When It Comes to Guest Service, Are Raises the Key or the Curse?

By Martin R. Baird

Here’s a simple question.  Are raises the key to great casino guest service or the curse?

Let’s say for the sake of argument that raises are the key to great things at your property.  Raises rule!  They lead to happy employees.  I don’t know about you, but I haven’t talked to a property general manager yet who didn’t want happy employees.  After all, why would anyone want to elevate the ire of their staff?

We all know that happy casino employees show up for work on time.  They leave their personal issues at home.  They work diligently to give the guest the best possible experience.  Of course, they do these things because they got a raise and they want to share the joy they feel.

Now let’s look at the other side of raises.  What was the reason for the pay increase?  Was it an across-the-board entitlement because employees stayed with the company for another year?  Was it because the property made a profit?

If raises were given for the above reasons, was it a good thing?  Did it help you reach your desired outcome of achieving stellar guest service?

OK, here’s the answer to the question.  Giving raises is often detrimental to your property.  It’s true.  If an increase in pay is not done for the right reasons, it undermines your efforts to have a better casino and a better gaming experience.  An employee should get a raise when they add value to the property or the guest.

If your compensation isn’t based on performance, it’s an entitlement.  There’s only one thing your employees learn from that:  if they don’t get fired or quit, they will make more money next year.  It breeds the belief that there’s no need to work harder or try new things.  What’s the point of going the extra mile for guests if the most important thing is simply being on hand?

So what is better than raises?  Performance incentives.  After all, isn’t that the basis of the free-market economy?  You provide a product or service of value and you’re compensated for it.  When a person provides more value, they’re compensated.  When someone takes calculated risks and they add more value, they get paid more yet again.  This system has successfully made more millionaires and developed more products than any other.  Shouldn’t it be followed when it comes to compensation?

I’m all for people making more money.  I would love it if a casino employee excelled to the point that they earned enough to retire after working there seven years.  Notice I said earned.

Let’s link desired behaviors and activities to money.  I would much rather have employees make more because they smile than because they are simply still on the job. 

So what will you link compensation to?  How about the behaviors that your guests want?  Simple skills like smiling and eye contact would qualify.  Compensation could be tied to unbiased guest feedback.  If a department scores a 3.75 out of 4, it gets an X percent increase in pay.  I recommend doing this quarterly but keep changing the times when it’s done so people don’t play the game just during the mystery shops and then go back to old habits.

You can even make it a game.  People like to play games as long as they know the rules up front.  If the rules don’t change, they know they have a chance of winning.  Make it a fun experience that they can get behind and talk about.

When you think about tying compensation to performance, make sure it relates to something your employees can in fact affect.  It’s counterproductive to offer people an incentive they can’t control.  People want to control their own destiny.

When you tie compensation to expectations, everyone wins.  The behaviors that you want become part of the casino’s culture and people are rewarded for it.  If they don’t do what’s expected of them, they miss out.  It’s that simple.  If compensation is linked to guest-service standards, the guests also benefit because they will have the experience they want.

The goal shouldn’t be a handout but a reason for everyone to leave your property feeling like a winner!

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.