In an effort to help employees deal with inflation, and to help the business attract and retain talent, Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming announced Monday they will be spending over $100 million to give significant raises to 10,000 non-tipped workers, most of them in the U.S.
“This recent $100 million investment in its team members is part of an ongoing effort to honor and appreciate our workforce, which has recently included paying frontline employees bonuses during the pandemic and other expanded benefits,” a press release states.
Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming team members
“We looked at all the starting salaries of all our (front) line employees, certainly recognizing the economic conditions that have been going on,” said Jim Allen, the company’s chairman and CEO, as reported by Associated Press. “We just wanted to do something to really help out and show appreciation to our employees. We’re trying to find the highest quality employees, thanking them for their efforts and recognizing that with compensation.”
“My career has encompassed over four decades and I have never been involved in such a historic event. The support the Seminole Tribe of Florida has given me to enhance the standard of living for so many people is a dream come true. We have changed people’s lives and I’m proud to be a part of it,” Allen added.
As reported by the cited source, the raises include an immediate increase to a minimum starting salary of $18 to 21$ an hour. Furthermore, some salaried workers will receive increased merit raises as well. In some cases, workers will be getting an immediate raise of 60%.
The raises apply to 95 job classifications, including cooks, housekeepers, front desk clerks, security workers, and cage cashiers; and are designed to help in times of persistent inflation and to lessen employee turnover. As per the announcement, the raises will go to half of Hard Rock’s U.S. workforce.
“It will give Hard Rock a competitive advantage at a time when labor is relatively tight,” said David Schwartz, a gambling historian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, according to AP. “The service industry may be at a crossroads, and raising pay is one way to attract excellent employees.”
BREAKING: CONTRACT VICTORY!!! Casino Workers at Borgata and Caesars, Tropicana and Harrahs casinos reached a tentative agreement with their companies!
(A strike deadline remains in effect for Hard Rock casino for July 3)— UNITE HERE Local 54 (@UHLocal54) July 1, 2022
In July, the main casino workers union in Atlantic City reached what it termed a “historic” contract with the city’s nine casinos, providing for the largest salary increases ever granted in a casino pact in New Jersey. It provides for an $18 hourly starting rate, and classifications such as housekeeping will earn $22 an hour in the fourth year of the deal.
Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite Here union that negotiated the Atlantic City contract, said Hard Rock’s setting of a national salary scale “is a great move,” and added that “it’s going to have a big impact everywhere they operate.”
Bob McDevitt
The $18 hourly starting salary announced Monday by Hard Rock is 2 1/2 times the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, and exceeds the local minimum wage in every state in which the company operates.
An entry-level worker in Florida, for example, will receive an immediate pay increase of $8 to $11 an hour above the state’s $10 an hour minimum wage. The hourly rate increase equates to more than $16,000 per year.
In Atlantic City, an entry-level hire will receive up to $6 an hour above the state’s $13 an hour minimum wage. That equates to an annual raise of more than $10,000, going from $27,040 to $37,440, the company said.
America’s Best Employers For Women https://t.co/0IUwZjZe6Q #AmericasBestEmployers pic.twitter.com/DmcZyL8NTH
— Forbes (@Forbes) July 26, 2022
Last month, the company was recognized by Forbes in its list of America’s Best Employers for Women within the Travel & Leisure category, for the fifth year in a row.
Forbes partnered with market research company Statista to compile the annual list which surveyed 60,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees and pinpointed the companies they identified as most dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Hard Rock is owned by the Seminole Indian tribe of Florida, and it has 265 locations in 70 countries. There are currently over 1,600 Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming jobs open at the new higher starting wage rates.
