Case Studies
The Venetian and Palazzo Bet on PeopleAnswers and Turnover Drops 38%
Date: Aug 11, 2009
Industry: Hotels & Casinos
HR Challenge: Turnover
Staffing casinos without PeopleAnswers is not worth the gamble, case study shows
The Venetian Resort and Casino, along with its sister property, The Palazzo, are two of the most popular vacation destinations on the Las Vegas strip. The Venetian, a $1.5 billion resort offering 4,027 elegant suites, is an artful replica of the city of Venice, Italy, and some of its famous attractions, including the Grand Canal. The Palazzo is a 50-floor luxury tower with another 3,050 luxury suites filled with guests expecting the finest in service, accommodations, gaming, and cuisine.
Business Challenge
To establish and maintain a quality presence in the ultra-competitive resort industry of Las Vegas, hotel/casinos must offer a spectacular guest experience accompanied by exquisite service. These lofty guest expectations must be met by every resort Team Member, including front office clerks, valets, retail salespeople, casino dealers, and security officers, to name a few. The Venetian and The Palazzo trust PeopleAnswers’ behavioral assessment and employee selection software to help fill hundreds of positions with Team Members who enhance the “vacation-of-a-lifetime” ambiance of world-class luxury hotels.
The PeopleAnswers Solution
PeopleAnswers brings proven expertise and cutting-edge behavioral science to the task of duplicating an organization’s strongest performers. As part of this duplication process, The Venetian and The Palazzo provided PeopleAnswers with the data needed to develop custom Performance Profiles™ (a collection of behavioral traits that contributes most strongly and consistently to high performance). These profiles served as a benchmark to identify the candidates most likely to succeed, provide better service, and reduce turnover in important customer-focused roles within both resorts.
Results
PeopleAnswers analyzed hire and termination data for 1,419 Team Members. A majority of these hires (1,152) took the PeopleAnswers assessment during their application process, and the other 267 Team Members completed applications outside of the PeopleAnswers system. Over the 11 months covered by the study, the two resorts benefited from a statistically significant reduction in turnover among those Team Members hired after taking the assessment:
- The overall turnover rate for Team Members hired using PeopleAnswers was 38% lower than the turnover rate of hires who were not assessed.
To further test the effectiveness of the assessment, the Performance Profiles™, and the resulting hiring recommendations, the study measured employee turnover rate within PeopleAnswers’ recommendation categories.
- Team Members hired from the “Recommended” category generated a 40% lower turnover rate compared to hires from the “Not Recommended” category.
- For Team Members “Recommended” by PeopleAnswers, the rate of involuntary terminations (cases when the Team Member had no choice) was 28% lower than the rate among hires who were not assessed.
The Bottom Line
In the high-stakes realm of luxury resorts, savvy clientele demand great service, and they know it when they receive it. They expect experienced, knowledgeable Team Members to meet their every need. That is why PeopleAnswers specializes in identifying job candidates with the behavioral characteristics that result in longer job tenures than those hired through traditional methods. When voluntary turnover and forced terminations drop by 28%-40% (as documented in this study), the resort’s HR and Training teams can focus less on hiring and more on providing quality guest services. Using PeopleAnswers, The Venetian and The Palazzo greatly improve the odds that guests interact with experienced, well-trained Team Members skilled at transforming one-time visitors into repeat customers.
Visit the The Venetian Hotel Site.
