, we can elaborate a little on
the person’s employment and discuss their financials. Never, at anytime, do we answer if
a team member is eligible for rehire, what type of employee they were when they worked
for us, or offer information about their current employment status. We also do not write
letters of reference for just any team member, especially those who have been terminated.
17
If a team member wants a letter of reference, it must be approved and completed by the
Director of Human Resources.
Employment Classifications Policy – The Employment Classification Policy dictates the
status of a team member at any given time. Introductory Period is the first 90 days from
the first day of employment. Regular full time team members work at least 30 or more
hours a week and part time team members work less than 30 hours a week. Temporary
team members are hired on for a temporary amount of time, and on call team members
are those who get called in for absence relief, but aren’t scheduled on a regular basis.
This policy also defines Non-Exempt and Exempt team members. Non-Exempt are team
members that do not have management duties, are paid on an hourly basis, and are
entitled to overtime. Exempt team members have management responsibilities, and are
not entitled to overtime. Reclassifying team members used to occur quarterly, and was
based on an assessment of actual hours worked to determine if we keep or change a team
member’s status. Now, due to Obamacare, the quarterly assessment will be changing to a
yearly assessment.
Employment Eligibility Policy – This policy was designed to inform team members and
managers that in order to be employed with any of our companies, an I-9 Employment
Verification form must be completed on the first day of hire, and the correct forms of
identification must be given to the person who is completing the I-9 form for the
company. Failure to produce what is needed on the first day of employment might result
in disqualification from the position.
18
Exit Interviews Policy – Exit interviews were implemented to receive feedback from
those who leave the company on a good basis. We do not receive feedback from all of the
team members who have been terminated, but we do ask for feedback from those who
have voluntarily quit their positions with any of our casinos. This gives us a chance to see
what we are doing correctly and what we could improve on.
File Access – In order for a manager or team member to access their file, they must do so
with a Human Resources team member. They can set up an appointment with Human
Resources to access their file, and can preview anything they have signed, or any medical
records they have given us. We do not allow them to preview any documents that relate
to an investigation of any kind, letters of reference, employment verifications, or any
other confidential or propriety information.
Fraternization Policy – Our Fraternization Policy prohibits personal and/or romantic
relationships, including anything that can be perceived as a relationship that is a conflict
of interest to the business. If these relationships exist, whether they are a conflict of
interest or not, they are to be reported to Human Resources so they can be evaluated and
changes can be made if necessary so that the relationship is no longer a conflict of
interest for the business. The Fraternization Policy also prohibits family from working in
the same establishment.
Hiring Policy – In order to strive for fairness, the company has created a Hiring Policy.
This policy ensures that everyone gets a chance to be considered for an open position.
General Managers and other management must open a requisition for the open position,
which includes how many positions are open, whether they are part time or full time, and
19
when they are needed by. Once the requisition is received by the Recruiting Department,
they will open and post the position for current team members and the public to apply to.
As part of the Hiring Policy, when a candidate is selected to move forward in the hiring
process, they must be able to complete and pass a credit check, background check, drug
test, and education verification, if applicable.
Holiday Policy – Due to the nature of being a 24 hour business that is open 365 days a
year, we have implemented three holidays as paid holidays for those hourly team
members that have to work on the designated holidays. For salaried team members, they
receive the day off, or an alternate day off if business needs required them to work on the
designated holiday. These holidays are: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.
Interviewing Policy – For the purposes of being compliant with the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, an Interviewing Policy was developed. This policy was created
in order to help hiring managers unify their interviewing processes. There is a designated
set of questions for each position that the hiring managers are supposed to go over with
each candidate. Any questions regarding a person’s age, gender, sexual orient, religion,
etc. are not questions to be asked during an interview under any circumstances.
Legal Counsel Policy – Up until 2012, we outsourced our legal counsel. In 2012 we hired
an in-house attorney. All legal questions or concerns should be brought to the legal
counsel’s attention.
Meal Discount Policy – We have implemented a 25% off meal discount for all team
members at the casino, including management. This discount is not applied to beverages;
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it is only applied to food. Additionally, team members can bring up to three additional
guests to dine with them at the casino, and receive 25% off the total bill.
No Harassment Policy – There is zero tolerance for harassment of any kind in the work
place. Any harassment is to be reported to Human Resources immediately so that an
investigation may be done. There is zero tolerance for any retaliation towards someone
who has reported an act of harassment to Human Resources, or is involved in an
investigation regarding any kind of harassment.
Offer of Employment Policy – Upon completion of the onboarding process, and passing
all checks, each team member whether salaried or hourly are to receive an offer of
employment. Salaried team members are to receive an offer letter that includes
everything from start date to benefit information. Hourly team members are to receive an
employment form that includes hire date, pay/paycheck information, workers’ comp
information, casino address, benefit information, and Human Resources contact.
Opening a Position Policy – In the Opening a Position Policy, it states that any position
that is need of being filled, requires a requisition being submitted to the recruiting team.
In addition, anyone that is interested in applying for the position, whether they are current
team members or not, must apply through the job posting. This is in order to give
everyone a chance to apply who might be interested in the position and gives everyone
who is currently working for us an equal opportunity to apply for the position as well.
The open positions for each casino are posted weekly on the bulletin board so all team
members are aware of what positions are available.
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Orientation Policy – Upon being hired, the new hire’s will go through new hire
orientation. In orientation the following topics are discussed: the casino’s history and
core values, safety and security, benefits, the casino’s handbook, sexual harassment,
responsible gaming, guest service training, alcohol awareness training, and a property
tour is given. This allows us to go over our expectations, standards, policies, and
procedures, with each new hire, as well as being in compliance with the federal and state
laws and regulations.
Outside Employment – Our casinos allow outside employment under a few conditions.
One, we must be the primary employer. All of our casinos are a 24-hour business, and
scheduling is based on business needs, therefore we do not offer set schedules to anyone.
If the other employer is willing to work around the team member’s casino work schedule
then it is okay. Two, while working for us, team members may not work at any other
casino or gaming establishment. Three, as long as the other position and place of
employment is not a direct competitor or conflict of interest, they may work another job.
All outside employment must be approved by the General Manager before the team
member can begin working to ensure it is not a direct competitor or conflict of interest.
This policy is also incorporated into our Confidentiality and Fair Competition Agreement
that each team member signs during new hire orientation.
Performance Appraisal Policy – Based on this policy, performance appraisals will be
given at two different points in a team member’s career; after the first 90 days of
employment, and on the anniversary of their start date each year, essentially a 90 day
review and an annual review. The appraisals are based on performance topics and
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measurements and are not focused on compensation. This is to give each team member a
sense of how they are performing, and what they need to do to improve so they can
achieve their goals and meet the casino’s expectations and standards.
Prescreening Policy – The Prescreening Policy is part of the Hiring Policy and
Recruitment process. When each candidate applies for a position at one of the casinos,
they are asked the same set of qualifying questions, based on their answers to each of the
questions, the program will close them out or move them forward. From this point, the
candidates are screened by a recruiter, they review the candidate’s resume and if they
seemed qualified for the position are given a phone a screen. The phone screen is the
same for each candidate that has applied to the position. If the recruiter feels that the
candidate excelled in the phone screen, they will move them forward to an interview, if
not, they will close the candidate out.
Progressive Discipline Policy – This policy was created in order to promote a basis for
disciplining and terminating a team member. The process begins with a verbal warning,
and then proceeds to a written warning, which is followed by a final written warning, and
ends with suspension or termination. Each discipline lasts for a rolling six months before
that discipline no longer counts towards the team member’s progressive discipline chain.
While the Attendance and Variance Policies are disciplined separately, in certain
circumstances they may be incorporated into the performance progressive discipline,
however most of the time they are kept separate. Progressive discipline does not always
occur depending on the severity of the situation like violating our Alcohol and Drug
Policy or Theft Policy. These situations are zero tolerance and if the investigation
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concludes that either policy was violated, the team member will be automatically
terminated without going through progressive discipline.
PTO Policy – The companies always had a PTO Policy, however this updated policy
allowed full time team members to start accruing PTO after 90 days of employment with
one of the companies instead of one year. After 90 days of employment with the
company, they will begin accruing PTO at a rate equivalent to 40 hours per year. After
one year of service with us until their fourth year, they will begin accruing 80 hours per
year, and after four years of service with the company, they will accrue 120 hours per
year. Management will begin accruing 120 hours per year directly from their first day of
hire, unlike previously where they would accrue at the same rate as team members.
Record Retention Policy – All employment records of any kind for each team member
will be retained for 5 years.
Required Posting Policy – Through federal and state regulations, companies are required
to post information including but not limited to minimum wage requirements, Family and
Medical Act, pay day notice, etc. In order to be in compliance with the laws and
regulations, we have created a policy of what needs to be posted and who is responsible
for posting it yearly.
Safety Policy – The Safety Policy brings awareness to the team members about safety,
and what to do in the event of an emergency, fire, or if an on the job accident occurs.
Social Media Policy – Under no circumstances are team members allowed to use
company resources in order to access personal websites. Also, team members must
refrain from any type of harassment or discrimination towards any other team members
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or guests on their personal websites, as it can be used as evidence in the event of a
lawsuit. In addition, team members are not to use the company’s logo, reveal or use trade
secrets, or represent the company in any negative way on their personal websites.
Solicitation Policy – This policy was created in order to prohibit any outside solicitation
at the casino. This includes team member’s businesses, children’s fundraisers, charities,
etc. This also prohibits anyone, including team members, from posting anything not
approved by the HR Director in the casino or break room.
Suggestion Program Policy – The Suggestion Program offers team members a way to
give their suggestions on things that might be able to help improve the culture of the
casino, whether it is pertaining to the team members, guest service, policy and
procedures, etc. The Suggestion Program will have a committee that will determine if the
suggestion is approved, denied, or needs to be looked into further. If the suggestion is
approved, an award will be given based on certain criteria relating to the suggestion, and
how much the suggestion will improve business processes.
Team Member Gambling Policy – The purpose of this policy is to dictate who may or
may not be allowed to gamble at the casino they work at, and if they are allowed to
gamble, when and when they cannot do so. Any team members, who are under 21 years
of age, are not allowed to gamble. Those team members, who are over 21 years of age but
are part of the Floor Service Representative staff, Cage staff, Security staff, or
Management, may not gamble in the casino. However, the Floor Service Representative
and Management staffs are allowed to play poker during the allowable times. Team
Members who are over 21 years of age and are not part of the listed staffs, with the
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exception of poker in some cases, may gamble but cannot be gambling less than two
hours before their shift, during their shifts, during the breaks or lunches, and less than 30
minutes after their shift ends. Violation of the policy can result in progressive discipline,
up to and including termination.
Travel Reimbursement Policy – Travel Reimbursement Policy gives guidelines for how
reimbursement on company travel will work. All travel needs to be approved by the CFO
and Manager before purchasing and reimbursement can take place. There is a designated
meal reimbursement of $45 per day; anything over must be approved by the CFO prior to
the purchases. This policy also dictates that expense reports must be completed and
turned in to accounts payable every Tuesday after travel has taken place and all receipts
must be attached to the expense report in order to receive a reimbursement.
Tuition Reimbursement Policy – Each individual company values education greatly.
Education includes trainings to develop your career further, higher education, and
conferences. The company will reimburse team members up to $1,000 a year for
educational expenses that pertain directly to their career. The team member must be
employed with us for at least 90 days before they can apply, the application must be
submitted and approved before the classes/trainings/conferences start, and proof of
completion of the classes/trainings/conferences with a passing grade must be submitted to
Human Resources before the reimbursement will be given. If a team member leaves the
company within six months of receiving the reimbursement, they could be responsible for
paying back the reimbursement to the company.
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Turnover Reporting – The turnover reporting will be completed monthly by the Human
Resources Director, and sent to the owner, managers, and CFO. Yearly comparisons will
be sent out for turnover to show how the year has differed, improved, or worsened from
previous years.
Variance Policy – Variance policy gives the team members, management, and Human
Resources a guideline for all unresolved and resolved variances. Any team members in
Gaming or Food and Beverage, are subject to this policy. An unresolved variance is a
variance that has not been recovered. These variances last for a rolling 60 days and
discipline is based on the amount of money lost. Resolved variances, meaning the
missing money was found, are based on a rolling six months, and discipline is based on
the number of occurrences that have happened within the rolling six months time frame.
Please refer to Appendix E for the unresolved and resolved variance discipline charts.
Wage and Salary Survey Policy – This policy allows Human Resources to be the sole
representative of any wage/salary and benefit surveys and changes.
Workplace Violence Policy – The Casino has zero tolerance for any violence, threats of
violence, intimidation, or any verbal or physical conduct that creates an intimating or
discriminating environment. This goes for all team members, players, guests, and
management. If there are any complaints of violence, threats, or intimation, those parties
will be suspended until further investigation has been completed, and based on the
findings reinstated or terminated. If the complaining party is making it up, it will be
grounds for termination of the complaining party. In addition, any form of retaliation
against a complaining party will not be tolerated under any circumstance.
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Why Were Policies Created?
Although there are many different topics discussed throughout the policies, they
were all created to bring order and consistency to each of the casinos, and help create an
organizational culture. For a long time, the casinos’ management teams were in the
business of hiring or firing anyone they wanted at anytime. When hiring people, there
was not a standard operating procedure, and we found that managers were making
promises they could not keep, or saying things to prospective new hires that they should
not have been saying. Team members were unaware of what our policies were because
we did not really have any policies, therefore when a team member was being terminated,
a lot of times they felt blindsided. In both instances, these occurrences led to unwanted
lawsuits by many angry people. Without even trying to create a culture, we were creating
one, and a negative one at that. After dealing with the numerous lawsuits, employee
relations, team member complaints, and reviewing the results from the team member
survey, we were able to get a better understanding of the policies that were needed to
bring order and consistency to the companies, and change the negative culture into a
positive one.
The policies needed to start from ground zero and work all the way up to
management, meaning they had to start from the possibility of being hired up to people
that were team members and management. To fulfill this requirement, we started at
ground zero, which was recruiting. Several of the listed policies, Hiring, Interviewing,
Opening a Position, and Prescreening, all revolve around recruitment. As previously
mentioned, management at each of the casinos did not have a standard operating
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procedure they had to follow for recruiting. They would enter my office, give me the
name of the person they wanted to hire, and what position they were being hired for, and
I would get the onboarding process going with that person. Often management would tell
them things like we will pay you $9.00 an hour, when in reality we could only pay them
$8.00 an hour, or we will give you benefits beginning immediately, when really we had a
waiting period of 90 days. So when we were unable to meet the promises that the
managers had given them, our new hires would often get upset before they even started
working for us. This ultimately created a negative experience for them throughout their
employment with us, as they found other things to be upset about as time went on.
By creating the policies for recruiting, we were creating a standard operating
process for both management and the recruitment team. Management no longer makes
promises that they cannot keep, or promises at all, and candidates are not given false
information or hope. These policies also allowed us to have a uniform and consistent way
of recruiting and hiring that creates a professional and welcoming culture. The policies
also keep us in compliance with the federal and state laws and regulations, and also in
compliance with the EEOC, which we were often failing to comply with before.
Recruiting is important because like a resume is to a candidate, recruiting is the
candidate’s first introduction to our company. When creating a culture, it is necessary to
start from the ground zero point, to make sure the culture of the organization is received
from the very first moment of interaction; these policies helped us do that.
New hire orientation was created in order to bring awareness to each of the new
hires that are starting. Since each of the casinos have been open for many years before the
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new hire orientation policy was updated, all of the policies that are discussed in new hire
orientation were also taught and discussed to current team members at each of the
casinos. These policies were also designed to bring awareness, order, and maintenance
for a level of culture the casinos were seeking to reach. A lot of the policies like the
Alcohol and Drug Policy, Appearance Policy, Harassment Policy, Gambling Policy, and
Work Place Violence Policy were implemented because of prior incidents that involved
one or more of these violations. When reviewing prior write ups, reasons for suspension
or termination, and complaints, a lot of them stemmed from these topics. We knew if we
wanted to reduce the amount of these violations, we had to create and implement policies
at all the casinos and to all the team members, so they were aware of the consequences
that came with violating these policies.
Attendance was never a set in stone policy with consequences attached. A lot of
the time it seemed that attendance was used as an easy way to terminate someone who a
manager did not care for as much, but for someone who was liked or seen by the manager
as a good employee, attendance was not disciplined. Even as a member of Human
Resources who helped the managers with our policies and procedures, I was at a loss of
what our actual Attendance Policy was because it was unclear and virtually non-existent.
The transformed Attendance Policy has helped bring order and maintenance to each of
the casinos. It allows those who want to work the ability to keep their job, and those who
do not want to work will make it evident by their attendance and will end up being
terminated. It is very straightforward, black and white, and each of the team members are
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aware of their points and where they stand at all times due to the progressive discipline
associated with it.
Variance was another policy that was not clear, and was often handled
inconsistently when a variance did occur. In some casinos the Dealers bank with their
own money, but for the casinos we work with, all of the money is the owner’s money. So
when money is missing or cannot be accounted for, it affects the business directly, not
just the Dealer. This is why having a policy that is clear and well versed is so important
when it comes to variances. Everyone has been made aware of the policy and has signed
a document saying that they are aware of the policy, so in the event that a variance occurs
they cannot say they were unaware. Also, by having a policy that is strict and has been
made aware to all team members, we have seen team members be more careful and
double-checking their drawers to reduce mistakes and the possibility of having a variance
which is extremely important as well.
Policies like Safety, Social Media, Solicitation, Outside Employment, and
Fraternization may seem like common sense to some, but these policies are needed in
order to protect the company. Violations of these policies could cause accidents,
defamation of the company, an unwanted vote to become unionized, or a conflict of
interest. In any of the events, the company is put in a bad or unwanted position. Making
team members aware of these policies that the company has, helps bring order and
sustainability to the company by being proactive against welcoming any of these
unwanted situations or outcomes.
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From our research, it was apparent that we suffered from a lot of inconsistencies.
We drafted policies in order to help us remain consistent with our words and practice. To
begin, when we first took a look at the problems of the company, one of the red flags was
our turnover rate. Many things can contribute to a high turnover rate, especially in the
event of a major layoff. However, if your company is not going through a major layoff,
there has to be some kind(s) of inconsistency that is leading to high turnover. Maybe it is
recruiting and hiring, maybe lack of awareness for company policy and procedures, or an
inconsistency in discipline. If I am being honest, all of these contributed to our high
turnover rate, however, our inconsistencies with discipline really affected our turnover.
Simply put, we did not have progressive discipline. If we wanted to fire someone, we
fired someone. However, what some people were being termed for others were not even
receiving a write up for. The progressive discipline policy was created to bring
consistency and fairness to disciplining. Now a manager knows what the order of
progressive discipline is and how they will be approved to move forward with a
termination. If they cannot show evidence of progressive discipline, they cannot move
forward with a termination. This also allows the team member to be aware of the path
he/she is on when it comes to discipline. The Turnover Report and Progressive Discipline
Policy and Procedures have helped us tremendously in becoming more consistent with
our practice.
In the team member surveys, one thing we suffered in across the board was
performance appraisals. In addition to scoring low, there were many anonymous
comments from team members in all departments about how we did not give
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performance appraisals and how they would be helpful. Performance appraisals are cost
efficient tools that can help a team member grow and strengthen the team of employees
you have working for you. They allow team members to know what they are excelling in
and what areas they might need help in. We created and implemented the Performance
Appraisal Policy so that we could bring consistency to notifying the team members of
how they are performing, and encouraging them to work on their inefficiencies for their
purposes and our own.
Other policies that have helped us remain consistent are the Compensation
Administration Policy, Employment Classification Policy, Employment Eligibility
Policy, and Wage and Salary Policy. These policies have helped us set up rules and
standards to employment and compensation, which was not our strong suit before. By
rolling out these policies, we are no longer making promises to individuals that we cannot
keep. All questions of employment or compensation get funneled to the same two
individuals every time, the Human Resources Director and the CFO.
The same goes for employment verifications. We were running into problems
where employment verifications or letters of reference were being completed by
management, and they would say great things about an employee we had just terminated.
This was creating potential lawsuits for wrongful termination. Now, Human Resources is
responsible for all employment verifications or letters of reference. We have set standard
operating procedures that we have to follow in order to be in compliance with our policy.
Policies like the Bulletin Boards, Travel Reimbursement, Exit Interviews, File
Access, and Legal Counsel also help us to remain consistent. Bulletin Boards allow us to
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communicate with the team members about upcoming events, news, and affairs, on a
daily/weekly/monthly basis. This is important since there is not a Human Resource
Representative at each of the casinos. Travel Reimbursement used to be all over the
place, and Accounts Payable could not keep up. This policy has helped bring consistency
and efficiency to the process. Exit Interviews allow us to remain consistent in our will to
improve. By speaking to those team members that are resigning, we are able to get an
understanding of things we might be able to improve on or things we are already doing
really well that we thought we needed to put more effort into. Making team members
aware of what they are entitled to see or copy in their files through the File Access Policy
has helped team members from getting disgruntled. Now they are not shocked by what
they receive when they ask for a copy of their file, and it allows us to remain consistent
and fair when copying a team members file or allowing them to access it. Legal Counsel
was outsourced before, but we have changed it to be in house now. Before, if there was a
legal question that needed to be answered, we often swept it under the rug in order to
save money. Now since we have in house counsel, we are able to ask whatever is needed
whenever it is needed. This has been a very beneficial addition to our companies and
practice.
Several of these policies were developed in order to remain in compliance with
certain laws, but two in particular: Required Posting Policy and Record Retention Policy.
As it was stated in the summary of the Required Posting Policy, federal and state
regulations require us to post a number of different items. To make this easy, they create
a poster every year that is to be posted in every business in California. To make sure we
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are incompliance, we have a designated staff member of Human Resources that orders
them for all of the companies, and each of the Human Resources Representatives ensures
they get posted. For personnel record retention, depending on the document, retention
varies from two years to five years. In order to be in compliance, we have drafted our
policy to include a five-year record retention after termination.
The purpose of the team member surveys were to give us an understanding of
what team members thought of the company, the people who worked for the company,
and what the company had to offer. When we received the results, there were many
comments about different benefits. In today’s working world, benefits have become a big
part of company culture, and whether a person decides to accept your offer over another
offer they might have received could come down to company benefits. For cost reasons,
we were unable to change all the benefit requests in one year, but we were able to
implement a lot of new benefits in addition to the ones we already had.
Existing benefits that we had were medical, dental, and vision for full time team
members and Allstate supplemental and accidental insurances that part time team
members in addition to full time team members are able to enroll in. If a team member
leaves the company, a benefit they receive is the option to enroll in COBRA for one year
immediately following the termination. This allows the team member to keep themselves
and their family enrolled in medical, dental, or vision, until they are able to enroll in
another plan. Another benefit that our company gives the team members is 401k.
Whether the team member is part time or full time, they can enroll in a 401k anytime
after one year of service with the company. Since we have made team members more
35
aware of this benefit through the 401k Policy, we have had more and more team members
signing up to take advantage of the benefit and the 6% company match. Since we are a
24-hour business, we do offer paid holidays to those who work on Thanksgiving,
Christmas, and New Year’s Day. It helps give incentive for people to want to work, and
lets them know that we appreciate their hard work and dedication to be working on a
holiday.
New benefit policies that we introduced were Bereavement Leave, Meal
Discount, PTO, Suggestion Program, and Tuition Reimbursement. Before if a team
member’s immediate family member passed away, there was no form of bereavement
leave. If they had PTO they could use it to subsidize the amount of money they were
losing by taking time off, or they could take the time off unpaid. Now we allow three
days of paid bereavement leave, and if more time is needed, they can work with their
managers to have more time off and use their PTO. Each of our casinos has a restaurant,
so each of the team members was given a 25% off meal discount. This is good for all
food at anytime. However, beverages are not included with the discount. In addition, a
team member can bring up to three other people in to the restaurant to dine with them and
the whole table will receive 25% off their food. Team members usually strive to be full
time for two reasons, medical benefits and PTO. Before our full time team members used
to have to wait a year to start accruing PTO, now after 90 days of service with us, they
begin accruing PTO. Also, management used to receive 80 hours of PTO a year and had
to wait until their fourth year to receive 120 hours of PTO, now management starts
accruing 120 hours of PTO a year immediately. Receiving PTO quicker for a full time
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team member was a big request. A lot of team members felt that a year was too long, and
they should receive some PTO sooner, which is why we changed the policy.
The Suggestion Program was a way to get team members involved with building
the culture and helping us out with different policies or procedures that they think would
work well from their experience of being a team member. This is a benefit to the team
members because they get to help change and mold the culture and be a part of the
development of the casino. In addition, if their suggestion is chosen, they get an
award/prize based on different criteria. From receiving feedback on the team member
survey, we felt the Suggestion Program would be a good way to acknowledge their
feedback and give them an outlet where they could put their suggestions all year. The last
new benefit we implemented was the Tuition Reimbursement Program. Our owner values
higher education tremendously, and he wanted to make that apparent by offering a $1,000
per year tuition reimbursement. This policy allows those who are studying anything to do
with their profession in the casino, apply for a tuition reimbursement. This includes
management, culinary, gaming, administrative, marketing, etc. This program also allows
team members to receive training or attend training classes that will help improve their
skills and career on the cost of the company, which is a huge benefit to the team member.
How Were the Policies Implemented?
In order to implement these policies, we started with management and worked our
way down. We knew that in order for the team members to live and breathe these
policies while at work, the managers would have to be on board and doing so as well. We
set up a manager meeting for all the casinos that included a slide show presentation and
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training of each policy. There was definitely push back on some of the policies, but after
discussing each of the policies and our reasoning behind them, they were more accepting
of the policies. In some cases, like the Attendance Policy, they could not wait for it to be
rolled out, because they knew it would help them regulate attendance and would
eventually weed people out by terminating them for reaching nine points. The General
Managers were also given two policy binders for each casino to ensure they were
performing best practice as set forth by the policies at all times.
Implementation for the team members was similar, but a little less in depth for
some of the policies versus others. We updated the Team Member Handbook with all of
the new policies and synopsis of each one. During the rollout of the policies, we set up
mandatory meetings at each casino that all team members were required to attend. During
this meeting, the General Managers of each casino would present the slide show of all the
new and updated policies to their team members. We did this so the team members knew
that management was on board, it was coming from their leaders, and it helped set the
manager’s expectations of the team members. It gave the policies and the handbook more
meaning and power. At the end we offered time for questions, and we also made them
sign off saying they were aware of the new policies and procedures.
The policies became effective the day they were rolled out at each casino, and
every team member and manager was made aware of the effective date. Each casino had
their rollout in January of 2013. Not only do the team members have to uphold to the
policies, but the managers also have to uphold to administering the policies. Corrective
action for violating a company policy was made clear to the team members, but it was
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also made clear to the managers that administering these policies was part of their
performance appraisal and bonus breakdown. This also gave the managers more incentive
to follow through and be consistent. Besides creating culture, to be consistent and fair,
was one of our main goals when creating the policies, we must follow through with every
policy the same way for everyone. Another way we implemented the policies was if the
managers do not follow policy and procedure, as protocol requires, we cannot move
forward with progressive disciplines or terminations, as they might want to. I will discuss
how we regulated and still regulate their follow through in the procedures section.
Processes and Procedures
Processes and procedures are important for any business. They help set the
foundation for standards and expectations, and bring order and consistency to workflow.
In our casinos we had some standards of operations but every manager did things
different, and usually even though it was their way of doing things, they were extremely
inconsistent. There was no rhyme or reason to why things were done the way they were
and often they were unjustifiable. Due to this, we suffered low team member morale, and
a lot of complaints and feelings of unfairness.
We understand that each manager will have their own way of managing a team,
but we have implemented some processes and procedures that tie into our policies so that
we can try to remain as consistent as possible across all of the casinos. Although we have
several processes and procedures, I am not going to discuss all of them, but instead I will
discuss the ones that have helped bring fairness and order to the companies.
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Recruiting Process
The recruiting process has come a long way from when I first started with the
company. We were using Microsoft Outlook to sort emails with resume attachments by
what was stated in the subject line. At times we would have hundreds of people apply for
multiple positions and we would have to sort through to figure out which candidate was
applying to what position. It took a lot of time and was not efficient. We did not have an
applicant tracking system or even a way to track applicants. We often rescheduled people
who had interviewed before and were a no, or continually missed good candidates due to
the sorting mechanism.
To help bridge our problems, we started using an applicant tracking system. The
applicant tracking system allows us to screen candidates before we even touch them, to
help disqualify those who do not pass the prequalifying questions. The applicant tracking
system also allows us to track what positions a candidate has applied to at any of our
locations and make notes about candidates in terms of if they have interviewed before,
worked for us before, etc.
The applicant tracking system has allowed us to work on our process for
recruiting. It freed up time needed to help develop and implement a much-needed
process. To begin, managers must open a requisition with the recruiters. They need to
disclose all the details of the position, and when the ideal hire date would be. As soon as
the recruiter receives the requisition, they open the position in the applicant tracking
system and then it is posted to several job ad websites, including Cragislist and Indeed.
The recruiters also post an internal job posting at each of the casinos for the positions that
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are open, but only the positions that are open in their own casino. Since the casinos are
separate businesses, we cannot post positions that are available in other casinos.
However, this gives everyone in the casino a fair chance to apply to the positions that are
open in their casino.
We rarely promote people without having them go through the recruiting process.
Everyone and anyone who is interested in a job position must apply and be selected to
move forward in the recruiting process after they have interviewed for the position. Once
a candidate applies, the recruiters will go in a decided whether or not they think a
candidate would be a good fit for the job. If they think they will be, they give them a
phone screen, if they do not think they will be, they will close them out and select a
reason as to why they do not think they would be a good fit. Those reasons can range
from too overqualified for the job, to not enough experience, to not a good fit.
Once the recruiter speaks to the selected candidate and goes through a phone
screen with them, the recruiter decides if they are worth having the manager meet with
them. At that point, either an interview is scheduled, or the candidate is closed out. At
this point, it is up to the manager on whether they want to move forward with the
candidate after meeting them or not. However, in order to be fair and consistent in the
interviews, Human Resources made interview guides for each position so that the
managers must ask the same set of questions to each candidate during the interview. This
also helps ensure that they do not ask questions that breach any Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission laws. If management has a team member in mind that they
want to promote, the team member must go through the process, and the managers must
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interview all qualified candidates before moving forward with the team member they had
in mind.
Before, the managers would walk into our office or call us and tell us to start the
process with Jane Doe for a Dealer position. Half the time we did not even know that
they were in need of filling a position, because they would scout on their own. This
caused favoritism, which in turn caused a low morale amongst the team members, and
also made management make empty promises to get team members on board. The
process was unorganized, inconsistent, and unfair. We have worked hard to accommodate
everyone’s needs, while still running a fair and consistent process daily.
Progressive Discipline Process
Besides recruiting, our progressive discipline process has been the biggest process
change we have made in the casinos. Our progressive discipline policy and process have
set a tone for what is expected of each and every team member, enforcing that each team
member will be treated same, and receive the same level of discipline. Before we
implemented our progressive discipline process, it was unclear how discipline was
handled because there was not strict procedure. Now, each policy has the level of
discipline that will be received at each point, and we have also laid down the foundation
of what progressive discipline is, and means to us as a company.
There are five steps to our progressive discipline process. The first step is a
coaching; the manager discusses with the team member work performance or behaviors
that are not up to standards or expectations, goes over our standards and expectations, and
then expects the team member to perform to those standards and expectations. Although
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we hope that a team member would start to perform to the standards we have set,
sometimes that is not the case, and we have to move to the next step in the process, which
is a verbal warning. Even though it is a verbal warning, we still require the manager to
document what was discussed with whom and on what date so that there is a
documentation to check later on if needed. The verbal warning allows the team member
to know that they are now in the progressive discipline stages and they really need to step
up their game. The third step for those who move up the progressive discipline ladder is a
written warning. This is a written document that is prepared by the manager and
approved by Human Resources based on an incident(s) that occurred. The manager meets
with the team member and goes over the prepared document stating previous incidents as
well as the course for corrective action. The team member signs off on the written
warning to acknowledge that they are aware of where they are at in the process and what
they need to do so they do not receive a final written warning, which is step four. At this
stage in the process, the person is not cutting, whether it be work performance, violation
of company policies, attendance, etc., they still are not meeting our standards. This is the
final documentation and meeting, making the team member aware that they are only one
wrong decision away from being terminated. The final step is suspension pending
investigation, which may result in termination. Termination cannot be done without
Human Resources’ approval, and the entire progressive discipline process being
completed, unless it is a special circumstance. Since termination cannot be done without
Human Resources’ approval, an investigation of the final incident is conducted; what,
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when, why, and how, are looked into. Based upon the findings, if all holds true,
termination will occur. If not, then the team member remains on a final written warning.
When we hire team members, are goal is to pick the best fit for our company so
we can meet our company’s goals. We never hire anyone with the intention of going
through the progressive discipline process with them, or terminating them. That being
said, it is important that are team members recognize what conduct is allowed and which
is not, this is the reason for our policies as well as our trainings. In most cases, we would
go through the progressive discipline steps to get to termination, however in some
instances, the direct consequence is termination. Some of these offenses include:
dishonesty, incompetence, misconduct, insubordination, discourteous conduct toward a
guest, drinking alcohol or use of a controlled substance while at work, walking off the job
during a shift, fighting, sale or possession of drugs, and threats of violence. In addition,
failure to satisfactorily complete the Introductory Period and failure to satisfy legal
requirements to work or hold a particular position will also result in termination.
Through new hire orientation, training, and our handbook, we are able to notify
the team members and new hires about what our standards and expectations are from day
one. This includes what we consider zero tolerance offenses from the list above.
Progressive discipline allows us to monitor individuals and their behaviors that are not up
to par and might need some extra coaching, training, and/or reinforcement of our rules,
policies, and procedures in order to perform to the best of their ability. Progressive
discipline also makes team members aware of where they stand, and what they should
expect in terms of what disciplinary step is next. At the termination stage, there should
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not be any surprises, since almost every team member who is terminated should have
received four prior warnings. Prior to our progressive discipline process, people who
were terminated would complain saying they did not know why they had been
terminated, and that during termination there was not a reason given as to why they were
being terminated, but now, we have many different resignation codes and termination
codes on the change in relationship form, that it is impossible for someone to not know
what the reason for their termination is. This process saves us from many claims and
lawsuits against wrongful termination, harassment, and discrimination.
Leave of Absence Process
I first began handling leaves of absence when the HR Director was terminated. I
had never dealt with leaves before, and I did not know anything about leaves, it kind of
just got dumped on me and I taught myself about leaves as much as I could. Leave of
absence laws are different in every state, because our company is based in California, we
have many different types of leave of absence that are required by the state, and a lot of
different rules and requirements as well.
Before we set up a finite process on leaves, we usually allowed anyone to go on
leave, and we would allow them to go for any amount of time they wanted. They were
not monitored strictly, and we were not even following our own company’s rules or the
state requirements, which are virtually the same. We were also putting ourselves out as
well by allowing someone to stay on payroll but go on leave when they did not meet the
requirements, or stay on leave way longer than the designated time allowed. Both
scenarios were hurting our business, and making it difficult to operate at times.
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The restructured leave of absence process allows us to have a set protocol for each
leave. What is hard about leaves of absence is that no two are ever the same amount of
time. So what we have established is the general requirements to be able to take a leave
of absence and the amount of time one is able to take off. Besides Pregnancy Disability
Leave, all other leaves are structured the same way. A team member has to have worked
for us for at least 12 months prior to the date leave will begin, and also has to have
worked 1250 hours or more within that year. Each team member is allowed to take up to
12 weeks worth of leave to care for themselves, or a covered family member with
medical related issues, adoption, or baby bonding. If a team member needs more time off
than 12 weeks, the team member must file a reasonable accommodation with Human
Resources that will be reviewed and either granted or denied. If it is granted, we will
allow the team member to be on leave for the additional amount of time that was
requested, but if it is denied, they will have to resign and can reapply to an open position
with the company when they are able to work again.
For Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL), each case is different. Generally speaking,
a woman receives 17 ½ weeks of PDL based on a rolling 12 months. However, a woman
must remain on PDL until six to eight weeks after delivery, which means if they are bed
ridden and forced to go on leave earlier in their pregnancy, PDL will continue to cover
the leave of absence up until eight weeks after delivery even if exceeds the allotted 17 ½
weeks. For women who become pregnant in our company, we grant them PDL and
Family Medical Leave regardless if they have met the requirements or not. This is the
only exception we make in regards to allowing leave if the requirements are not met.
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Pregnancy is a very delicate subject, and by allowing the leave, we are preventing
ourselves from receiving a discrimination lawsuit of any sort.
Structuring a Leave of Absence Process has allowed us to help lessen the impact
on the business that leaves create. Since our payroll is tight and well monitored, we do
not have a lot of extra bodies in the casino. When someone goes out on leave, it can
hinder our scheduling, as a lot of readjusting has to be done in order to cover the team
member who is out on leave. At times, if multiple team members are out on leave, hiring
of additional staff may be necessary. Before we would virtually allow anyone to go on
leave, and we were not very good at tracking the allotted time someone is able to be gone
or how long someone has been gone. Now, since we have a sound process down and we
are aware of the impact that it can have on the business for our team members to be on
leave, we are very strict with the rules and meeting the requirements necessary to take a
leave of absence so that we keep all of the companies’ best interest in mind.
Recognition and Communication Program
In the article, Employee Motivation – A Powerful New Model, it discusses how,
“it’s hard to argue with the accepted wisdom – backed by empirical evidence – that a
motivated workforce means better corporate performance.” One of the simplest ways to
have your team members perform to their maximum capabilities is through recognition
and praise. A simple “thank you” can go a long way. In an effort to show our gratitude
towards our team members, we set up a team member recognition program. There are
several different components to the U Rock recognition program.
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Each month managers put U Rock raffle tickets into a raffle box for good
behaviors that they have seen from the team members over the month. During this raffle,
nine team members are awarded $25.00 gift cards, and one team member is awarded a
$75.00 gift card. In addition, team members have a chance to win an early out pass or a
parking permit, which rotates to the new winner each month. Human Resources is
responsible for tracking all of the tickets for each casino in a spreadsheet, and at the end
of the year two winners are picked in order to win the annual prizes which usually consist
of an electronic device like an Apple iPad. There are two different categories of annual
winners. One of the annual winners is a Dealer who is chosen out of the top five Dealers
based on the amount of U Rock tickets received and their overall performance for the
year. The managers all vote on the overall top performer out of the five and that is the
annual winner. The other annual winner is determined by the highest amount of U Rock
tickets received for the entire year. To make sure it is a fair raffle, there are several ways
for a team member of any department to earn a U Rock ticket.
Throughout the company, we have set clear expectations of our team members,
whether they are a janitor or a manager, each team member should be aware of what is
expected of them. The first expectation is coming to work. If a team member takes the
time to apply, interview, and go through the onboarding process, we look at this as a sign
that they want to work for our company. The best way for the team members to maintain
this image is by coming to work and being punctual. Every team member that has perfect
attendance for the month receives a U Rock ticket.
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Another way to receive a raffle ticket is by clocking in and out of their shifts
perfectly for the month. Every Friday Kronos, our time clock system, has to be approved
by management for all team members in order for payroll to be submitted. If there is an
error on a team member’s timesheet, the manager must fix it before it can be submitted.
In addition to this being time consuming, the managers must have an accurate account of
all the team members’ schedules, when they started and finished working so that they are
getting paid for any time that they worked. If a team member does not get paid for time
they worked, that is illegal and we can face a lawsuit due to the error. In order to try and
minimize having to correct each team member’s timesheets, we strive for the team
members to have a perfect Kronos every month; if they achieve this, they receive a raffle
ticket to be entered into the monthly drawing.
While the team members are aware of expectations, some show acts of going
above and beyond the normal expectations. For example, when a dealer has down time,
instead of sitting around, we have had dealers who will go around and clean all the card
tables, or ask how they can help out the gaming floor. On the food and beverage side, we
will have hosts and servers who go above and beyond to provide guest service to our
customers. When management or other team members see a person going above and
beyond, they notify the General Manager so the team member can receive a raffle ticket
for going above and beyond.
Caught in the act is another category that team members receive tickets for. For
example, we asked that everyone in all the casinos and companies know our mission
statement, that way we can all be conscious of what our mission is and work to achieve
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our mission together. The managers and also the owner and CFO went up to team
members at each casino and asked them to recite our mission statement. If they could
recite the whole mission, they were given a raffle ticket. Another form of caught in the
act is again providing excellent guest service or practicing our policies and procedures
like cleaning up a spill to ensure safety. When a raffle ticket is given for manager
observation, essentially caught in the act and going above and beyond are combined
together. If a manager sees a team member doing something extraordinary, they can give
the team member a raffle ticket as a token of appreciation and thanks.
The final way for a team member to receive a U Rock raffle ticket is by being
shopped. The company has ordered a secret shopper company to come in to our casino at
random times to gamble, get a drink at the bar, and eat in the restaurant. The secret
shopper focuses their attention on one main person and then writes a report and scores
them based on their guest service. For those who receive high secret shopper scores, a
raffle ticket is awarded.
At the end of each month, each casino sets up a U Rock team member recognition
party. Usually there is food that is prepared by the casino’s kitchen staff, music, and of
course the monthly raffle. During the party, the General Manager goes over ways to earn
U Rock tickets, guest service scores, and events that have occurred during the month that
he/she is proud of. All team members are encouraged to go, as we see it as a way to bond
the team and help bring excitement to the recognition program. In order to receive a
prize, a team members raffle ticket must be pulled from the raffle box, but the team
member does not have to be present, and team members can win more than once. This is
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a way to add a fun element to a work environment that is usually fast paced and hectic.
The raffle party also allows the team members a little bit of time each month to relax and
enjoy where they work. Team members joke and banter with each other when one person
wins a prize, but they always congratulate and cheer each other on. Since the parties
occur every month, the team members have something to look forward to each month and
it creates a team building experience as well.
Aside from the U Rock Recognition Program, we have been trying to recognize
team members and communicate more with them throughout the casinos. In addition to
the U Rock program, the General Managers can fill out a more formal “thank you” card
from them to a team member for their hard work or outstanding behavior. This is a
special and easy way for them to show their gratitude towards a team member, and team
members are always happy to receive these cards. We have also implemented a shout out
board where team members can write sticky notes to other team members and managers
can write sticky notes to team members saying thank you or commenting a team member
on a job well done. Team members are not allowed to give raffle tickets to other team
members; they can only suggest to their manager that a specific team member deserves
one. The shout out boards are an easy and nice way of making sure that team members
are able to recognize other team members. It also helps builds the sense of team and
brings them closer together.
As was mentioned before, we have set up bulletin boards at each of the properties
to keep team members in the loop. Each month we update the boards with different
decorations so that they are eye catching and the team members realize the content has
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changed. We have begun putting up monthly birthdays, yearly anniversaries, monthly U
Rock winners, a health newsletter, upcoming holidays for the purpose of the attendance
policy, and other important announcements. In addition to posting the team members’
birthdays on the board each month, we have also started sending out birthday cards to
each of the team members and managers when it is their birthday. Both the General
Managers and Human Resources signs off on them and they are mailed to each team
member’s home. I constantly have team members thanking me for the birthday card, and
all of our General Managers have told us that they get thanked constantly for the birthday
cards. This gesture costs the company very little money and time to execute, but it is
worth a million dollars to our team members.
A pre-shift meeting is a powerful tool when used correctly and consistently. In
order to better communicate with our team members, we have implemented pre-shift
meetings where the department managers go over different guest service practices, menu
specials, gaming promotions, upcoming events such as team member surveys or open
enrollment, new policies and procedures, etc. We have created this tool to communicate
with each department’s team to make sure that important team member information and
updates are being spread universally instead of just to the managers. We have also
implemented town hall meetings at each of the casinos. This is a quarterly event that is
set up by the owner and CFO to have a meeting and talk openly with the team members
about issues or concerns they might be having, in addition to general questions they
might have. This meeting takes place without any of the casinos managers being present,
and they are not allowed to ask those who attend any questions about the meeting. This is
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a tool that is being used to build trust and relationships with the Executive Team, and
show the team members’ that their opinions and voices matter.
The last big form of communication we have implemented is the open door
policy. The town hall meetings have helped create a setting in our casinos that we are
there for the team members and we are there to make sure the company succeeds. We are
quite aware that without an excellent team, we cannot succeed, and we want to make sure
they know that as well. Human Resources is not present at every casino property
everyday, and at the casino we are based out of, our offices are behind automatic locking
doors. This puts out a very harsh vibe to the team members. For the longest time, they
were not able to access our offices at any time, which made us seem off limits. Now our
doors remain open during our business hours every weekday. We also have posted our
phone numbers and emails so that they can contact us at any time. We are aware that we
work with businesses that are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, so
although we might have hours that we are in the office, our team members are aware that
they can contact us outside of our office hours at anytime.
Recognition and communication are two very strong tools when utilized correctly.
From experience, they can be inexpensive and efficient, even when used simply. Both
give off a sense of team building and both help build and structure culture in the
workplace. Often times, recognition programs will get overlooked by management and
team members, but what they are unaware of is how much the program increases and
boosts morale; even when they think it is not, it is. Part of Human Resources job is to
keep the recognition program exciting and updated while keeping it consistent. This can
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be done by switching out the kind of gift cards the team members are getting, increasing
the ways team members can receive a raffle ticket, hosting U Rock recognition parties,
etc. Two of our goals moving forward are to find ways to increase recognition and
communication on a consistent basis as we have seen from the processes we have
implemented that there is a lot of value in both.
Full Time – Part Time Process
One of the biggest complaints that we would receive is about full time and part
time status. As time goes on, benefits are becoming harder to get and more expensive. A
lot of people look for jobs based on the benefits that are offered to them if they choose to
work there. At our casinos, if you are considered full time status, you are eligible to
enroll in Medical, Dental, Vision, Company Paid Life Insurance, and Allstate
Supplemental and Accidental Insurances as well. We offer two separate plans for both
Medical and Dental Insurance; an EPO plan and a PPO plan. While there is a team
member contribution required, it is very minimal in respect to what the full cost would be
if a team member had to purchase insurance on his or her own. Our family plans are bit
pricey, and although we offer them to all full time team members, I do suggest that they
compare prices to other plans before enrolling their families. Please see Appendix F for a
breakdown of our employee benefit contributions. Part time team members are only
eligible to enroll in the Allstate Supplemental and Accidental Insurances. In addition to
being able to enroll in all benefits, full time team members also accrue Paid Time Off
(PTO) and part time team members do not. Besides the obvious reason of wanting to
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work more in order to make more money, benefits and PTO are the two main reasons
why we receive so many status complaints.
With the new Obamacare laws, anyone who works an average of 30 hours a week
or more should be considered full time. Generally speaking, unless it is a managerial
position, all of our new hires start out at part time. Reason being, they are anticipated to
work less than 30 hours a pay period, and it is easier for us to have more part time people
than full time people. Summer is our slow period. During this time, it is hard to
accommodate a lot of full time people because they are not needed. When we do schedule
the full time team members 30 or more hours a week, they tend to early out and manage
to fall below the average of 30 or more hours a week mark. Also, the more part time team
members we have, the more flexibility we have in scheduling.
The opposite works just the same though. We do see a lot of part time classified
team members working an average of 30 hours or more a pay period. With the new
Obamacare laws, a company had the ability to choose whether they wanted to review the
statuses of their team members quarterly or annually, and our company elected to
evaluate the status of our team members annually. This is a big change for the company,
because before the laws were changed, our company was doing quarterly assessments on
part time and full time positions. However, I will admit that we were not very consistent
with this process. When we were doing the quarterly assessment, we were evaluating
both part time and full time team members. We had a lot of team members who were
classified as full time, but they were actually working less than the 30 hours a week
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requirement, and there were team members who were classified as part time and working
way more than the 30 hours a week requirement.
Before we would change anyone from full time to part time, we always send a
letter stating that they have one more quarter to bring up their average or they will be
dropped to part time. This allowed them some time to bring up their average so we would
not have to change their status to part time and risk them losing their benefits. If after the
next quarter they had not brought up their average, we would change them to part time
and send them a letter notifying them of the status change and their ability to enroll in
COBRA if they wished to do so. For part time team members, if they were working 30
hours or more a week, first we would discuss with the General Manager why they are
working more than part time. If the team member is working 30 or more hours a week
due to a business hardship such as too many team members on leave, short staffed, or a
busy period that is requiring overtime, we will wait an extra quarter to see if the excess
hours worked is continued. If it is, we will change the status of the part time team
member to full time, if it is not, the team member will remain part time. If the reason is
that the General Manager needs this team member full time, and the team member will
likely continue working full time hours as it is not due to any business hardships, we will
not wait an extra quarter to change the status of the team member from part time to full
time, we will do so immediately.
We are very meticulous in changing a team member’s status because we know
how important it is to the team members to have benefits. We do not want to switch a
team member to full time and allow them to enroll in benefits, only to change them back
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to part time because we cannot maintain the hours the team member needs to work. Since
the Obamacare changes, we are still trying to figure out what is expected and needed
from us in order to be in compliance with all the laws. As of now, our understanding is if
we change someone from part time to full time or vice versa at the annual evaluation,
their status will have to remain the same until the next yearly evaluation. It is important
for management to understand that if someone is part time they have to work them less
than 30 hours, if someone is full time they have to be working 30 or more hours a week,
otherwise we will be subjected to changing their status and maintaining it for the entire
year following. We have put a lot of effort into making the managers aware of full time –
part time process, so we can ensure that the process is fair and maintained properly.
Workers’ Compensation Process and Procedures
According to the State of California, Department of Industrial Relations, in
California, businesses are required to have workers’ compensation (comp) insurance even
if they only have one team member. Workers’ comp is a very time sensitive procedure,
especially if the team member is seeking medical treatment of any sort. When I first
started with the company, workers’ comp was a big liability for us due to the lack of
awareness and communication from the managers and team members. Since we have
standardized processes and created expectations and procedures, management and the
team members at each casino have become more responsive and responsible when it
comes to work related injuries.
Back when I started for the company, managers and team members would neglect
to let Human Resources know that there was a work related injury. Days, weeks, and
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sometimes even months would go by before we would find out about an injury, or that a
team member was seeking treatment for a work related injury. Often times, once we were
informed of the injury, there were not any incident reports or paperwork to go along with
the incident. Usually when we would find out, it was due to the team member receiving a
bill for their treatment because Human Resources had not been notified about the injury,
and therefore had not filed a claim with the workers’ comp insurance company. A lot of
times Human Resources was not informed of work related injuries when they occurred
because management was not informed that they happened either. Team members
thought that their injury was not big enough to notify a supervisor and create a raucous
over so they would brush it off and continue to work. All was fine and dandy until the cut
they thought was nothing turned into a big infection, or the burn from the felt of the poker
table rubbed their hand raw and later got infected. Team members would end up getting
mad that their claim was not handled efficiently, and then would seek legal counsel
against our workers’ comp company to try and litigate over the claim. While we were
insured, this was not the ideal way that our workers’ comp should be handled, so we
implemented a process and procedures to try and unify the process.
When a team member gets injured, the first thing that he/she should do, besides
helping their injuries of course, is notify the manager on duty. The manager will then ask
if the team member wants to seek medical treatment. If the team member says yes, the
manager will send them to the local urgent care or emergency room if it is after hours, if
the team member says no, the team member will continue to work. Regardless if the team
member wants to seek medical treatment or not, they will have to write a report regarding
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the incident. The report form will include their name, the date and time of the incident,
where the incident occurred, how it occurred, what was injured, and then they need to
sign and date the form. The manager who the incident was reported to will also need to
fill out an incident report, as well as any witnesses who observed the team member’s
incident, and security. Sometimes at the time of the crisis it is hard to remember what
exactly happened. If other team members who witnessed the incident and security who
can view it on the cameras make an incident report, in some cases, it could give us a
better timeline of the series of events that occurred before, during, and after the incident
than the team member can recall.
In addition to notifying a manager, the team members and managers have been
informed to notify Human Resources by email or phone as soon as possible after an
incident occurs. That way we are able to call the urgent care or emergency room to notify
them that one of our team members are coming in for work related injury and we can
give them all the team member’s and workers’ comp information before the team
member arrives. At this time we are also able to make sure that the team member is drug
and alcohol tested before they receive treatment, per our Alcohol and Drug Policy, and
that the results and the completed work status report are faxed to us. The work status
report is one of the most crucial pieces of paper in the process. We cannot have a team
member come back to work without first receiving a work status report that is clearing
them to work without any restrictions. If there are restrictions, which usually there are,
we have to be able to accommodate the restrictions before the team member can come
back to work. If we are unable to accommodate the restrictions, the team member will
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have to stay off work until the restrictions change, or are removed, and we are able to
accommodate them.
By running the process in this way, it allows us to gather all the information
needed in order to call in the claim to our workers’ comp insurance so that it can be filed,
and the bills can be paid. Depending on if there is loss time from work besides the day of
injury or not, the claim will be handled by different adjusters that we work with to make
sure that the team member is getting the care they need in the most efficient way. Usually
a team member will just have a follow up appointment or two, and be released back to
full duty without any restrictions; but in some cases, a team member could be out of work
for days, months, and sometimes can even face permanent disability. Although this is
rare, it does occur, and it does need to be handled with care, as the team members are
usually pretty fragile and angry when a work related incident to this extreme occurs.
Now, when a team member gets injured, both the team member and manager are
well informed of the workers’ comp process and the procedures that need to take place in
order to handle the situation in the most efficient way. We have implemented safety
trainings and procedures during the new hire orientation, and the annual team member
training, in order to try to maintain a safe work environment and prevent any workers’
comp injuries. All of the managers, at all of the properties, have been trained on the
workers’ comp procedures, and each of the team members have been trained on the
workers’ comp procedures through new hire orientation, and the annual team member
trainings. The expectations have been set that all team members, whether they are
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management or non-management, know how to handle a work related injury, should one
occur.
By implementing these procedures, we were able to create a process for workers’
comp that allows us to handle work related injuries in the most time sensitive matter so
that we do not risk malpractice lawsuits or claims for failure to comply with any workers’
comp laws or failure to execute the proper procedures. The incident reports allow team
members to provide themselves with documentation to prove that it was a work related
injury, and allows us to fully examine the situation and sequence of events to make sure
the injury was in fact work related and the company should be held accountable for the
necessary medical attention that might be needed. Since we have implemented the
trainings and brought awareness to the team members and managers about the workers’
comp procedures, the number of workers’ comp claims has reduced. Please see Appendix
G for a chart comparison. The process and procedures have also helped us become
consistent and efficient with workers’ comp, which has helped the amount of hostility we
face from team members that incur a work related injury.
Guest Service Procedures
In Jerry D. Estenson’s lecture “Discussion Sixteen Organizational Cultures” some
of the key variables he suggests are needed in shaping customer responsive cultures are:
1. The types of employees hired by the organization.
2. The freedom to meet customer service requirements.
3. Empowering employees with decision-making discretion to please the
customer and their needs.
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4. Good listening skills to understand customer messages.
5. Role clarity that allows service employees to act as “boundary spanners.”
6. Employees who engage in organizational citizenship behaviors.
We have shaped our guest service procedures to fit the expectations that our
customer service culture is based on. Greet, guide, and appreciate are the three key
elements in our guest service procedures. To see the full greet, guide, and appreciate
training guide, please refer to Appendix H.
Training
Training is a crucial part of culture. Without training, we would not be able to
implement our strategic plan effectively because no one would know what our plan
consisted of, or what their roll was in executing and implementing the plan across the
company.
There are two main goals that we strive for through training. The first is that CF is
committed to providing the best training possible to all Team Members to ensure a
culture focused on success and respect. In order to ensure that all team members have the
required tools needed to perform their jobs to the highest level, they will be provided with
a series of different trainings including familiarity with our industry and guest service
expectations. Second, is that CF developed leadership compliance courses designed to
teach supervisors and managers the fundamentals of managing team members, complying
with federal and state laws, and the expectations of management as it relates to our
processes and programs that will keep us compliant and build our culture, guest service,
and respect as a company.
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Since Human Resources is not stationed at each of the casinos, we had to make
sure that the management at each of the casinos was well aware of each policy,
procedure, and change we were making, our expectations of them and the team members,
and our overall goals. If they were not on board with living and breathing these policies
and procedures, and building the culture of the casinos, then the team members would not
be on board either, and we knew that.
When developing the policies and procedures, we often consulted with the
General Managers about topics we knew they would be more educated on. We would
solicit their opinions and advice and take it into consideration when making the final draft
of a policy or procedure. Just as we expected, some policies and procedures caused an
uproar and others they did not even blink an eye at. This is why training was so
important, had we rolled everything out to the General Managers, management, and the
team members at once, and had the backlash that was received from the General
Managers in front of the rest of the management and team members, no one would have
taken any of the policies and procedures seriously. In addition, training allowed us the
time to explain how we came up with the policy or procedure, why we came up with it,
and how it was going to help the issues we were having.
Aside from policies, procedures, and changes, we also trained the General
Managers on leadership compliance and fundamentals. As previously mentioned, a lot of
the General Managers who worked for us did not have any training or formal training in
leadership compliance or fundamentals. Each manager had their own way of handling
situations, day-to-day affairs, and managing the team. Since there was not a definitive
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training on leading effectively and efficiently, often our managers were leading
ineffectively and inefficiently. This caused a lot of problems for the companies because
there was a lot of inconsistency. Leadership compliance and fundamental training
allowed us to train the managers on how to manage effectively and efficiently, how to be
consistent, and also helped them figure out their managing style. We also help them
implement and follow through with their management protocol on a day-to-day basis as
we help them with different questions, issues, or concerns that they might have.
I will discuss how the trainings were conducted later, but first I will give an
overview of each of the trainings that we implemented. The trainings listed below begin
with the All Team Member Trainings and then go into Leadership Compliance,
Fundamental, and Leadership and Professional Productivity Trainings. These trainings
will be followed by policies, procedures, and other changes the team members and
leaders have been trained on.
All Team Member Trainings
New Hire Orientation – This training includes a detailed review of guest service
standards, company history, industry background, the team member handbook and
welcome packet, as well as all company policies. Each of the casinos has a company
specific welcome packet that details where to park, where to keep personal belongings,
location of the time clock, and other information as it pertains to the specific casino.
During orientation, videos will be shown on safety and sexual harassment. In addition,
Safety, Respect and Diversity, Anti-Harassment, Ethics, Problem Gambling, and
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Winning Work Habits, which covers basic job skills and tasks required for all food
service and gaming team members to be successful, will be discussed.
Customer Service Standards (Part 1) – The purpose of providing good customer service
is to cement relationships with customers so that they will want to come back to our
establishments. The Customer Service Standards course walks team members through the
importance of customer service and consistency, customer service standards, customer
expectations, and the importance of anticipation. The course reviews the PW Greet,
Guide, and Appreciate standards and script, while focusing on the three most important
components when it comes to customer service and how they align to reach our mission.
Customer Service Standards (Part 2) – Picking up from the first part of Customer Service
Standards, this course focuses on the customer service process including: what gets in the
way, what you say without speaking – body language/listening skills, problem solving,
and building relationships.
Service Standards for the Gaming Industry and Food and Beverage – The title sums up
the purpose of this class which is to set service standards for the Gaming and Food and
Beverage positions.
OSHA Training – To ensure a safe working environment, OSHA’s safety guidelines will
be reviewed. Topics that will be reviewed include: Fire Safety and Prevention, Hazard
Communication, Biohazards and Blood Borne Pathogens, Slips, Trips, and Falls,
Emergency Exits, First Aid/CPR, Equipment Safety, and PPE.
Anti-Harassment Training – Preventing any form of harassment in the workplace,
including sexual harassment, is a part of every team member’s job. This course develops
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team members’ skills at identifying inappropriate verbal, physical, or visual forms of
potential harassment. It will also review the company’s current policy against
harassment, the legal obligation of supervisors and managers to prevent harassment, and
the report procedures to reporting concerning behaviors. This training has been
incorporated into the new hire orientation, and can also be taken on LawRoom, an online
training tool the company uses, if permitted.
Problem Gambling Training – This training provides front-line employees an overview
of problem/compulsive gambling. Upon completion, employees will have an awareness
of the 1-800-GAMBLER helpline, and will have reviewed problem gambling protocol
and brochures to aid in reporting incidents to supervisors and management. This training
will also be incorporated into the new hire orientation process, but the General Managers
are required to arrange for their team members to take it annually via the Program
Director for Problem Gambling.
Leadership Compliance
Employment Law Basics and Annual Updates – This course was created to cover
common topics that supervisors should know to gain a solid foundation of employment
law and how it affects their day-to-day managerial duties. Laws change frequently so the
training will be updated annually. Basic laws, regulations, governing bodies, and court
case examples are reviewed to link various employment laws to real life managerial
scenarios.
Disciplinary Action and Documentation – A vital skill for any manager is being adept at
legally and effectively documenting performance issues to correct unacceptable team
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member behavior. The coaching and documenting skills needed to support each casino’s
team members in being successful are reviewed in this course. Also provided will be
specific documentation techniques, and the importance of documentation as a method to
improve inappropriate behavior, not to be used as punishment to the team member.
Performance Appraisal Best Practices – Managers will learn how to enhance the team
member’s performance through the use of effective and specific feedback and
evaluations. The performance appraisal process and related policies will be covered, as
well as best practice appraisal techniques. CF has created a competency based
performance appraisal forms for all roles. These forms will be utilized to illustrate the
best way to use this tool in the appraisal process.
Interviewing Best Practices: Behavioral Interviewing, Hire With Your Head, Interview
Policy and Procedure – This course instructs supervisors and management on the howto’s of the employment process, starting with illegal interview questions, behavioral
interviewing, competency based interviewing based on each position, and ending with the
front and back end procedures of the recruitment process. The training will assist
managers in navigating the entire recruitment cycle quickly and seamlessly to get the
right new hire onboard as soon as possible, while utilizing the ‘Hire With Your Head’
techniques.
Conducting New Hire Orientation – Allow the team members to hit the ground running
by providing them with a comprehensive overview of their new employer, property,
department, teammates, and the expectations of their new job. This training provides
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supervisors with the best techniques for making a new hire feel comfortable their first day
on the job.
New Hire Orientation: Onboarding – This course was designed to train supervisors on
the best techniques for making a new hire feel comfortable after their first day on the job,
focusing on their probationary period and beyond. The training also incorporates goal
setting, feedback, and mentorship as it relates to the onboarding process.
Leadership Fundamentals
U Rock! – Team Member Recognition – Recognition is a powerful tool for leaders.
Useful recognition techniques are shared to assist in motivating team members and
maximizing the performance of the team as a whole. The importance of setting
expectations to get the desired result will also be discussed, as will various techniques to
improve employee retention. Understanding the needs of team members and how those
needs relate to retention are defined during this course. Successful methods to create
motivational work environments that challenge team members to perform to the best of
their ability will also be covered. The U Rock! Recognition Program is also reviewed in
detail during this training.
Coaching: Providing Support and Guidance – This course was designed to teach
managers how to utilize coaching as a way to create a supportive and efficient work
environment. The coaching process, benefits of coaching, and how to properly delegate
will be clearly defined. The impact of these managerial methods has been proven to
enhance both the team member and guest experience. The importance of sharing
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feedback for employee development and the goal setting will also be covered in this
course.
Communication Styles – Part 1 – DISC – This course will lead the supervisor/manager
through a self-assessment (DISC) and methods for improvement, based on the results
from the individual’s assessment. In addition, which personality types work best with
others, and how to work effectively with or lead any DISC personality type, will be
covered.
Communication Styles – Part 2 – Emotional Intelligence (EI) – This course will lead the
team member through the art of active listening, conflict resolution, and emotional
intelligence, in regards to their relation to successful communication and healthy, happy
teams, and how to utilize EI and DISC together.
Dealing with Conflict – Basic conflict resolution skills with be covered in this course,
including: tips for gaining control, solving problems, one-on-one or in a group, learning
about different types of difficult behaviors and how to handle them, and dealing with
other problematic situations. The training will reinforce the skills needed to neutralize
negative interactions and transform them into opportunities to build positive, win-win
relationships within the workplace.
Leading Change Part 1: Change Management and Creating Focus During Change –
Embracing change as a manager can be difficult. Getting team members to embrace
change can be even more difficult. This course will share the secrets of coping with and
then embracing change. It defines the cycle of change and how to get team members to
appreciate change. The course will also cover how change is a necessity in today’s
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competitive and fast-paced business environment. It’s easy to lose sight of what’s really
important in the middle of a big change. This course is designed to show leaders how to
help their team members deal with that.
Leading Change Part 2: Dealing with Resistance to Change – Change is something we
all get very nervous about. Everybody’s concerned about it and even fearful of it. That
may be a part of the reason why organizations or managers do not change when it is so
obvious that they need to. Or maybe the just ignore the fact that they are losing to
competitors, or that customers needs are changing. So what is going on? Why don’t
organizations change and how can a leader promote change that is needed and overcome
resistance? These topics are discussed in depth during this course.
Team Member Engagement – Team member engagement techniques will be explored that
will assist the leader in ensuring that their team is engaged at work and not just going
through the motions. Methods to effect levels of engagement will be discussed. The
business case for maintaining an engaged workforce will also be explored. Engagement is
certainly strategic, but is there a payoff? If taken on as an initiative, is it worth the time,
trouble, and money? The answer is a big resounding yes. In this course leaders will learn
to manage for engagement.
Leadership Part 1: Impeadership vs. Leadership and Leadership Fundamentals – This
course is designed to teach managers how to recognize whether or not their leadership
style is creating a supportive and efficient work environment. Are managers working
against their team without realizing it? Are managers just managing but not leading?
This course will help managers identify behaviors that contribute and take away from the
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effectiveness of their teams. The impact of six common ineffective managerial methods
and whether they are providing leadership or impeadership will be explored. The
question, what is the best leadership style, will also be explored. Unfortunately though,
there is not one style that is better than any other. In fact, there are lots of different ways
to be a leader, and you can be effective doing all of them or be ineffective by not doing
any of them. The goal of this course is to help leaders pick their path.
Leadership Part 2: Motivational Leadership – Is there such a thing as an unmotivated
employee? No! Nobody is totally unmotivated, but how they are managed has a
tremendous bearing on productivity and results. Work force self-esteem is set and
maintained, in large part by managers and supervisors. This training will teach leaders
how to use this management tool correctly. It will also explore the question, how do
leaders get their followers to execute? To answer that, this course also discusses the
relationship between leadership and power.
Leadership Part 3: Creating Followership and Developing Yourself as a Leader – In
order to be a leader, you need followers. How do you create followers? How do you set
up an environment that creates people who want to follow you? This course will explore
leadership methods used to achieve followership and development techniques to ensure
you are the best leader you can be for your followers. Praise is the least complicated
motivator available. It works almost every time on almost every person. It is lightning
fast to use, it is free, and it is easy to use. Most team leaders use it sparingly, and some
team leaders do not use it at all. When leaders properly praise, self-esteem of the work
force rises and productivity rises along with it.
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Leadership and Professional Productivity
Succession Planning and Development – A top team member’s performance can be two
to up to twelve times more valuable and productive than that of your average employees
according to Ulrich and Smallwood. Therefore, identifying and retaining high-performers
is crucial if an organization wants to meet its objectives. It is imperative to empower team
members to assist in managing their own careers within the organization and to
understand the development required to be qualified for future job growth. This course
reviews the basics of succession planning by identifying high-performers, creating and
utilizing a skill inventory, prescriptive development plans based on role and skill set,
personalized learning plans, and proper development of a team member guaranteeing
“bench strength”.
Understanding and Dealing with Stress – A program solely based on stress management.
The goals of this course are very straightforward. First, the individuals will learn how to
recognize stress, and then they will learn how to avoid it when possible, handle it when it
cannot be avoided, vent what they take on, and work in a way that reduces everyone’s
stress.
Time Management – This course will assist leaders in creating a process in which they
can use to manage their time more effectively. The training will include how to buy back
more time, avoid interruptions and distractions, get home sooner, get more done during
the day, and how to better help their subordinates manage their time effectively.
Project Management – The training will increase the individual’s understanding of
Project Management and the Project Management Life Cycle. It will walk the audience
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through how to initiate and charter a project, define it, plan and schedule the project,
implement it, and close it out while keeping in mind continuous improvement.
Nonverbal Communication: Body Language – The class will review nonverbal
communications in business, explain the communication basics involved, and dispel
common myths about body language. It covers the elements of a head-to-toe body
movement scan process: center and head, posture, gestures, and stance. This program
then covers the elements of a body position scan process that can be used in any business
situation: territorial space and relative eye position as well as office status, front power,
and seating dynamics. With this information, leaders will learn how to control their
nonverbal communication and will be able to better read others.
Strategic Problem Solving and Decision Making – The purpose of this course will be to
identify common obstacles to effective problem solving and decision making. Leaders
will learn to apply the principles of effective problem solving and decision making to real
life situations, describe the seven step model for strategic problem solving, apply the
strategic problem solving model to a specific situation, learn to write a clear problem
statement, and finally, discuss strategies and methods for involving diverse stakeholders
in strategic problem solving and decision making.
Policies, Procedures, and Other Changes
In addition to the structured training courses that were assembled for the team
members and leaders, we also have trainings on our policies, procedures, and other
changes that might come up. When we release a new policy, we must make all of the
staff at every casino and CF aware of the new policy. In order to do so, we do a roll out
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of the new policy, meaning we train the General Managers and Department Managers on
the new policy, and they are instructed to train their staff on the policy. When they are
done training the team members on the policy, the team members are required to sign off
on the policy and Human Resources will file the policy acknowledgement in the team
members files. If we are rolling out a number of policies or changes, we will structure a
class much like the training classes to inform all current team members of the changes,
and then have them sign off on the policies as they would if it was just one policy being
rolled out. From that moment on, Human Resources will either go over the policy and
have the team member sign it during new hire orientation, or it is added to the handbook
so future new hires are made aware of the policy.
Since procedures are usually more hands on, we require a training class of the
new procedures. At the end of the training class, an assessment test of some sort is
usually given to test how well the team members or managers are able to perform the
procedure. By doing so, we are making sure that everyone is aware of the new
procedures, they are able to perform the new procedures, and if they are not able to
perform them, we are able to set them up with more one-on-one training.
Any other changes that are made in the company are subject to what the change
is. If the change is something that all team members need to be aware of, then we will
roll it out by training management, or we will create a training class. If it is something
that only a certain group of people needs to know and be made aware of, then we will do
selective group training.
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Why Were the Trainings Created?
As previously mentioned, a lot of the current managers have been team members
that worked their way up to a management position, including four out of five of our
General Managers. In addition, the company had never focused on training, employee
relations, regulations, compliance, etc., simply because it did not know it needed to. But
as time went on and more and more issues and lawsuits came up, it was apparent that
things had to change.
Change scares people, and people are often reluctant to change. If you change too
much too soon, people will start to shut down or become negative. Since we knew that
the change we were implementing to build the culture was very important to all of the
companies sustainability and profitability, we knew we could not bombard the General
Managers with too much too fast. It had to be a slow process, one that was very strategic.
By creating our roadmap we were able to prioritize the rollouts and trainings
based on importance from establishing the culture to maintaining the culture. The
trainings instilled the team members and leaders with knowledge, examples, and
expectations that have been set for them. The trainings also allow for a group of peers to
come together and learn the information together so that they can discuss it, help each
other learn and practice it, and realize the purpose of the trainings together. The time
lapse between each of the trainings allow team members and managers to digest the
information and master the practices of the most recent training they attended without
getting overwhelmed or feeling bombarded. This way they are more open to the
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information being given in the class and are more likely to lead by example instead of
shutting down or trying to rebel.
Had we not implemented the trainings, we would not have been able to change
each company’s culture as we have. The trainings have allowed us to teach and
communicate with everyone from each casino about important policies, procedures,
changes, leadership compliance, and leadership fundamentals that would not have been
received and practiced by management or team members if implemented in a different
way. Trainings allow us to remain consistent in our teachings, information, and practices,
which has allowed us to establish and maintain consistent culture and expectations.
How Are Trainings Conducted?
Trainings are executed and conducted differently depending upon the training.
Since CF provides their services to five separate casinos, we have to make sure that each
casino receives all of the team member and manager trainings. At times this can be hard
because they are separate companies in separate locations. In order to remain consistent,
we will block days and times for each casino so that the General Manager’s can schedule
their team members and/or managers to come to the appropriate trainings. Generally we
choose two days out of one week that the General Manager thinks would be best for the
team members, and we conduct four total classes, two morning classes and two evening
classes.
The trainings also depend on how often they should be occurring. For instance,
new hire orientation is to take place anytime we onboard a new hire. Since the new hire
orientation can take up to six hours, and we could have new hires beginning five different
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days of the week, we have designated days that the orientations will occur. Every Friday
the new hire orientation takes place at a different casino. Since we have two casinos
relatively close to each other, their new hire orientations are combined. The team member
may start working without receiving the full orientation, and instead they complete the
new hire paperwork and go over some of the policies and procedures along with the
handbook to hold them over until the next new hire orientation occurs for their casino.
Customer Service Standards Parts 1 and 2, Service Standards for Food and
Beverage, OSHA, Problem Gambling, and Anti-Harassment Trainings usually occur once
a year. Since our first roll outs of these trainings came at the end of 2012 or beginning of
2013, we have continued to do the trainings in the first quarter of every year. To help
save time and be more efficient, we will combine courses so that two are completed in
one training block instead of one. Since all of these topics are also covered in the new
hire orientation, just not as in depth, we are able to have annual trainings for them and
still remain compliant with federal and state laws. Since federal and state laws mandate
these trainings, they are mandatory for all team members and managers. Each team
member including managers is held accountable for attending each course. If they are
unable to attend any of the classes held at one casino, they may attend another casinos
training per approval. If a team member does not attend any of the classes, they will not
be able to work until they have received the required annual training.
The leadership trainings are conducted differently. Generally, when a new
training course is being rolled out, it is administered to the General Managers first. Each
month, the General Manager from each casino, the owner of the casinos and CF, the CFO
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of CF, and the Human Resources Director have a General Managers meeting. This
meeting is usually conducted as a full six to eight hour meeting with an hour break for
lunch. Depending on the structure of the meeting, usually a new training will be rolled
out during the first half or second half of the meeting. We are able to receive feedback
and reactions to the training before we administer them to all of the Department
Managers at each casino. This is also how we conduct rollouts of policies, procedures,
and other changes that the General Managers are being trained on.
Once the General Managers have received the training, the other managers will be
required to attend the training as well, based on the training calendar that is sent out
semiannually. Our trainer will send out the training schedule to all of the managers in
December for trainings that will be occurring January – June of that year, and again in
June for trainings that will be occurring July – December of that year. Training schedules
are subject to changes and in the event a General Managers meeting is cancelled, they
will have to attend one of the scheduled managers trainings to make up for it. Please see
Appendix I for an example of the training calendar.
The Five Messages Leaders Must Manage explains that companies, who do not
define success, do not communicate their vision of success, and fail to make their
expectations clear to team members, will produce a meaningless culture. This is why over
communicating, teaching, and instilling each of the elements: policies, processes,
procedures, and trainings, were an integral part of the strategic plan. Between the
policies, processes, procedures, and trainings, we have been able to create a culture that
brings consistency, order, and fairness into the casinos. As always, there have been some
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kinks that we have had to solve since rolling out each of the policies, processes, and
procedures, including updating and changing a policy or process more suitable for the
business as certain unexpected situations or circumstances have arose. However, this has
by no means been a common occurrence.
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Chapter 4
ANALYSIS OF DATA
In August of 2013, after rolling out several of the new policies, processes,
procedures, and trainings, we issued the team member survey. It mimicked the one that
was given out in 2011, but there were a few slight changes made to it based on changes
that had occurred in the company. The survey went up 12 points overall for all of our
companies as a whole, which is a huge jump, and one of the biggest jumps the survey
company had seen. Although there was a huge jump in points overall, some of the
companies’ survey results went down, and all of the companies’ answers to the same
questions varied, as did their overall ratings.
The survey gives three overall scores based on the feedback that was received
from the answered survey questions. There are seven categories that make up the survey:
Casino Management, Company, Direct Supervisor, Emotions, Environment and Tools,
Job, Team, and then the Overall score. There are also three overall categories that are
incorporated into the results of the survey: the employee feedback score, secure employee
score, and the employee emotions score. The employee feedback score is the percentage
of employees who select the top two choices of the five choices listed on the survey. The
secure employee score is based on engagement analysis, questions like: would they
recommend your company as a good place to work, or they intend to stay for at least 3
more years. The last score is the employee emotions score, based on the survey’s
emotions category and the answers that were received by the team members. The survey
uses an industry benchmark and the parent company, in this case CF, to compare where
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each of the companies lie. Please see Appendix J for the 2013 survey questions and
responses.
Casino A
The 2013 survey for Casino A was completed by more team members in 2013
than in 2011, 78 team members versus 71 completed it. However, Casino A’s overall
survey scores went down in 2013 from 2011. In all of the categories besides Company,
the results of the survey went down. For the three overall scores, Casino A went down
points in every score as well. The employee feed back score went down five points, from
74 to 69, the secure employee score went down one point, from 48 to 47, and the
employee emotions score went down 11 points from 74 to 63.
The top 10 question scores for the 2013 team member survey were:
1. My company respects difference in culture, religion, age, and gender. 92%
2. This company is a fun place to work. 87%
3. My company provides an excellent level of customer service to guests. 86%
4. Enough people are available in my department to meet the needs of our guests.
86%
5. At our company, employees and mangers work well together. 83%
6. I am happy with the physical working conditions at my job. 81%
7. I receive the training I need to do my job well. 81%
8. My company provides excellent value to guests. 79%
9. My direct supervisor helps me and other employees when we need help. 78%
10. I feel comfortable talking openly with my direct supervisor. 78%
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While the top 10 question scores for the 2011 team member survey were:
1. I am happy with my physical working conditions at my job. 92%
2. My GM/Sr. Manager is hard working and I see him at the casino often. 91%
3. My direct supervisor helps me and other employees when we need help. 90%
4. My company respects differences in culture, religion, age, and gender. 90%
5. At our company, employees and managers work well together. 90%
6. My direct supervisor cares about my opinions. 89%
7. This company is a fun place to work. 89%
8. My direct supervisor treats me fairly. 87%
9. My company provides excellent value to guests. 86%
10. I trust my direct supervisor to keep his/her promises. 83%
When comparing the top questions from 2013 and 2011, there is a visible
difference in the questions and/or the scores that are associated with the questions.
Although five of the top question scores for 2011 also showed up in 2013, all of their
scores were lower besides the question: My company respects differences in culture,
religion, age and gender. The other difference is in 2011, the top questions answered
seemed to be based more on management and supervisors, whereas the top questions
answered in 2013 were based more on the company. While the switch in the top scoring
questions might seem odd, there are two logical reasons as to why the top questions
changed.
The first one is more prominent than the second, but the second could also be a
contributing factor. From 2011 to 2013, the General Manger, Casino Manager, Food and
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Beverage Managers, and Kitchen Manager all changed. We had a new General Manager
who came in and his style of managing was very different than the previous General
Manager. The same went for Food and Beverage and the Kitchen Managers. They were
more laid back, and took on the friend roll rather than the manager roll with many of the
team members. Also, what are now our Floor Service Representatives in 2011 were Floor
Supervisors. The difference is the Floor Supervisors acted as a direct supervisor to the
gaming floor team members, whereas now, they are only there to help make decisions on
the game and provide guest service. With the new management more focused on
managing the team members than being friends with the team members, and the change
that we made with the Floor Service Representatives, it is not surprising that the focus of
the top questions have changed. Also, the managers of this casino have had to focus a lot
of energy on numbers and turning around the costs and profitability of the casino, which
has changed the roll of the General Manager at Casino A. Before the General Manager
spent a lot of time on the floor, he would even gamble sometimes when he was there.
This made him seem more visible and like he was around more, but that is not necessarily
the case. The roll and expectations of the General Manager and other managers have
changed, causing a change in the management style.
In addition, the culture that we have begun implementing in the casino has been
more company based than it has been manager based. After spending two years on
company culture since 2011, and with the changes in management, the company culture
has been more prominent than the management. The policies, trainings, and expectations
that have been set are from the company in regards to a fun and safe working
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environment, job proficiency, guest service, the importance of team work, and a fair
working environment, which could be said, has heavily influenced the top scored
questions for 2013.
The bottom 10 question scores for the 2013 team member survey were:
1. Paid time off is more valuable benefit to me than health, dental, and vision. 39%
2. I receive formalized annual evaluation from my direct supervisor. 47%
3. People in my department who perform well are recognized. 51%
4. I feel that I have good job security 53%
5. I feel I have an opportunity to advance within this company. 54%
6. This company is able to keep high quality employees. 55%
7. I feel important at work. 57%
8. Employees in other departments help me and my department. 58%
9. I feel empowered to make decisions at work. 60%
10. I’m excited about the future of this company. 60%
While the bottom 10 question scores for the 2011 team member survey were:
1. Paid time off is more valuable benefit to me than health, dental, and vision
insurances. 31%
2. The President cares about the staff at the company. 31%
3. The Vice President cares about the staff at the company. 37%
4. The CFO cares about the staff at the company. 37%
5. I received formalized annual evaluation from my direct supervisor. 48%
6. The owner of the company cares about the staff at the company. 55%
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7. People in my department who perform well are recognized well. 58%
8. I feel empowered to make decisions at work. 60%
9. I feel that I have good job security. 61%
10. I feel I have an opportunity to advance within this company. 62%
Previously, I discussed the full time, part time process and the importance of
benefits to team members. The difference between full time and part time status is full
time receives medical, dental, and vision benefits if they choose to enroll, as well as PTO,
and part time does not. Most of our team members are or long to be full time for the
benefits not the paid time off, so it is not surprising that this question remains at the top
of the bottom 10 question scores. However, this question was also in the bottom 10
question scores because a lot of team members indicated that it did not apply to them or
they did not answer the question at all. We got rid of the President, Vice President, and
CFO questions, as we thought they were not as relevant as some other questions that
could be asked, so in the 2013 results, it is not that those scored better than in 2011, it is
simply that they were not there to be answered.
Casino A has not been on top of completing their 90-day and annual reviews like
they should be. With the change in managers, it has been hard to find consistency with
team member reviews. Due to the question being in the bottom 10 yet again, we have
worked out a performance appraisal plan with the General Manager and managers in
order to receive their reviews in a timely manner so that the team members can be given
their reviews when it is their yearly anniversary. By improving the completion of 90-day
and annual reviews, we hope to bring up some of the other questions scores like: I feel
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that I have good job security, I feel important at work, and I feel I have an opportunity to
advance. To help with the opportunity for advancement question, we have also begun
posting all current job openings for each of the casinos in order to bring awareness to all
team members of what positions are open that they may be interested in applying for.
The question: People in my department who perform well are recognized well,
ended up in the bottom question scores in both 2011 and 2013. Based on the answers
from 2011, not just from Casino A, but also from all the casinos, we set up a Team
Member Recognition Program that would recognize outstanding behaviors from team
members. We rolled that out at the end of 2012, so by August of 2013, it had been in full
swing for almost a year. Since this question was in the bottom questions again, it is clear
that the program is not doing what we have intended it to do to the fullest degree. This is
an opportunity for us to work with the team members to get feedback on what forms of
recognition they would care to see more of. By getting their feedback, we are
incorporating what they want into the program, so it makes the program more exciting for
them. Another opportunity we have for improving this question’s score is having the
managers take more action. I attend the raffles every month, and it is clear that not all the
managers are participating as much as others in writing U Rock raffle tickets for the team
members. If the General Manager and department managers got more involved with
writing raffle tickets and thank you cards and giving them to the team members, they
could feel that they are recognized more, and also feel more valued and important,
another question that Casino A scored low on. Which means it is an opportunity for the
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casino as well, as this is an easy way for managers to bring excitement, fun, and thanks
into the workplace, with no additional cost to them.
While the results of Casino A’s survey at first look seem a bit disappointing, for a
lot of the scores, there are justifications as to why these questions were now the top or
bottom questions. While there are many opportunities for the casino and for CF, there are
some gains that have been seen as well. Overall the company category improved, which
means that the time we have spent implementing company culture and sense of structure
has not been overlooked by the team members at Casino A. Also, by making slight
adjustments, improvements, or just following through more on some of the policies,
procedures, and programs we have implemented as part of the company culture, it could
help improve the overall scores of the next survey in an efficient way.
Casino B
For Casino B, the 2013 survey was completed by more team members in 2013
than in 2011, 98 team members versus 53 completed it. Casino B increased all of their
scores in each of the categories by at least six points, but some went up as much as 20
points. While their secure employee score went down five points to 52 from 57 in 2011,
the rest of their scores went up tremendously. Their employee feedback score went up 12
points to 80, and the employee emotions score went up eight points to 75.
The top 10 question scores for the 2013 team member survey were:
1. My company respects differences in culture, religion, age and gender. 93%
2. My direct supervisor helps me and other employees when we need help. 92%
3. My company provides an excellent level of customer service to guests. 91%
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4. I feel comfortable talking openly with my direct supervisor. 90%
5. I receive the training I need to do my job well. 89%
6. My company provides excellent value to guests. 88%
7. My work schedule is fair. 87%
8. My GM/Sr. Manager is hard working and I see him or her at the casino often.
87%
9. My direct supervisor treats me fairly. 86%
10. Employees in other departments help me and my department. 85%
While the top 10 question scores for the 2011 team member survey were:
1. My work schedule is fair. 88%
2. My direct supervisor helps me and other employees when we need help. 83%
3. My direct supervisor treats me fairly. 81%
4. My company respects differences in culture, religion, age, and gender. 81%
5. I feel proud about where I work. 80%
6. My company provides excellent value to guests. 79%
7. Enough people are available in my department to meet the needs of our guests.
79%
8. I’m excited about the future of this company. 78%
9. I am trusted to make decisions on my own. 77%
10. This company is a fun place to work. 76%
For Casino B, it is important to look at the question scores in a different way.
Casino B’s averages were altogether higher, and some questions that were the top
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questions of 2011, remained at the same percentage for 2013 but were in the bottom 10
question scores. The increased number of team members who completed the survey also
helped to increase the overall percentages and scores in general. In working with Casino
B, it is not surprising to me that these were the top scoring questions. When comparing
Casino A to Casino B, they have a very different management style, but the team
members are very different too. They are more upfront with the managers compared to
the team members at Casino A, which is reflective in Casino B’s survey results. Also, in
comparison with Casino A, Casino B’s management has not changed drastically, and the
change that was made in getting a new Casino Manager was simply a promotion of one
person, as someone else stepped down. Since this team member was already a known
team member because he was a Floor Service Representative, the team members knew
his style of managing, and more importantly they knew him. This made it an easier
transition for the team members, and also allowed for more open communication.
The casino trainers have worked extensively at Casino B to help with gaming and
guest service procedures training, and the team members have all attended the guest
service trainings put on by CF as well. It is evident that is working because three of the
top scoring questions were based on excelling in guest service and training. Although it is
not surprising, it is pleasing to see that, my work schedule is fair, and my direct
supervisor treats me fairly, both remained in the top scoring questions and improved their
percentages by about 10%. When almost double the amount of team members answer the
survey, it can be skewed in comparison to the past survey, however for Casino B, their
top scoring questions seem to be pretty consistent to those in 2011. The culture we have
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begun implementing in the casinos has been one of consistency and order, but also a way
to create fairness by being consistent. While the fairness related questions were also in
2011’s survey results, it is clear that Casino B has been able to maintain a consistent and
fair culture that is felt by the majority of the team members.
The bottom 10 question scores for the 2013 team member survey were:
1. Paid time off is more valuable benefit to me than health, dental, and vision. 40%
2. This company is able to keep high quality employees. 66%
3. People in my department who perform well are recognized. 67%
4. I feel important at work. 68%
5. I feel empowered to make decisions at work. 71%
6. I feel I have an opportunity to advance within this company. 73%
7. My current job provides the opportunity to learn new skills and develop my
talents. 73%
8. Upper Management cares about their staff. 73%
9. I have the supplies, tools, and equipment I need to do a good job. 75%
10. I’m excited about the future of this company. 76%
While the bottom 10 question scores for the 2011 team member survey were:
1. I received formalized annual evaluation from my direct supervisor. 39%
2. The Vice President cares about the staff at the company. 40%
3. The President cares about the staff at the company. 44%
4. The CFO cares about the staff at the company. 45%
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5. Paid time off is more valuable benefit to me than health, dental, and vision
insurance. 51%
6. The owner of the company cares about the staff at the company. 53%
7. I feel I have an opportunity to advance within this company. 62%
8. My GM/Sr. Manager keeps employees informed about what’s going on. 58%
9. My current job provides the opportunity to learn new skills and develop my
talents. 59%
10. People in my department who perform well are recognized well. 59%
As I mentioned previously, it is the bottom scoring questions that need to be
looked at differently, in comparison to how Casino A’s bottom questions were evaluated.
Six of the ten bottom scoring questions for Casino B were above 70%. In a survey there
are going to be the top answered questions and bottom answered questions; that is
inevitable. However, for Casino B, their lowest scoring question was 40%, but the next
lowest scoring question was a 66%. Whereas Casino A’s lowest scoring question was
39% but their top lower scoring question was only 60%. This is not to say that there are
not opportunities at Casino B, because there are always opportunities, but almost all
questions answered were average or above average.
Once again, we see that the question: Paid time off is more valuable benefit to me
than medical, dental, and vision, is once again at the bottom, and it is the top bottoming
scoring question in 2013. It is clear from the percentage difference that is strongly felt by
the majority of the team members. However, just like Casino A, this question was also in
the bottom 10 question scores because a lot of team members indicated that it did not
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apply to them or they did not answer the question at all. This being true, it is not
surprising the people value health benefits more than PTO, so it makes sense that
question would end up in the bottom scoring questions.
An opportunity for Casino B, like Casino A is to recognize team members more
by utilizing the U Rock program more efficiently, and even by saying thank you more
often. In comparison to Casino A, Casino B is better about giving out U Rock raffle
tickets and having all the managers fill them out, but these are often for perfect
attendance or perfect Kronos where they automatically receive a raffle ticket from their
direct manager. The drive to acquire scarce goods that bolster our sense of well being
through means of a reward program is one of the biggest motivators a company can use,
according to Employee Motivation – A Powerful New Model. Although we have
implemented a reward program for recognition, we are not seeing the results we would
like to see. In this case, restructuring the recognition program to satisfy the team
members’ drive to acquire might help motivate the team members more. While those acts
are important, team members need to be recognized for the job that they are doing as
well. It is easy to tell someone what he or she are doing wrong as it affects the business,
but telling someone that they are doing a great job or thank you, affects the business in a
positive way.
When I worked for Target, we would display all of the “Job Well Done” cards
from managers to team members and team members to team members up in the hallway
for everyone to see, at the end of the month we would take them down and whoever had
the most cards won a prize, and then they would get to keep their cards. The difference
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here is, one they are on display for all to see that a team member did a great job, it held
people accountable for writing cards because you did not want to be the only manager up
there that had not written any cards, and finally, the team members got to keep their
individual cards so they knew a manager or another team member recognized them. They
received instant gratification by receiving the cards. In the U Rock program, we keep the
cards until the end of the year, and even then we do not give them out to the team
members. Since we have switched our process of recording the U Rock tickets to a
monthly task instead of yearly, we can easily give the managers the U Rock tickets back
so they can give them out to the team members. This is a simple, yet effective way to
grow this opportunity.
Another opportunity that exists for Casino B is taking more time in the annual
evaluations to discuss the goals and desires of each individual team member. Generally
there are about 5 – 10 team members each month that need to receive a performance
appraisal. Usually giving the performance appraisal takes about 15 minutes, by adding an
extra 5 minutes to each team member’s appraisal and asking them what their goals are,
what they want to do with their career, and if they have everything they need in order to
do their job properly, this could increase the bottom scoring questions like: I feel I have
an opportunity to advance within this company, My current job provides the opportunity
to learn new skills and develop my talents, and I have the supplies, tools, and equipment I
need to do a good job. This is free and it brings awareness to the managers about the team
members’ want and desires. A lot of times it is not that the managers are not caring
towards the team members’ wants and desires, it is simply that they are unaware of them.
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By making a little more effort with each of the team members once a year, they can solve
this opportunity, and also possibly end up keeping team members longer by advancing
them and their skills. By seeking out opportunities, the business can continue to grow and
become a better place to work. Opportunities should be seen as a challenge but should
never be looked down upon. Every business has opportunities to develop, grow, and
become a better place of employment for the team members, and by doing so, the culture
of the organization can grow too.
Casino C
More than double the team members completed Casino C’s 2013 team member
survey than in 2011, 107 team members versus 49. Even though the amount of team
members who took the survey more than doubled, the majority of their scores went up.
Out of the seven categories that make up the survey, Casino C’s survey results went up in
all of the categories besides Job. Their employee feedback score went up 3 points from
78 to 81 and their employee emotions score went up 2 points from 72 to 74. However,
their secure employee score did go down by one point, from 73 to 72.
The top 10 question scores for the 2013 team member survey were:
1. I’m excited about the future of this company. 94%
2. This company is a fun place to work. 92%
3. My GM/Sr. Manager is working hard and I see him or her at the casino often.
92%
4. My GM/Sr. Manager cares about employees in my company. 91%
5. At our company, employees and managers work well together. 91%
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6. My company provides excellent value to guests. 90%
7. I receive the training I need to do the job well. 90%
8. I feel comfortable talking openly with my direct supervisor. 90%
9. My direct supervisor helps me and other employees when we need help. 90%
10. My company respects differences in culture, religion, age and gender. 89%
While the top 10 question scores for the 2011 team member survey were:
1. My GM/Sr. Manager is hard working and I see him at the casino often. 92%
2. My direct supervisor helps me and other employees when we need help. 92%
3. This company is a fun place to work. 88%
4. My GM/Sr. Manager cares about the employees in my company. 88%
5. I’m excited about the future of this company. 88%
6. My work schedule is fair. 86%
7. Employees in other departments work well with my department. 86%
8. My direct supervisor treats me fairly. 85%
9. My company respects difference in culture, religion, age and gender. 85%
10. My GM/Sr, Manager keeps employees informed about what’s going on. 84%
In examining the top scoring questions of 2013 compared to those in 2011, while
six of the ten questions remain the same, it is pleasing to see the questions that replaced
the other top four are all based on the culture (trainings, policies, procedures) we have
implemented in the casino. At our company, employees and managers work well
together, my company provides excellent value to guests, I receive the training I need to
do the job well, and I feel comfortable talking openly with my direct supervisor.
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Casino C is very different from the other two casinos. It has a small infrastructure,
yet it is the most profitable casino out of the three. At any time of the day or night it is
crowded with people gambling. When you walk into the casino you are immediately
greeted by anyone who is working. The managers have managed to maintain friendships
with the team members while still being able to manage them. Since the establishment
was running long before our owner acquired it, most of the team members have worked
there forever, and have also worked their way up to management roles. The managers
have also worked hard to remain accessible to the team members, more so than with
Casino B, and definitely more than Casino A.
That being said, it has been a lot more difficult to get them to perform the
management tasks associated with the new policies, procedures, and processes.
Progressive discipline, consistency with documenting or communicating with Human
Resources, and administering new policies and procedures were not their forte. They had
the, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” attitude toward building a company culture. It took
them forever to realize that the culture the company was developing and implementing
was based on prior survey results, team member feedback, lawsuits at their sister
companies, team member complaints and incidences at their casino and also at the other
casinos, and high turnover rates at a lot of our casinos. Once they had an understanding of
the logic behind it, they became more adaptable to the culture, and started to implement
and practice the culture we were setting forth.
The bottom 10 question scores for the 2013 team member survey were:
1. Paid time off is more valuable benefit to me than health, dental, and vision. 46%
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2. I feel empowered to make decisions at work. 55%
3. I feel I have an opportunity to advance within this company. 62%
4. I am trusted to make decisions on my own. 68%
5. I feel important at work. 71%
6. People in my department who perform well are recognized. 72%
7. My current job provides the opportunity to learn new skills and develop my
talents. 74%
8. I am happy with the physical working conditions at my job. 75%
9. Employees in other departments help me and my department. 76%
10. I feel appreciated at work. 76%
While the bottom 10 question scores for the 2011 team member survey were:
1. Paid time off is more valuable benefit to me than health, dental, and vision
insurance. 50%
2. The President cares about the staff at the company. 53%
3. The Vice President cares about the staff at the company. 58%
4. The CFO cares about the staff at the company. 58%
5. People in my department who perform well are recognized. 63%
6. Enough people are available in my department to meet the needs of our guests.
65%
7. I feel empowered to make decisions at work. 68%
8. I feel respected at work. 69%
9. I feel important at work. 71%
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10. I receive the training I need to do my job well. 73%
Looking at the bottom scoring questions for Casino C, it is clear that there is a
common trend throughout the companies. All need to improve upon communicating with
their team members during their 90-day and annual reviews, and all need to better utilize
the U Rock program. Casino C has begun improving their U Rock program by printing U
Rock cards that are the size of business cards and are green for team members and blue
for managers. The cards are like formalized U Rock raffle tickets, but it allows the team
members and managers to carry some around at all times and give them out more
frequently. It also allows peer-to-peer recognition to be recognized in the raffle, not only
manager recognition. Although we did not allow peers to write raffle tickets for each
other, the General Manager says that it has been boosting the morale of the program and
the team members. While this was not our intentions of the how the program would be
ran, it seems as though there was an opportunity to improve the program, and the team
members have already benefited from the change. In addition to the performance
appraisals and U Rock program, it is interesting that one of the bottom scoring questions
in 2011: I receive the training I need to do my job well, is a top scoring question on the
2013 results. This adds to the argument that the training, policies, procedures, etc. that
make up the culture we are implementing in the casinos is effective.
Although the survey helps us benchmark where we are at compared to other like
businesses and our parent businesses, it also affords us the ability to seek opportunities
we might not have discovered without an anonymous survey. While not everyone
company has to improve as much as others, there is always room for some improvement.
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Some questions are seen in all of the companies as a strength or weakness, and some
questions are seen in just one company’s survey results as a strength or weakness.
Although the companies are owned by the same people, and operated by the same parent
group, at the end of the day they are different companies, in different locations, with
different management teams, and different team members. What might work for one
casino might or might not work for the others. The survey has helped us to determine
whether all, some, or none of the culture’s principles that the company has worked to
implement over the last year and a half have been accepted by management and team
members, and whether it has been effective or not. Overall, based on the results from the
survey, the culture is definitely present in our casinos and team members, including
management. Change does not happen overnight, so while there are opportunities, the
growth and presence of culture is apparent based on the increase in the company category
scores across the board, and the top questions answered across the board.
In addition to the survey, we have looked at the turnover rates and the number of
lawsuits as other measures of how successful the culture we have been implementing
throughout the companies is. When your turnover rate is lower, that means your
employee retention is high. This means that you are providing your team members with a
place that they like to work, and want to stay working at. The flipside of this is that the
company is recruiting the top most successful candidates, and the managers are not being
faced with the issue of having to terminate team members often. In addition to both these
points, lower turnover can also result from better training, better progressive discipline,
and better awareness of expectations from the managers and the company itself.
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The first turnover report for Casino A, B, and C was conducted in 2011. Starting
with Casino A, in 2011 the turnover rate was 91%, this was when we were in the business
of terminating anyone we wanted, whenever we wanted, for any reason. We had also
opened in the beginning of 2010, so with the opening of a new business, there is bound to
be some turnover, however by 2011 it should not have been as high as 91%. By the end
of 2012, the turnover rate for Casino A had dropped to 49.1%, a change of -41.9%. At
years end in 2013, the casino’s turnover rate continued to drop to 43.1%, a change of -6%
from 2012. For Casino A’s 2013 turnover rate, 36 were voluntary and 11 were
involuntary. 15 of the 47 team members who were terminated, were fired or left before
their 90-day probationary period was up. This could be an opportunity for the managers
to be more selective in the hiring process, but overall the turnover has reduced greatly for
Casino A, as they have become more efficient with the progressive discipline process and
with hiring and terminating team members.
Casino B’s turnover rate in 2011 was 36.6%. Casino B was an established club
that our owner bought into. Unlike Casino A, we did not have to go through the turmoil
of the new business turnover rate. However in 2011, the turnover rate was still a little
higher than it needed to be. By 2012, it had dropped to 31.1%, a change of -5.5%.
However, in 2013 it rose again to 34.7%, a change of +3.6%. During 2013, Casino B
underwent a change in the kitchen management and a remodel towards the end of the
year. This did have an impact on their turnover rate, however they were still in a good
range. They also introduced the position of a Prop Player, which is a position with a very
high turnover rate. Reason being, they are team members who sit at the tables for up to 8
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hours a day and gamble. They have to be able to bankroll $1,500 at any given time, and
accept the wins and losses. A lot of people who become Prop Players believe that they
are avid poker players, but when it becomes their job, they cannot continue to bankroll
what is needed and they are left to resign. Out of the five Prop Players we onboarded in
2013, four of them left before 2013’s year end. With the remodel finishing up in the first
quarter of 2014, Casino B’s turnover will probably be around the same for 2014, but for
the future years should come back down on average.
As I discussed earlier, Casino C was purchased years after it had been established,
and many of the team members have been there since before our owner acquired it. In
2011 Casino C’s turnover rate was 25.53%. While they were not as bad as terminating
people whenever they wanted, for whatever they wanted, it still did occur. In 2012 with
the progressive discipline process underway, it brought down the turnover rate to 17%,
which was way below any of the sister companies. Casino C’s turnover rate did increase
again to 26.3% in 2013, a change of +9.3%. 16 out of the 30 people who were terminated
were on the Food and Beverage side. Casino C underwent a restaurant and bar remodel at
the beginning of 2013, which aided in the higher numbers. The other 14 were split
between Security Officers and gaming floor team members. At 26.3% they are still
within an acceptable range, and still the lowest out of all three casinos.
Overall Analysis
Overall, besides the few hiccups due to remodels, the turnover rates for all three
casinos have gone down. There are definitely more voluntary terminations than
involuntary, which show that our new hire orientations, trainings, policies, and
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procedures have been effective in reducing the involuntary turnover, however there is an
opportunity to reduce the voluntary turnover. In 2013, Casino A had 36/47 voluntary
terminations, Casino B had 25/35 voluntary terminations, and Casino C had 21/30
voluntary terminations. One of the bottom scoring questions in Casino A and B’s survey
result was: this company is able to keep high quality employees. By the voluntary
termination rate, this seems to hold true. It is an opportunity for CF to figure out through
exit interviews why they left, and what we would have to have done better or offer as a
company for them to have stayed with the casino they left.
Lawsuits were another thing that kept bringing us down. For legal purposes I
cannot get into the details of the lawsuits, however, since rolling out the policies and
trainings in 2013 we have only had two new lawsuits, versus the 12 lawsuits we were
dealing with from 2011 to 2013. Bringing order and fairness into the casinos by creating
a company culture that allows us to thrive on consistency, CF has been able to reduce the
legal risk for the casinos. Although legal risk is inevitable, the casinos are at lower risk
for wrongful terminations and lawsuits that speak of a similar makeup because of the
culture they have created and implemented in each of the casinos. Also, just because a
team member sues the company, it does not mean that they will win. By being able to
provide documentation of the progressive discipline we went through with the team
member and trainings the team member attended, we are more likely to win the case.
Before we did not have any documentation of any kind, so it was a he says, she says
battle, which was usually to our disadvantage.
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The implementation and execution of our strategic plan was not perfect, but it did
create a foundation for a culture in customer service that we were striving for. It also
allowed us to create a uniform way of handling company policies, processes, and
procedures, in order to be consistent and fair to all team members.
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Chapter 5
FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS
The purpose of this project was to show that creating a company culture
could lead to sustainability and therefore profitability. The past three years have been
vital to CF’s and the casinos’ sustainability and profitability. We began rolling out the
policies and procedures near the last quarter of 2012; however, the handbook and policy
rolled out was made official in late January of 2013. Before the policies and procedures
were implemented, team members and managers alike felt that they had the ability to do
whatever they wanted because there was nothing saying they could or could not. It was
creating chaos in the casinos, and outside of the casinos, as it was leading to unnecessary
complaints and lawsuits. So much time was being spent on the complaints and lawsuits
that the executives did not even have time to focus on where the problem was coming
from. With the creation of policies, procedures, and processes, expectations were
established not only for the team members, but also for the managers, and the CF team
members as well. Creating policies and procedures also created a uniform way of
handling various situations like discipline, attendance, leaves of absence, workers’ comp,
and variance issues. Although there will certainly be events that create a grey area, the
policies help make the majority of situations that could arise black and white. Further
more, they provide an explanation as to why team members are receiving the
consequences they are, and how the team member or manager could have prevented the
situation. This helps future situations from arising as well.
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In addition to the policies, procedures, and processes we rolled out, we also
introduced training classes for the team members and managers. The trainings have lent a
very important piece to the culture puzzle. The owner’s vision was to was to give card
rooms a makeover, and transform them into an establishment that offered a clean gaming
and dining facility, that provided guests with excellent customer service and every reason
to come back. It was established that in order to make this vision a reality, CF would
have to create a culture for the team members that would in turn create an incredible
guest experience built on customer service. Although the policies and procedures helped
bring order and fairness to the casinos, which in turn created a part of the overall culture,
it was the training that made this vision a reality.
Training allowed CF to transform the culture in the casinos. It too brought a sense
of expectations. While policies and procedures created the “what to do and what not to
do”, training created the “how to”. The training series consisted of real life scenarios, roll
playing, and tests, in a variety of different categories, most important being customer
service for all the team members in every casino, and leadership training for all the
management as well. The policies and procedures mapped out the expectations, and the
training confirmed how to properly execute the expectations. Without them even
knowing, the culture had been embedded within the team members and management.
They were aware of how to properly use all of the trainings to meet the expectations that
had been set forth by the company, and what the consequences were if they failed to meet
the expectations. This culture is what created an incredible guest experience in PW
Casinos centered on customer service in friendly, safe, and pristine environments.
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Through policies, procedures, processes, and trainings, we were able to execute the
company’s mission and make the vision a reality.
While it is apparent that there are still a lot of opportunities for each of the casinos
and CF, it is also evident that the culture has helped bring expectations, standards, order,
and fairness to the each of the casinos. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines
sustainable as an adjective meaning able to last or continue for a long time. It also defines
profitable as an adjective meaning making money. In the business world profitability and
sustainability go hand in hand. If a business is not sustainable, it will not be profitable
either. If a business is not profitable, it will not be able to maintain its status or grow, and
it would be forced into bankruptcy and/or closure.
In 2011 when I started with CF, profitability and sustainability were definitely in
question for the company and their casino clients. Through 2012, many of us feared that
we would lose our jobs due to the inability of the Executives to conduct business in a
profitable and sustainable manner. Part of this had to do with the amount of lawsuits we
had and the money and time that was spent reaching and paying the settlements, part of it
was because of poor leadership practice and the inability to be cost efficient when making
decisions, and last but not least was being uneducated on how to run a successful
business and management team. What saved CF and the casinos from completely failing
was the industry the companies happened to be in. The Gambling and Casinos Industry is
very profitable without having to do much, but if you ask anyone who has been with the
company for several years, they would agree that had these companies been in a different
industry like Retail, Restaurant, or Entertainment, they would not be around still today.
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With that being said, although the industry is very profitable, the companies were still
losing out on profitability due to the inability of fulfilling the guests needs.
Transforming the Executive Team by firing the old and then hiring a whole new
Executive staff was the first step in creating a culture of sustainability and profitability
for CF and the casinos. At the time it frightened most of us that worked for CF, but
looking back, we gained an Executive Team that was educated and well experienced in
leading a business to sustainability. By taking that risk, they were able to produce a
customer service based culture that created expectations and order for team members and
management. The expectations and order brought fairness, which reduced the amount of
potential liabilities, increased the team member productivity, and created team bonding
throughout the casinos. The culture has allowed us to differentiate ourselves from the
other casinos and card clubs, and provide our guests with a product and experience that
keeps them coming back. The changes our culture has made in our companies had led us
to sustainability. Now there is only talk of growing and constant excitement of what the
future holds. Having standard templates for policies, procedures, processes and trainings
in the PW Casinos will allow us to easily transfer this culture of customer service that
creates sustainability and profitability to future companies PW Casinos creates and
develops.
Organizational culture is defined on Inc.com as “the shared values, attitudes,
standards, and beliefs that characterize members of an organization and define its nature.
Corporate culture is rooted in an organization’s goals strategies, structure, and
approaches to labor, customers, investors, and the greater community. As such, it is an
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essential component in any business’s ultimate success or failure.” Every company is
different, even if there are two companies in the same industry, they can operate a
completely different way, have a completely different mission and vision, and have a
completely different set of expectations. This is what makes corporate culture so
significant; it is what sets businesses apart. PW Casinos was much like the other card
room/casino companies in the beginning. They made promises they could not keep, did
not follow best practices, and ended up losing a lot of money because their organizational
culture was poor. They saw an opportunity to change their mission and vision for the
company, and transform their culture to better fit their values and principles and achieve
their mission. By separating themselves from their old ways and negative culture, they
were able to turn a group of failing businesses into successful, sustainable, and profitable
companies.
In the article, Make It Stick, Embedding Change in Organizational Culture, it
discusses the approach to making culture change stick within an organization. In order to
make change last, new behaviors need to become part of the formal and informal
systems, habits, and practices that form the organization’s culture. The articles suggests
that there are five key elements to making new behaviors stick, which are:
1. Achieving tangible results as quickly as possible.
2. Showing how the change is working, and why the old ways were not working,
and will not work.
3. Measuring and supporting the sustained performance.
4. Ensuring that leadership will support and model the new behaviors.
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5. Initiating necessary turnover.
By creating the Human Resources Roadmap and executing the plan right away,
we were able to survey the team members within the first year of rolling out the new
expectations, systems, and behaviors, allowing us to track results quickly. We were able
to measure performance of the company through different data proving that the new
culture was better than the old culture and way of running the business. While it was not
easy to get all management on board, eventually we were able to get all of them to see
our vision of PW Casinos and how implementing culture based on customer service
could boost our sustainability and profitability. As discussed previously, when building
or changing a culture, there are going to be people that fit into the culture, and those that
do not. It is necessary to find those who will fit into the culture so that they continue to
practice the values, behaviors, and expectations of the culture.
Throughout this project, different elements that help make up the culture at PW
Casinos were shown and discussed. It was shown that the internal culture of a company
could have a big affect on the external culture as well. From my research, any business
has the possibility of achieving a higher rate of success if they start their business by
creating their mission and vision for the company centered on their beliefs, values,
attitudes, and standards. This will help create a unique organizational culture that will set
expectations and bring order and fairness to the business, which in turn will create a
platform of sustainability and profitability for the company.
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APPENDIX A
2011 Team Member Survey Results
Casino A
110
111
Casino B
112
113
Casino C
114
115
APPENDIX B
Comparison of Turnover Rates for Years 2011 – 2013
116
APPENDIX C
Human Resources Roadmap
117
118
119
APPENDIX D
401k Vesting Chart
120
APPENDIX E
Unresolved and Resolved Variance Discipline Charts
Unresolved Variance Discipline Chart
Resolved Variance Discipline Chart
121
APPENDIX F
Employee Benefit Contributions
122
APPENDIX G
Workers’ Compensation Claims From 2011 – 2013
Workers' Compensation Claims
2010 2011 2012 2013
Casino A
4
5
6
1
Casino B
0
0
1
3
Casino C
1
0
3
4
2014
1
0
0
123
APPENDIX H
Greet, Guide, and Appreciate Training Guide
124
125
APPENDIX I
Training Calendar Example
126
APPENDIX J
2013 Team Member Survey Results
Casino A
127
128
Casino B
129
130
Casino C
131
132
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