In Las Vegas, casinos are preparing to open at full capacity beginning today, June 1. It has been over a year since the casinos in Sin City have been able to offer services at 100% since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is something that operators have been waiting for, but now, it seems that some may fall a little short when it comes to how many employees are available to help. Many operators have been hosting job fairs in order to fill openings that coincide with the 100% capacity levels. Jobs are open in Las Vegas and around the country as more gambling industries look to offer guests more service options.
Boyd Gaming Continues the Employee Hunt
One company still in need of employees is Boyd Gaming. The company is set to host its 4th job fair on June 10, as more positions need to be filled. With the next job fair, Boyd hopes to find enough employees to work within its quick-service food outlets within its properties in Nevada.
Boyd Gaming has several casinos in Southern Nevada, one of which is the Fremont Hotel and Casino located in the downtown area. One venue owned by the operator, Main Street Station Casino, has yet to reopen at all, having been shut down since March 2020.
Spokesman for the company, David Strow, spoke recently to the press about the hiring needs of Boyd. It has been a big challenge for Boyd to find employees. However, the company has been able to find quality candidates.
The employee shortage in Nevada stems from people moving on to work in other positions or even leaving the state to find work. Since Las Vegas relies on the casino industry, thousands of people were out of work when the casinos shut down. Then, when properties reopened, they only offered services at a lesser capacity.
This led to only a small portion of the workforce being called back. Because former employees needed to work, they found jobs elsewhere or moved to other areas where employment was available. Most people did not wait around for months for their job position to come back open.
Competing Against Each Other for Employees
With each casino in Las Vegas ready to open at 100% capacity, the need for employees was vast across the market. Companies worked quickly to offer job fairs and even provided additional incentives to try and compete with other casinos hiring.
Take Golden Entertainment for example. The company was offering on the spot hiring and some positions even included $500 sign on bonuses. Golden Entertainments owns the Strat Hotel, Casino and Skypod in Las Vegas along with several pubs and other hotel-casinos in the state.
Because everyone is hiring, potential employees are going to lean towards jobs with higher pay or sign on bonuses. This is why the competition is fierce and each casino company has been trying to stand out during the hiring process.
But will it work? Will there be enough employees to go around, and will the casinos actually see enough traffic as they fully reopen to 100% capacity? All eyes will be on Las Vegas over the next few weeks to see if tourism numbers are up and if travelers are ready to come back after the long break due to COVID-19.
