HR Solutionsí years of research

HR Solutionsí years of research has found that employees, regardless of industry, express similar feedback when it comes to identifying the factor that contributes most to Overall Job Satisfaction ñ Satisfaction with co-workers and senior managers. Our recent research has shown that perceived Senior Management concern for employees strongly correlates to Senior Managementís visibility in a given department.

To see how this research applies to the gaming industry, we utilized National Normative Gaming research consisting of over 37,000 employees and 27 gaming organizations all surveyed within the last three years on the following item, ìSenior managers frequently visit my department.î

HR Solutionsí Principal Consultant, Murat Philippe, said the results provide an insightful picture of the casino departments which have managementís focus and those receiving less attention.

The highest scoring departments are (% favorable):

Gaming Department and Senior Management Visibility

Legal-100%
Executive-60%
Human Resources-59%
Food and Beverage-55%
Administrative-51%
Hotel Operations-51%

In contrast, the following the lowest scoring departments (% favorable):

Gaming Department and Senior Management Visibility

Security-34%
Purchasing-34%
Surveillance-33%
IT/MIS-32%
Cage and Coin-31%
Operations-22%

The top three scoring departments were, not surprisingly, Legal, Executive, and Human Resources. Food and Beverage is a department which most likely receives regular visits by all employees, therefore its ranking here is not seen as significant. Conversely, departments reporting the lowest visibility, like IT/MIS, are areas where senior management presence is limited, typically not an executive position or one in which executive supervision is generally not necessary.

This survey also measured employeesí Overall Job Satisfaction, which HR Solutions broke down by department and compared to the item regarding senior visibility. As predicted, the departments that reported high executive visibility generally had high Overall Job Satisfaction scores. However, there were some exceptions to this correlation. Two departments that reported low visibility, Purchasing and Operations, were actually both among the five highest departments for Overall Job Satisfaction.

Commenting on these findings, Murat Phillipe points out that the Purchasing department typically must okay all big money purchases thorough Senior Management, and this interaction could result in perceived concern. As for Operations, Mr. Philippe says that although Senior Management Visibility is an important indicator of Overall Job Satisfaction, it is only one of many, and he would expect that the department scored favorably in other areas to compensate for the low visibility. Indeed, a review of the department showed that Operations came in at the top five most favorable department for six other dimensions*, thereby skewing the positive effects of the high visibility.

Overall, this research shows that high Senior Management Visibility in casino departments is a strong indicator of high Overall Job Satisfaction. Senior Management is encouraged to visit all departments, and to communicate directly as much as possible. This will create the perception of a caring senior management and give employees direct access to express their concerns. This time commitment should be considered an investment that can lead to increased job satisfaction and ultimately a more productive and engaged workforce.

* A dimension is a broad-based subject category that measures an important aspect of employee job satisfaction.