The Forefront of Macau Gaming last week rallied its supporters to protest outside GEG’s human resources department
The Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) has announced a “Special Reward Program” that will see all full-time team members at the senior manager grade and below being rewarded with GEG shares equal to three times their salaries in August 2014.
The group also announced upcoming special cash rewards that are worth a month’s salary. The rewards will be released in July 2015 and 2016.
Commenting on the announcement, University of Macau (UM) professor Davis Fong Ka Chio argues that it may only be a coincidence that GEG announced the reward and bonus just after the Forefront of Macau Gaming (FMG) submitted a petition to GEG last week, asking for better salaries and benefits for the casino operator’s staff members.
Meanwhile, FMG said that the reward program did not address their core demand and has decided to continue to rally in protest against GEG today, as planned.
In a statement, GEG claimed that it has been working on the implementation of the “Special Reward Program” and salary alignment for several months, and that the program is supposed to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the group’s operation.
However, FMG president Ieong Man Teng claimed that the bonus and rewards still won’t satisfy employees.
“Our preliminary survey shows that GEG staff still think that this [announcement] still hasn’t answered their core demand. Therefore, most of them have decided to [participate in the protest today].”
On the other hand, professor Davis Fong said that, from his observation, GEG usually announces salary adjustments during the mid-year period.
He believes that the main purpose of GEG’s reward program, as well as similar measures of other casino operators, is to maintain the morale of its employees in order to prepare them for the 2016/2017 period, where several major gambling projects will be completed.
“[Operators] want to stabilize the morale of their staff so that they can face the new development in 2016/2017 [together with their companies].”
Given that there have already been other bonus programs announced by other casino operators before, Mr Fong believes that GEG’s announcement is a normal measure.
Moreover, he is not concerned that other operators will be pressured by the move of GEG and roll out additional bonus programs for their own employees.
He said that there has to be a limit in the upward adjustment of salaries. Since the gaming revenue growth has reached a “stable condition,” which means that there will not be significant growth in the near future, operators will not be able to offer higher salaries to their employees, even though their employees are demanding it.
The UM scholar also thinks that if the expenses on salaries are too high for the operators, they will soon opt for new technologies such as electronic gambling tables, which will eventually allow them to reduce their workforce.
“I believe that nobody wants to see this happen… Now that people have successfully fought for what they demanded, everybody is happy for them. However, when things become excessive, I am afraid that [some measures] will become counterproductive.”
Furthermore, Davis Fong has noticed that the salary gap between the people working in the gaming and non-gaming industries is growing again, especially after the recent bonus and reward programs announced by casino operators.
He said that this could be worrying in the long-term and society may see some secondary students giving up their academic prospects and joining the casinos again.
“It is hard to say whether this is right or wrong. It is their personal choice. However, many people in society have expressed that this is unhealthy,” Davis Fong concluded.
ambrose so not concerned with human resources issue
On the sidelines of a Sociedade de Jogos de Macau (SJM) event, the company’s CEO, Ambrose So, claimed that the construction of SJM’s Cotai project will only reach completion in 2017. It is not necessary for the group to start competing for human resources at this stage, which he thinks will worsen the situation. He also revealed that SJM’s labour turnover rate is currently two to three percent. The CEO does not believe that other casino operators’ policies will lead to a sudden departure of his employees. Meanwhile, SJM managing director Angela Leong said that her company has enough channels for workers to express their opinions to the management. She also welcomes SJM staff to speak directly to her.
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