Harrah’s Rincon has an actual list of promises it makes to its employees. One of them is that it will provide them, “The opportunity and training to develop your full potential in a climate of dynamic growth, teamwork and open communication.” At Harrah’s Rincon, the leadership team and Human Resources and Training staff are determined to keep this promise. In 2007, Harrah’s Rincon achieved the prestigious San Diego SHRM Workplace Excellence Marble Award for all it does in fulfillment of its promises to employees.

Kathy describes Harrah’s as “the company that measures everything. The number one thing we do is to assign a numeric measurement to everything we do in training.” At the June meeting, she will explain why and how Harrah’s Rincon emphasizes and measures Human Performance Improvement (HPI) related training.

A formal definition of HPI is that it is the systematic process of: discovering and analyzing important human performance gaps; planning for future improvements in human performance; designing and developing cost-effective and ethically justifiable interventions to close performance gaps; implementing the interventions; and evaluating the financial and non-financial results. (from ASTD Models for Human Performance Improvement, Second Edition William J. Rothwell, ed.)

During her presentation, Kathy Box will provide several examples of what they measure at Harrah’s. An example she gave for this article concerns their new “Entertain Our Best” new hire orientation. Box and her small team of trainers measures learning outcomes on both levels 1 and 2. First, they made sure that they had an established baseline. Then they developed assessments that addressed how did the new hires “feel” about the training environment, speakers, activities, etc…(level 1). Next, they used specific measures to determine if there was a resulting increase in knowledge or capability, covering information specific to modules the trainees completed that day, (level 2).

Harrah’s also uses level 3 measurements derived from this five day “in-class” learning experience. Level 3 measurements are taken back in the new hires’ departments. While the trainees learn the company’s desired service behaviors in new hire orientation, new employees are expected to deliver and develop them back on the job. Within new employees’ first 30 days, their supervisors and managers will perform written assessments based on observations. They evaluate the new employees’ skill levels delivering these behaviors and how they apply them directly to their customer interactions. The supervisors and managers coach new staff to help them improve or fill in any gaps in performance and encourage each new employee to develop to their fullest potential.

Additionally, there is a level 4 measurement component to the overall New Employee Orientation process that extends beyond the first five days in a class. Harrah’s routinely determines if their business benefits from better service. Harrah’s Rincon correlates their customer service scores directly to an increase in revenue. Box acknowledged that how they do this is a little complicated and not for the “statistically faint-of-heart.” In her presentation, Kathy will provide a high level overview so that people will not fall asleep! She stated that these types of measurements apply to everyone at Harrah’s Rincon, at all levels.

Harrah’s Rincon is part of the large international Harrah’s Entertainment Inc, founded more than 60 years ago. Harrah’s has 40 properties worldwide. It is a relative newcomer to the San Diego County scene having opened in August, 2002. It employs over 1,700 people working in three shifts, 24x7. Because most training takes place during the day shift, it’s essential for Harrah’s to focus on HPI-related training as one of their competitive advantages. Kathy said that they know HPI-related training is a competitive advantage primarily from a service perspective. By measuring and coaching to fill any gaps, their employees’ service to customers becomes more consistent and will surprise and delight them. This keeps customers coming back and subsequently ties to a direct increase in revenue.

Kathy Box knows a lot about customer service and training from her own life and career experiences. Although she did not start her professional career as a trainer, she evolved into one over time. She is a third generation Californian who grew up in a family involved in the farming industry in the countryside of the San Joaquin Valley and Bakersfield. Box attended California Polytechnic in San Luis Obispo where she majored in Agricultural Business. Her first exposure to training was in her early college jobs. She taught young children how to ride horses and trained colts to see if they had “the right stuff” to become race horses. Later, she completed college at National University in San Diego earning a B.A. in Business Administration with a minor in Human Resources.

In 1989, Kathy began working at the Sheraton Grand Torrey Pines (now owned by Hilton) as a Front Desk Clerk and was soon selected as an in-house instructor for their customer service training program. Kathy subsequently moved to other San Diego hotel properties and continued becoming more involved in training to support seamless hotel management. In 1994, ITT ’s Technical Institute recruited Kathy as a full-time instructor in its Hospitality Management program.

Then in 1997, Kathy became the Training Manager for Loew’s Coronado Bay Resort. Like others in San Diego, Kathy got bitten by the “Dot.com” bug and when a former Loew’s colleague asked her to join the internet company where he worked, Kathy jumped at it. There she provided End User and Customer Service Training. When the Dot.com bubble burst, Kathy joined Harrah’s Rincon. During her first 18 months, Box trained employees at all levels on what they needed to know to help launch a casino property. Since then Kathy leads a training staff of two others and collectively they conduct all training for all employees from hourly workers to the executive leadership team. All the courses emphasize improving performance and all training is measured and evaluated.

Kathy said that, “HPI is naturally part of everything we do at Harrah’s. It is embedded in and our commitment to our employees and our Service-Profit Chain philosophy. It helps drive how we think of our business. We are constantly looking for ways to improve. Even over the next five or ten years, the philosophy will stay the same, maybe some of the metrics will change, but the core of who and what we are will remain the same. We appreciate the learning process. We strive to learn from those both inside and outside our industry who already do it better.”

She added that, “One of the reasons that our customer base is so loyal is the consistency of the product. Even though Harrah’s worldwide has a variety of “product lines”, like Harrah’s, Caesars and the Horseshoe, our customers know what to expect at each and every property. Not only that, we have the only loyalty card that plays across the entire company. As we acquired companies and properties over the years, we learned more and more about implementation from each of those experiences. However, the expectation of measurements and outcomes remains the same. There may be wonderful, unique things about each area or property, but the end remains the same…to deliver the finest gaming experience to our customers, no matter where they are. That’s what our customers appreciate about us. We don’t believe that truly great service will ever go out of style.”

Please register early for what promises to be a unique opportunity to learn more about how one company puts HPI related training into action. We look forward to seeing you at the June 25 luncheon meeting at the Handlery Hotel!

To register, click here.