Focus GAMING CAREERS
WMS Industries
Established: 1943 Employees: 1,774
Areas of business: slots, VLTs, interactive
COULD YOU DESCRIBE THE CULTURE AT WMS - THE WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND THE MEANING OF THE 'CULTURE OF INNOVATION'?
Driving our culture of innovation is a set of central core values – integrity, respect, quality, innovation and passion –our guiding principle, Excellence. WMS is an exciting place to work, not just because we are in the gaming industry, or because we develop high-tech platforms, but because we employ a diverse team who love what they do… In fact, we encourage them to maintain work life balance and have fun with their friends and families!
At work, we organise fun activities, stage after-hours events, and encourage employees to share their talents with the entire team. Recently, we kicked off a new “fun” series called “Artists Among Us,” the first of which included a performances by classically-trained concert pianists and a nationally renowned musician, all of which are WMS team members . We also organise softball and soccer tournaments, and bring people together to have fun and be part of the community that plays and works hard. It’s key that everyone participate in the fun, including our executive team.
Fun also means giving back to the local community, and we do that through volunteer work, individually and as teams. Together, we build better people to drive a better business and create a better world.
We support employees with a generous paid leave policy, as well as “Thank You Days,” so that they can spend quality time with their families. For example, in July 2012 we closed the offices for a full week in recognition of employees’ efforts over the previous financial year. We want to give people time to be back with their families. People can at times drive themselves hard on projects and forget to take care of themselves – so health and wellness is an important focus. To counter this, we promote personal health by
February 2013 PAGE 82
Website:
www.wms.com Company size: Large Private/PLC: PLC
JANICE RIKE, SVP Human
Resources and Information
Technology, WMS Gaming.
“Fun also means
giving back to the local community, and we do that
through volunteer work, individually and as teams.
Together, we build better people to drive a better business and
create a better world.”
“Our game design studios allow designers to
collaborate with artists, engineers
and programmers on the next great WMS products. These are open
environments, with relaxation areas
adjacent to working spaces. In our new café, staff can play a wide variety of console games, foosball and ping pong ball to relax,
and enjoy gourmet quality food.” JANICE RIKE, SVP Human
Resources and Information
Technology, WMS Gaming.
offering a subsidised personal training program during and after work hours, supplemented by Zumba and yoga instruction, which is really popular with the team. For many of our employees, this is more than a job… it’s a life-style.
COULD YOU DESCRIBE THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT AND THE CHICAGO CAMPUS?
At our Chicago Technology Campus, we have six buildings, including the Technology Development Center. It's a gorgeous facility that houses 200 employees and was purpose-built with our staff in mind. We invested quite a bit of time, energy and expense testing a wide variety of work environments before beginning construction. Today, our game design studios allow designers to collaborate with artists, engineers and programmers on the next great WMS products. These are open environments, with relaxation areas adjacent to working spaces. In our new café, staff can play a wide variety of console games, foosball and ping pong ball to relax, and enjoy
gourmet quality food. The building also has state of the art video conferencing capabilities, and an auditorium that will seat up to180 employees. The development center lends itself to creating a better community; over time, we will renovate space in the older buildings as we execute on our campus master plan.
HOW LONG DO AVERAGE EMPLOYEES STAY WITH THE COMPANY?
This year, we honoured our longest serving employee, who retired with 46 years of service. She started during the pinball machine era and worked until this year (2012). Many employees have been part of the WMS family for more than 20 years.
The average length of service at WMS is five to six years—although the numbers don’t tell the whole story. A large percentage of our employees, 20-30 per cent, were hired between 2007-09; and as you know, the last few years have been especially challenging for the casino industry. Even so, we are hiring at 10
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140