Casino Enterprise Management August 2014 www.CasinoEnterpriseManagement.com18

gaming management talent science

USING TALENT SCIENCETO OUTPERFORM THE

COMPETITIONJason Taylor

Competition is usually considered a good thing forconsumers. But on the neon-lit avenues of longtime gamblingdestinations Las Vegas and Atlantic City, as well as in thehundreds of other casinos and Native American-run gamingfacilities in the United States, too much competition is takingits toll on the industry. There are now more casinos than evervying for a slice of the $38 billion pie that represents U.S.gaming revenue1.

What differentiates one casino’s customer experience fromanother? Every casino/resort offers comfortable surroundings,a variety of choices, accommodations and plentifulentertainment. But why should the customer choose yourlocation over the one next door? Let’s consider the impactevery casino employee can have on the customer experienceand how to identify the best employees in the candidate pool.

A major, universal need to fill the ongoing vacancies forskilled personnel with experience in the hospitality industry isshared across all of the different types of gaming facilities.

Businesses across the globe, including casinos, have beendiscovering over the last decade that it takes a certain type ofperson to excel in a certain position. You and your culture areunique. Although job experience and relevant work historyare important when selecting your next new hire, thepersonality and behavioral makeup of the candidate is a muchstronger factor in determining who will perform best in yourpositions, in your culture.

Skills can be taught over a short period of time. In fact,practically every casino has some sort of training program fornew employees, whether they are dealers, security, front deskassociates or any of the multitudes of positions offered by afull-line casino/resort. But it is the internal preferences, or aperson’s core behaviors, that are the most reliable indicatorsof long-term success in any given role. And success in thehigh-rolling, high-dollar competitive landscape of casinos ismeasured not just in dollar revenue, but in brand awareness.Think of your brand in terms of how well your people servicethe customer, which is a reflection of your unique brand.Casino management must be equipped with tools to helpmake the best hiring decisions that will drive business goals

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Casino Enterprise Management August 2014 www.CasinoEnterpriseManagement.com20

and add to the bottom-line financial results.The task of documenting a person’s behavioral traits is the

foundation of the industry of talent science. The concept isthis: Talent science uses big data and performance metrics todetermine who is doing the best job for you, and thenprovides an employee profile that is used to predict thosebest equipped to succeed in your casino environment. Talentscience provides valuable information that can be leveragednot only in the hiring process, but also for onboarding, talentmanagement, coaching and succession planning. Casinomanagement can no longer rely on gut-feel hiring, résuméscanning or face-to-face interviews to make the best hiringdecisions. Keep those factors in the mix, but the realinformation you need is what drives the individual in yourspecific work environment.

The talent science process starts with taking a detailed lookat your incumbent population. Using a proven behavioralassessment, a measure is made of every employee’s behavioralstyles and characteristics that represent core behavioralpreferences. Certain personality attributes—among themambition, discipline, energy, acceptance of authority, attentionto detail, flexibility, conscientiousness, et cetera—areevaluated. Additionally, talent science must answer thequestion of what performance measures define success.Behavioral assessment results are then matched toperformance metrics at the individual level, and aperformance profile is generated that represents a predictionmodel to identify individuals best suited for success in thespecific position.

Talent science provides an objective method to identify justthe right mix of each behavioral dimension as it relates tosuccess. For every position in every company the mix ofbehaviors is based on performance and therefore creates aunique combination. Does your position require an outgoingpersonality to mix with a casino’s sometimes rowdy, fun-loving crowds? If so, how much sociability is too much? Andwhat about emotional consistency? Hostesses, dealers, hotelstaff and others will come in contact with those who just wona big jackpot and likely many more who just lost hundreds orpossibly thousands of dollars in the blink of an eye. Whencustomers don’t win, it may be the interactions with casinoworkers or hotel staff that create a memorable stay and fuelthe desires for a return visit—or not.

Other examples of dimensions in the mix might bediscipline, acceptance of authority and attention to detail.While specific requirements vary from state to state, mostjurisdictions require all casino employees to apply forlicensure or certification, even in service-related positions notinvolved in gaming activities. Unlike typical restaurants orhotels, casinos and other gaming facilities are strictlyregulated environments and employees are often required toadhere carefully to an array of procedures and policies.Willingness and ability to follow rules carefully and being astickler for details will likely be strong behavioral benchmarksfor future employees. Talent science will discover the recipethat closely represents those who are already doing a stellarjob in their current positions, allowing you to hire those withsimilar behavioral dispositions.

So how do you prepare for your next wave of hiring? Usetalent science to provide a prediction model to help youcapture high-performing talent unique to your brand. Byobjectively choosing your staffing needs, you will find that

competitive advantage over other gaming venues.Another huge benefit to hiring people who are better-

suited to their job type is retention. Our research indicates,regardless of position, that an improved rate of turnover iscommon when associates are hired using talent scienceprinciples. That is a win-win because a higher performingworkforce stays on the payroll longer.

According to January 2013 data from the Bureau of LaborStatistics, the top five most-populous casino/resort positionsare food preparers/servers, gaming dealers, gaming servicesworkers, entertainment attendants and personal care/service.With the average median salary of these positions at $23,534annually, the cost of turnover, or the price to fill one of thesevacated positions, averages 16 percent of annual salary, or$3,765, according to a study from the Center for AmericanProgress.

How many $3,800 hits can you take before it starts to dragdown your operating margins? With a talent science processin place, casinos such as The Venetian and The Palazzo haveseen turnover drop by 38 percent. To establish and maintain aquality presence in the ultra-competitive resort industry ofLas Vegas, these casino-based resorts committed to offer aspectacular guest experience accompanied by exquisiteservice. These lofty guest expectations must be met by theresort staff, including front office clerks, valets, retailsalespeople, casino dealers and security officers, to name afew. The Venetian and The Palazzo both used talent scienceselection software to help fill hundreds of positions withemployees who enhance the “vacation-of-a-lifetime” ambianceof world-class luxury hotels.

In the competitive realm of luxury resorts, a very savvyclientele knows how great service looks and feels. They expectan experienced, knowledgeable staff to meet their everyneed. That is why a talent science process that specializes inidentifying job candidates with the behavioral characteristicsthat define better service providers and support longer jobtenures works better than traditional résumé-based methods.When voluntary turnover falls, the resort’s HR and trainingteams can focus less on hiring and more on providing qualityguest services. This will provide a differentiator for yourcasino and greatly improve the odds that guests interact withexperienced dealers, servers, security guards, hotel staff andretail clerks.

1 Bloomberg Businessweek, “Local Casinos Are a Losing Bet,” April 3, 2014.

gaming management talent science

Jason Taylor, PhD., is chief HCM (human capitalmanagement) scientist at Infor, a U.S. softwarecompany specializing in enterprise software rangingfrom financial systems and resource planning tosupply chain and customer relationships. He is anactive member of the American PsychologicalAssociation (APA) and the Society of IndustrialOrganizational Psychology (SIOP).

JASON TAYLOR