MACAU BUSINESS
Money matters; but it is not all. In earlier times, job dissatisfaction was mainly due to the lack of a fair and transparent reward and promotion system, serious communication difficulties and conflicts due to cultural differences amongst casino workers and foreign supervisors/ managers, language barriers, poor supervision by supervisors; feelings of job insecurity attributed to the economic downturn and the influx of imported labour, and poor internal communication. Also, the past few years have seen some casino dealers complain about casino operators not following the smoke-ban policy and they often have to
work in a second-hand smoke environment. RS – From my simple observation, there are two major groups (although not necessarily clear cut) of dealers in Macau’s market. The first one has lower education and the second, better education. To the first one, a higher salary may be easier (not totally) to compensate for their dis-utility of working in a routine or unpleasant gaming environment dealing with customers. To the second group, it may be more difficult. Indeed, a
better working environment like a non-smoking area, being respected by customers and companies, as well as personal and family support may be more important.
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I believe that the top management of every casino will understand the basic principle that in the service industry, “only happy workers can produce happy customers
Other studies (and the statistics themselves) reveal a large circulation of workers among the various casinos. Consequently, no loyalty is generated to employer or corporate culture. Does this affect the quality of service provided? PW – Certainly. Loyalty is low now. Some casino workers will change their jobs but after several changes they might find that the problems and situations are very similar no matter which casino they work for (given that Macau is small and the six casino concessionaires /sub-concessionaires dominate Macau’s gambling business, they cannot change jobs too much). So, they will stop changing job at some point. The consequence is that they will still go to work and perform as the supervisor requests but they may lose their innovation, creativity and ‘citizenship’ of their companies. The quality of services delivered is definitely affected, especially if the casino company has a strong culture of promoting workers based on seniority rather than job
performance and education level. RS – Definitely. In principle, if the employee recruitment rate and employee turnover rate remain at a high level within a certain period of time, the sense of belonging of employees and their incentive to contribute to a firm is low (they may be simply looking for a higher salary by changing jobs). In the services industry, firms may hardly ensure their service quality and hence competitive edge. Nevertheless, although we hear related cases in Macau over time, the situation on average, to me, is improving. Over the past few years, all casino concessionaries have been paying much effort through different programmes to retain existing employees. I believe that the top management of every casino well understand the basic principle that in the service industry ‘only happy workers can produce happy customers’.
22 AUGUST 2019 ”
The casino industry generates full employment in Macau, but cannibalises other service sectors which cannot afford such high wages. Is this a problem? PW – Confronting the acute shortage of labour, all casinos give higher salaries than other industries to retain and attract workers. Government statistics show that the average salary paid in the casino and hospitality sector is just behind public and government administrative jobs. In the past, the high salary paid by the casinos could
attract many locals to join the casino workforce. But in recent years I have observed that local people have started finding other jobs and career alternatives. Some start moving to the MICE, F&B and retail industries, while some decide to enrol for tourism and hospitality evening degree programmes offered by the local higher education institution (IFT) with the aim of equipping themselves and preparing to change their career to the non-gaming sector. Again, salary matters; but local people are increasingly
aware of the deteriorating working conditions of casinos jeopardising their physical and emotional wellbeing; and that
makes them rethink if they still want to work for the casinos. RS – Sure. Although my observation (not detailed study) is that increasing salary in the gaming sector has significantly pushed up the labour costs of all local firms since 2004. Nevertheless, as compared to the business nature, value added and turnover of most traditional business firms (especially SMEs) may not be able to compete for related local labour by raising their salaries as in the gaming industry. In addition, the working environment provided by the mega casino resorts and related firms like individual hotels and restaurants for related labour are quite different. On top of wages, working environment is another important factor in which the casino industry may ‘compete away’ many non-dealer workers from other service sectors.
Salary matters; but local people are increasingly aware of the deteriorating
working conditions of casinos jeopardising their physical and emotional wellbeing.
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