The 4th Mastering Cotai, was sponsored by Sands China and hosted by the Department of Integrated Resort and Tourism Management in Faculty of Business Administration of the University of Macau. Postgraduate students from the department focused on the contemporary topics and shared empirical research results to provide suggestions for business operations. This article was originally published by Kitty, CHONG In Wai at the “The 4th Mastering Cotai”, under the supervision of Prof. Lawrence Fong, Associate Professor of International Integrated Resort Management.
Gaming operators should improve their back-of-house environment
In the integrated resort industry, the facade is always brilliant, but the working environment behind it is often overlooked. Research in the hospitality industry mostly focus only on the reception environment and customer satisfaction, and little attention has been paid to the employee satisfaction there. In fact, environmental satisfaction has a significant impact on employees’ work attitudes and behaviors, such as employee satisfaction and performance, which ultimately influence the service quality. Based on the results of a questionnaire that surveyed staff at Macau integrated resorts, this study attempts to draw the attention of supervisors to the back-of-house environment. The study examined 10 environmental factors, including temperature comfort, indoor air quality, lighting, sound volume, odor, layout, office furniture, equipment and tools, general cleanliness, and overall maintenance.
A total of 249 valid responses were analyzed. The results show that the back-of-house environment of Macau’s integrated resorts, while very important, has received little attention and improvement. Therefore, we recommend that supervisors to improve their back-of-house working environment based on the environmental factors examined in this study. As we all know, due to the pandemic, the number of travelers in Macau’s integrated resorts has decreased significantly, resulting in a decline in revenue, so they may not have much money to invest in renovation projects.
Improved environments increase employee satisfaction and thus productivity. This study sheds light on which environmental elements and internal areas need to be prioritized. According to our results, employee satisfaction is largely influenced by satisfaction with the overall cleanliness and layout of the work environment. Maintaining high cleanliness and layout quality is the key, and the best back-of-house environment must be improved and optimized to facilitate the work of employees. In addition, integrated resort supervisors are advised to first renovate the dining areas, bathrooms, changing rooms, and offices, as these are the areas that employees use most often, regardless of their primary role on the front line or in the back office. Funds to improve the indoor environment should be used strategically in these high-traffic areas.
In terms of employee gender, the significant difference between male and female employees is only in general maintenance. In general, male and female employees have almost the same awareness and satisfaction with other environmental factors. For primary workplaces, frontline and back-office staff have significant differences in perception and satisfaction with these environmental factors. Since receptionists make up a heavy percentage of the integrated resort’s staff and are among the most frequent guest contacts, it is essential to provide them with a pleasant back-of-house environment, even if they don’t spend a lot of time in that area.
Sources for article: plataformamedia.com
