Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming September 2014 66 Nurturing Macau’s Talent The customer experience at a casino in Macau is vastly different to that in Las Vegas. A major reason for that is how staff are trained in each place. Virgil Chan of Synergy Corp., who conducts training for gaming employees, explains the workings of employee development in the city and how to improve it IAG : With unemployment running at a mere 1.7% in Macau, the labor market here is so tight that casinos have started to fill dealer positions with workers they would previously not have considered suitable, including older and less-skilled workers. Have you seen a drop in the quality of staff you are training? Mr Chan: Not really. Actually, I don’t train a lot of old people. It’s a pragmatic decision by the casinos, which channel most training resources towards their younger staff. They want to invest in workers in their 20s who may give them a few more years of service. If you look at the casinos these days, there are many middle-aged ladies working as dealers on the floor who have the basic skills to do the job. They are not encouraged to interact with customers, so all they have to do is smile, be courteous and efficient. I n his latest policy address, Macau Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On explicitly called on the city’s casino operators to promote more local gaming workers into the ranks of management. Operators have responded by highlighting the resources they are devoting to promoting what one called “the lifelong learning and whole person development” of its staff, and another termed as “investing in the future leaders of Macau”. Although Macau’s casinos have started offering regular training to their employees—particularly the younger ones—according to Virgil Chan, who trains workers for both casinos and major junkets in the city, most still don’t realize the full potential to be realized by offering training beyond basic skills to their employees and so are not yet truly committed to the cause. Mr Chan, principal consultant at Synergy Corp., sat down with Inside Asian Gaming recently to share his thoughts on the city’s pressing labor issues, from the quality of staff to the mounting dissatisfaction of workers aired in recent protests. Insights MGM Macau announced in March a 15-month PRIDE Program to train 26 "high-potential local management employees" for its Cotai project. MGM Macau President Grant Bowie, pictured here, welcomes the trainees to the program.