Several months back I had announced that we were developing a sourcing tool for GRAs (Guest Room Attendants).  As with many of the solutions we have developed, it turned into a learning experience.  We did not see immediate success.  A few leads trickled in here and there.  But after some client suggestions,  A/B testing and tweaking of the ad copy, our GRA sourcing efforts are humming right along.  We have only deployed the solution on 10-15% of the Recruiting Nevada Network and the system is producing several dozen leads per week.  With optimization, this could quickly become hundreds.  But as with all of our recruitment advertising solutions, we will scale the initiative based on client need.  And right now there seems to be a sufficient supply of candidates to fill housekeeping jobs in Las Vegas. 

What has been interesting is analyzing the skill sets and demographics as the leads come in.  Many have hotel experience and are interested in shifting into a housekeeping role.  And the majority of interested candidates have a firm command of the English language, which validates our belief that GRAs do not need to be Mexican women.

Here are some examples of the demographics we compiled from a sample of just a few hundred:

As most of you know, Recruiting Nevada has been working on a recruiting solution for Guest Room Attendants (GRAs).  There is an acute shortage of GRAs in Las Vegas with nearly every hotel and casino constantly recruiting.  Add in the fact that GRAs have been leaving Nevada, with the creation of well over 2,000 new housekeeping jobs in Las Vegas with the opening of CityCenter, Westgate Tower at Planet Hollywood and the Hard Rock Hotel expansion, we have a ‘Perfect Storm.’ 

These are the exact types of problems that Recruiting Nevada likes to solve.  Our solutions have proven themselves time-over with recruiting solutions for nurses, doctors, teachers, engineers and even forensic scientists.  We have yet to find a talent shortage where we cannot make a profound impact.

We are on the final development stages of our Guest Room Attendant sourcing engine.  The solution will deployed across the entire Recruiting Nevada Network, delivering the highest volume of interested candidates, both skilled and in need of training, to our hospitality partners.  Here is an example of what the sourcing tool will look like:

Interested applicants will be directed to this form via dozens of different marketing campaigns including home page take-over ads, online display ads, featured job postings, ads on Google, Yahoo, MSN and the likes as well as print ads in various Greenspun Media Group publications.  Without letting the ‘cat out of the bag,’ here is a sample of what a home page take over ad will look like:

We are still looking for a few more beta-clients for our initial testing.  If you have an interest, contact me directly.  The benefits of being a beta client are:

• Direct involvement in the development of the solution
• Preferred pricing when a rate card is established
• Premium placement throughout the entire campaign
• Correcting your shortage before your competition does!

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Housekeeping Olympics in Las Vegas earlier this week.  Wow!!! What an amazing event.  You would never know that Las Vegas was experiencing one of the worst economic downturns imaginable.  Teams from 15 casinos competed in the Olympics.  And talk about great exposure for Guest Room Attendants…… news teams from nearly every television station and newspaper were on hand to ensure that these hard working folks were recognized.  Check out just one piece of coverage from Channel 3:

Kudos to my good friend Ronna Timpa from Workplace ESL Solutions. Ronna is the president of the Nevada chapter of International Executive Housekeepers Association.  This group is truly improving the image of the profession which is much needed.

With the impending shortage of Guest Room Attendants (GRAs) on the horizon with the opening of CityCenter and expansions of the Hard Rock, Planet Hollywood and Monte Carlo (Hotel 32), there is an opposing force that is not being considered…. the Backdraft of GRAs.

A couple years ago, I wrote about the Backdraft of talent leaving Las Vegas.   Just as in the movie, Las Vegas is experiencing a new type of backdraft never experienced before.  In this case, it is with Guest Room Attendants. GRAs are leaving Las Vegas.

Some are probably shaking their heads saying “What?”  GRAs leaving town?  Are you kidding me?  No joke…… GRAs have been leaving town. 

As their husbands have been laid off from the construction industry and some GRAs being laid off (or hours reduced) from Las Vegas strip casinos, entire families have been packing up and moving back to Mexico. 

Las Vegas’ construction industry has taken as big of a, if not a larger, hit than gaming.  With projects such as Echelon, Fontainebleau and Caesars’ Palace Tower being put on hold, while other projects such as M Resort, Palazzo, Hard Rock expansion and Westgate Towers being completed…..construction jobs in Las Vegas have just about dried up. 

And as we know, the majority of the construction workers are Mexican men.  Without a steady income, many do not have the financial means or desire to stay in Las Vegas.  So they are moving back home. 

It will be interesting to see what the overall impact will be to the Nevada workforce.  This recession is changing everything.

I became aware of the shortage of guest room attendants when I first moved to Las Vegas in 1993.  I have to admit – I did not know what a guest room attendant was at the time.  I later learned that a guest room attendant is a fancy (not really) name for a housekeeper.  I just saw GRA or Guest Room Attendant  listed in the help wanted ad of nearly every casino.  When I owned the Las Vegas Employment News, our sales reps took and placed ads for guest room attendants periodically, but we never really took the time to understand why the shortage existed.  We were only in the business of advertising job openings, not understanding them. 

It was not until the late 1990s that I truly began to analyze the GRA workforce shortage.  Our recruitment advertising agency (which had to understand problems) was working on a diversity campaign, both online and off, for a very prominent gaming company in Las Vegas.  Most of the scope of the diversity strategy focused around recruitment as we were (and still are) of the opinion that your workforce should reflect the community of which you live and serve.  Strangely enough, as we were working on diversity from a recruitment approach, we had very little interaction with HR at the time. 

When we were finally introduced to HR, we wanted to get a real grip on where the challenges existed.  We knew that if you analyzed the company-wide demographics, diversity was reflected.  The majority of their workforce was ethnically diverse.  However, when you segmented management and above, the numbers did not present a positive reflection.   That is where we hoped to make a difference.

When we met with the VP of HR, we jumped into the topic of diversity recruitment.  Unfortunately, the conversation is not what we had in mind or had hoped for.  But nonetheless, it is that initial conversation that led us to where we are today.  We began to discuss the need to reach Mexican women to fill GRA jobs.  As most know, culturally, many Mexican women do not work outside of the house.  They run the household business…cooking, cleaning, caring for the children, etc. 

So we talked about the importance of a spousal recruitment process….or getting the husband to buy into the idea of his wife going to work and how that could contribute to the household finances or the ability to send more money back home to their families.  We discussed the advertising mediums that should be used to reach the men, who were typically construction workers, landscapers, etc.  Radio, pay check stuffers and grass-roots recruitment campaigns were brainstormed. 

As we continued our conversation, we discovered that Mexican women made up the majority of the guest room attendant positions and this is the single largest area of jobs within most casinos or hotels (to the tune of 20%).  And every casino had challenges attracting and retaining guest room attendants.  Furthermore, all of the casinos were gearing up to start the collective bargaining process and they were looking for contingency recruitment plans should those negotiations not produce favorable results.

So, we began to do an in-depth analysis of the problem.  The findings were interesting.  I won’t dive into the labor-management politics in this blog post.  I will save that for a later time.  From a supply-demand perspective, as that is the core of every labor shortage, the job was just not marketed properly (and some of this stems from the labor-management politics).  GRA job openings were only marketed to one demographic…the Mexican female.  Yes – the pay scales back then may have been a little out of line as well (this is arguable), and there were a few other internal challenges……but really, the position was just not marketed properly.

Along the way, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 happened.  Everything in Las Vegas changed overnight, and we walked away from this project.  Gaming companies cut deep into their workforces.  Las Vegas was in a state of panic much like it is today because of the economic downfall. Recruitment was just not important at the time.  And this more than likely weakened gaming managements negotiating ability for the following collective bargaining process.  The contract was hammered out and the shortage persisted. 

Today – the same problem exists.  There is still a shortage for guest room attendants that will only grow larger with the opening of CityCenter.  The position is still not marketed properly.  And the shortage will continue to cost gaming companies millions of dollars each year until it is corrected.  This time Recruiting Nevada is prepared to deliver a solution.  The question is….is gaming ready to solve this problem?

Kudos go out to the folks at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for their recent efforts to market Guest Room Attendant jobs in Las Vegas.  Earlier this week the Hard Rock hosted a job fair dedicated to hiring of GRAs.  They had nearly 2,000 interested jobseekers attend and garnered tons of media coverage.  In the media coverage, they did not depict Mexican women, but rather highlighted motivated and educated candidates looking to break into the industry.  This is a great step forward.  Check out the coverage from Channel 8:

 As I have addressed in previous blog posts, we need to change the image of the Guest Room Attendant position.  We have stereotyped this position as being a back-of-the-house, non-tipping position.  It is not.  And by wrongfully positioning the GRA job this way, potential applicants do not see a career ladder and therefore have no interest. 

Building a world class culture is much more than just recruiting warm bodies to fill positions.  Every candidate wants to know that they have the opportunity to grow within an organization.  It is just human nature.  We all want to improve. 

And although housekeepers (notice:  I use GRA and Housekeeper interchangeably) make up the largest job classification in the hotel/casino, we do not do a great job of showing them the various career ladders available after they are hired.  A lot of this has to do with the workforce shortages that exist in the housekeeping department and the fear of losing good talent. 

I must say – that if we correct applicant supply chains, the fear will go away and we will stop repressing these employees from advancement.  And in turn, we can ‘grow’ our GRAs into brand ambassadors delivering world-class customer service, regardless of which department of the hotel/casino they transfer to. 

But, this all starts with developing career-ladders.  And not just on paper.  Candidates need to see real people who have successfully climbed the ladder.  So, we need to collect and share these stories.  If you have one, please let me know.  I would love to add it to the library we are assembling to re-brand the GRA position. 

Here is one of the greatest GRA success stories that should be shared:

Let me introduce you to Tony Alamo Sr.  Tony migrated to the United States from Cuba.  One of the first jobs Tony took was as a Guest Room Attendant.  Tony immediately began to work his way up the career ladder working in various positions until he accepted a job in Las Vegas.  In 1974 Tony moved his family to Las Vegas, with his first job as shift manager at Circus Circus. A few years later, he ran the Desert Inn for Kirk Kerkorian and was later involved with the opening of the MGM Grand for Kerkorian. In 1995 Tony left MGM Grand to join the Monte Carlo.  He later transferred to Mandalay Bay where as Senior Vice President and General Manager  he was responsible for their successful opening.  Tony retired from the industry in 2005 when Mandalay was acquired by MGM Mirage.

Tony was one of the first minority executives in a gaming corporation.  And he got his start as a Guest Room Attendant!!  We need to find more “Tony’s.”  If you have a success story of someone who started as a GRA and worked their way into another position, we would like to know.  We are assembling a library that will be used to demonstrate true career ladders as we attract future Guest Room Attendants into the profession.  You can email me at Doug[at]RecruitingNevada.com.

Workforce shortages are very costly.  They contribute to the largest line item of nearly every P&L (profit & loss) statement – Labor.  Yet, many times we never take the time to understand the true “cost” to the organization.  We focus on filling the positions so we can remain operational, and never take the time to understand the short and long term affects of ignoring the root cause of the shortage. 

If you asked any gaming executive where their greatest turnover is, indisputably the  answer would be “housekeeping.”  And the largest volume of jobs (approximately 20% of all jobs within a hotel/casino ) are in housekeeping.  So when you add up the financial impact of this “churn”, it grows exponentially. 

The “short term” expenses that add up rapidly are both ’soft and ‘hard’ expenses.  They can be grouped into a few categories: pre-departure, coworker burden, selection and sign-on.  Here is a great white paper, titled Calculating the Cost of Employee Turnover, that Recruiting Nevada released several years back when we were tackling Nevada’s nursing shortage.  There is a worksheet on the last page that will help determine what the actual cost of turnover is.  It is a great resource that we have used many times over. 

To share some of our findings from the nursing shortage case study - the cost of replacing a nurse was approximately $77,000 or nearly 1.5 times annual salary.  Some of the area hospitals were experiencing turnover rates above 20%, which is nominal compared to what I have heard GRA turnover is.  So when you take a nursing workforce of several hundred, calculate the annualized turnover and multiply that by the cost-of-replacement, the financial impact quickly creeped into the millions.  And this was for one hospital!  Add up the 14 hospitals we were working with and we were looking at a $100+ million problem.

I suspect the problem is much worse with the GRA shortage.  First off, some properties would love to have a turnover rate as low as 20% (I have heard of some with over 100%).  So for practical purposes, let’s stick with 20%.  Arguably there are more than 12,000 GRA positions in the market.  I think the Culinary Union has over 12,000 GRA members.  And to be conservative, we will use a cost-of-replacement of 1x annual wages.  So here are some very rough numbers:

12,000 x 20% (turnover) = 2,400
2,400 x $27,000 (estimate 1 yr. wages) = $64.8 million

$64.8 million is a big number.  So using very, very conservative numbers – this is clearly a huge problem.  If we were to increase the turnover rate to 25%, it would impact the number by an additional $16.2 million (you can see how the number grows exponentially). 

So – that gives us an idea of the ’short-term’ expenses.  And fortunately, these can be corrected by an increased supply chain and improved retention rate, both at the property level and industry level.  Note:  It will require an industry correction to solve the shortage. 

Unfortunately, there have been some long-term costs that can never be reversed.  These long-term expenses typically come by way of increased wages caused by the strain of the workforce shortage and/or the overall damage done to the image of the profession.  In the case of the GRA shortage – probably both.  

It is difficult to measure the financial impact to the image of the profession.  It can be done over time, but initially it cannot.   However, the increased wages can easily be measured…..Taking a look at the 2002 collective bargaining agreement, GRA wages were increased $3.32 per hour over a 5-year period.  Using the same 12k (member) number above, there is an $82.9 million annual impact from these wage increases.

So cumulatively, it is nearly a $200 million annual problem for the gaming industry.  That’s a lot of money…money I bet the gaming industry would love to have back in their pockets right now, all things considered. 

Personal note:  Thank you to all that have been confidentially commenting on this series and providing me with real ‘intelligence’ on the problem.  Together, we will solve this workforce shortage and keep Las Vegas the premier vacation destination. 

For some reason the Guest Room Attendant (GRA) has been branded as a ‘back-of-the-house, non-tipping position.’  This is absolutely incorrect. 

First off, the GRA is far from ‘back-of-the-house.’ 

The GRA is a front line employee who interacts with hotel guests each and every day whether management wants to accept it or not.  The fact of the matter is – it happens.  And many times, GRAs interact with guests more than the beloved concierges do.  Why?  Because they are easily accessible and perceived by the guest to be ‘unbiased.’  The GRA is often the first hotel employee a guest sees in the morning and the simple question of “Where is a good place to grab a quick breakfast,” or “How do I get to your (fill in the blank) restaurant?” are answered.  I would call this front-line. 

Secondly, GRAs are tip earners. 

Yeah – they do not earn as much as a cocktail waitress, bartender or valet, but they do earn tips.  Pretty much everyone I know tips their GRA a few bucks each night or leave the loose change from their fun-filled night of gambling on the nightstand as a way of showing appreciation for keeping their room in order.  I am sure the tip volume varies from property to property and even city to city.  But GRAs do make tips. 

So why have we branded the GRA position as a back-of-the-house, non-tipping position?  I don’t get it.  This very well may be the fundamental problem that led to the stereotyping of GRA jobs being for Mexican women.  If the average Joe (or Josephine) knew that they could contribute to the overall guest experience and earn additional income (tips) by doing so, the GRA position would be a much more appealing job.  More applicants would apply and we would not have the critical shortages that we have in this profession. 

Recruiting Nevada’s goal is to help change this.  We feel that we can:

• Get the GRA recognized as a front-line employee who positively contributes to the overall guest experience
• Reverse the current recruiting pattern and attract a cross-section of highly motivated workers
• Correct the critical workforce shortage that has plagued the hospitality industry for many years
• Decrease unnecessary turnover caused by the cannibalization of each others talent
• Improve retention levels and overall productivity levels
• Add profitability to the bottom line through continuity

Again, this is an open case study that we will be sharing with our readers as we make the journey.  Thank you for all of  the feedback from last week’s post.  We will figure this out together. 

This is Part 3 of a series on the Housekeeping shortage.

As promised in last week’s post on un-stereotyping of jobs, I want to take a deeper dive into one profession – the Guest Room Attendant or GRA.  The GRA position has traditionally been filled with Mexican females.   Why?  I am not certain.  My best guess is that it was considered, or branded, an unglamorous job that did not pay well and was not appealing to the average person.  And the Hispanic woman was targeted as an easy demographic to attract to the profession.  Right, or wrong – that is more than likely what happened.

Today, the employment market is much different.  The GRA position is still not a very glamorous job, but the pay has changed.  Today a GRA can make $12-15 per hour depending on where he or she works.  This is not bad pay.  All things considered, it is great pay when you do not have a job.  On top of the hourly wage, GRAs typically get full health care benefits – something many working class are not afforded or offered anymore.  Although being a GRA is still grueling work,  it is still a gateway into other professions within a hotel or casino.  Hotels and casinos do a great job of promoting from within.  It just requires 6 months of employment before one can apply.

Considering 20 percent of all positions within a casino or hotel are in the housekeeping department, there is more of a chance for a jobseeker to get this position than most others (especially the glamorous cocktail waitress, bartender or valet parking job that most want). 

However, housekeeping positions are considered to be one of the most challenging recruitments for any casino or hotel.  Each new property struggles to fill these positions and there has been a shortage as far back as I can recall.  Why?  Again – because it is not a glamorous job and the public perception is that these  jobs are only for Hispanic women.

So, how do we change this?   Marketing, awareness and most  important – education.    We must un-stereotype the position, demonstrate a promising career path in or beyond housekeeping and market the job as an entry-level job that will ‘get a foot in the door’ of some of the best companies to work for in Las Vegas and Nevada. 

So how does that get done?  We will figure that out in the months to come.  I will begin to blog on this topic regularly as Recruiting Nevada takes on this challenge.  If you have any feedback along the way, please provide it.  I value all that I have learned from our clients, both past and present, on this critical workforce shortage.  And it is from your willingness to share your knowledge that we will solve this shortage.

Stay tuned!!!!