“It is an unconscious bias against women, the thinking that they’ll


look at yourselves, look at the inhibitors, ask how you measure up, what policies do we need to change, how do we get all of our work body involved as part of our solution? Tis has become a significant engagement initiative for our workforce. Everybody is excited about it. Tey see an opportunity to be more involved in the decision-making taking place around them.


When Caesars instigated its 50/50 initiative, what was the figure within the company?


Like most companies at manager/director level we were around 44 per cent women, but then there was a fall off in Vice Presidents, with less than 30 per cent, followed by teen digits for Senior Vice Presidents and then single digits above that level.


How quickly is that changing?


We first had to lay the foundations, create equity councils, build outreach programmes for employees, both in the west, mid-west south and east, and explore how we beta test the tools we would need to make that progress possible. However, even just the awareness of the initiative has begun to move the needle.


We also found that we were recruiting from schools where the majority of the applicants were white men. It wasn’t a conscious decision - but it was a decision we were making. So we created heat maps for all of our properties highlighting where we should be looking for diverse candidates that fulfil our needs. Te heat maps really helps our recruiters to meet targets.


ultimately leave and have children, whereas the opposite is actually true, that high performing women are in fact less likely to leave than men. Old biases and inaccurate beliefs are inhibiting company performance.” Jan Jones Blackhurst,


Caesars Entertainment Corporation


One of the arguments is that it’s hard to find the recruits to meet the 50/50 quota...


Tat’s ridiculous. It is an excuse that you can't find the right candidate. If more college and business degrees are held by women, how can you possibly say that you can’t find the candidates? It is absurd - it’s an excuse. It is an unconscious bias against women, the thinking that they’ll ultimately leave and have children, whereas the opposite is actually true, that high performing women are in fact less likely to leave than men. Old biases and inaccurate beliefs are inhibiting company performance.


Not only that, but in regards to equal pay, if you pay women exactly the same for the same job, it would add 12 trillion dollars into the economy. For decades women have been told that they need to be better negotiators and learn to speak out - but my answer is that I have been in a leadership position for 30 years and have experienced countless encounters with unintentional misogyny.


How has this shift at Caesars affected your employees?


It has significantly raised employee engagement scores and employee opinion surveys; people feel respected, they have a voice, and as they see the initiative is real and authentic, then they


become excited and engaged. You can offer all sort of policies within your business polices, but if you’re not looking to change the culture, then they are just words.


Is this an initiative that will be followed by your peers in the gaming industry because it’s the right thing to do, or because it moves the EBITDA needle?


I think honestly, the reason that I engaged McKenzie to help implement 50/50 by 2025 at Caesars is because they are very data driven. Corporations are focused on making decisions based upon facts, data and analysis - and that’s how we are driving this. Do we think it’s the right thing to do - yes! However, we will execute because it is a better business practice.


Personally, I think it’s ridiculous not to hire the best talent due to unconscious biases. Everyone has a bias about something. Unless you raise your awareness, we have biases that colour our decisions, so you have to instigate processes that remediate that to the greatest extent possible.


Do you think Caesars with hit its target before 2025?


We have such high engagement around this initiative, currently I would say that we are moving at a brisk pace.


NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P51


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