Casino Guests, Employees Both Win With Incentive Programs

By Martin R. Baird

This may be difficult for casino management to believe, but their employees don’t get enough attention.  I’ve worked with casinos from coast to coast and I believe employees are starving for attention from their bosses.

            Here’s something even harder to believe.  Studies about employment in the United States show that employees would rather get praise from supervisors than money, that recognition for a job well done actually ranks higher than cash.

            So why should you care about all this?  Here’s the bottom line:  all casinos want their guests to come back and play again and they are more likely to do that at properties where employees have a positive attitude.  One way to have a staff with a sunny outlook – they smile, have fun on the job and provide stellar guest service that keeps guests coming back – is to give them the praise they want and deserve.

            Every casino should have an incentive and recognition program for its employees.  Here are a few important points to think about when you’re planning your program.  Advance planning will make the ultimate outcome much better for your employees and for you.

            Incentive and recognition programs are behavior modification in its simplest form.  You want your employees to behave in a certain way so that guests have a pleasant gaming experience and rewarding staff members for demonstrating that behavior will get the job done.  So the first thing you must do is decide what behavior you’re looking for from your employees.  This must be decided first so you know what kind of behavior to reward.  Otherwise, you could end up rewarding people for doing something entirely different.  Set your behavior parameters.

            Next, assign someone to decide whether employees are performing the way you want them to.  This is where one decision will take your property down a path to success or a road to ruin. 

The problem is that many casinos think this would be a great job for managers and department heads.  Nothing could be further from the truth because bias and standards could get in the way.  If a manager doesn’t like a particular employee, it will be difficult to make a fair assessment.  Employees on one shift may get more rewards than employees on another because one shift manager may have lower standards than the next shift manager.  A program with these problems is doomed and could actually do more harm than good.

Your incentive and recognition program must be fair and unbiased.  Have a third party do a mystery shop with findings based on observation and interaction with employees.  Mystery shoppers don’t care who gets the recognition and that gets managers off the hook.

Now it’s time to set more parameters.  Mystery shopping is most effective when you clearly state what you want evaluated.  Make a list.  Be specific.  Each shopper should know exactly what they’re looking for when they walk the floor.

            Everyone wants to be a winner and it’s important that you help your employees pass the mystery shop with flying colors.  Before you bring the shoppers in, employees should go through guest-service training that gives them the skills to pass the shop.  Just as important, these will be skills they can use on the job every day to create the kind of experience guests appreciate.

            During the first baseline shop, don’t tell employees that mystery shopping is taking place.  But after that, they should know they’re being evaluated.

            The whole point of all this is to recognize employees for doing the right thing, so give your rewards careful thought.  Since cash is not a high priority for employees, tangible gifts and gestures of appreciation are more appropriate.  Lunch with key executives and gift cards are two ideas.  It’s fairly easy to find things locally or on the Internet and it’s fun to come up with ideas.  I’m not recommending something expensive.  But I am strongly suggesting consistency.

            How the reward is given is also important.  First of all, it must be done as soon as possible after the desired behavior is spotted.  That way employees make a clear connection between the behavior and the payoff.  Thus, you must have a turnkey system in place so you have rewards and recognition that are ready to go.

            We’ve all heard that you praise in public and correct in private.  People don’t get public praise often enough.  They appreciate it when their peers see they were recognized. 

            Now a word of caution about using this program to catch undesirable behavior.  This program is designed to reward people, to give them an incentive to do a good job.  Don’t use the mystery shop reports as a way to punish employees.  If the shop uncovers a problem, more training may be in order.

            One last comment.  Management must be totally committed to an incentive and recognition program if it is to have any hope of succeeding.  Management must buy in completely before any planning begins.  They must demonstrate their commitment by attending the training sessions with everyone else and by emphasizing good guest service in their day-to-day activities.  When management jumps on the bus, employees know this is a new way of doing things and not a passing fad.  And the resources must be available to keep the program going.

            Planning and implementing an incentive and recognition program is hard work and it costs money.  But it is worth the effort and expense.  This program will help you create a culture in which your employees thrive.  Your guests will notice.  They will remember your property and they will come back.

Martin R. Baird is president of Robinson & Associates, Inc., a guest service consulting firm based in Phoenix, Ariz., that provides specialty guest service training, management skills training, presentation skills training, team building programs and employee incentive and recognition programs for the gaming industry.  The company is owned by Lydia and Martin Baird.  The Bairds have a Web site, www.casinocustomerservice.com, that’s devoted to helping casinos improve their guest service so they can compete and increase revenues.  Robinson & Associates may be reached by contacting Martin at 480-991-6420 or at mbaird@casinocustomerservice.com.  The company is a member of the Casino Management Association and an associate member of the National Indian Gaming Association.