Galaxy Entertainment Group came under fire from netizens yesterday after allegations surfaced online that the casino operator had asked its staff to volunteer to clean a swimming pool at its flagship resort, instead of the streets like many other organizations in the city.
The Times obtained access yesterday to a message sent internally at the company, asking employees to volunteer to clean Galaxy’s Grand Resort Deck.
“We need volunteers to help clean up the Grand Resort Deck so it can be reopened to the public as soon as possible,” the internal message read. It asked staff to volunteer between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. both Saturday and yesterday.
After this seemingly innocuous information materialized into a scandal, additional allegations were levied that the company had forced its employees to work while Signal 8 was still hoisted for Typhoon Hato.
A representative of the company told the Times yesterday there was no truth to the allegation and that Galaxy follows standard operating procedures in the event of extreme weather-related phenomenon.
The company had also dispatched its staff on other volunteer missions to clean up the streets and provide food to residents in need, publicizing the effort last week.
But the response did not quell a rising tide of anger expressed on social media, which organized itself into an online mob with a vendetta.
As of late last night, the damage seemed uncontainable.
The average review rating on the resort’s Facebook page plummeted from 4.8 to 3.0 within a matter of hours, following more than 8,000 reviews with just one star, the lowest that the platform permits. As of midnight, the page had more than 9,000 one-star reviews, accounting for around 45 percent of total reviews on that platform.
The poor reviews were accompanied by critical messages from netizens, some of which accused GEG of lacking compassion, while others alleged it had mistreated its employees. Many of the messages were factually inaccurate.
A public relations representative of the company told the Times yesterday that that message had been an informal, impromptu note shared with colleagues and was not expressly authorized by management.
The representative said that the intention was not to substitute volunteering work on the streets, but rather address safety concerns ahead of the approaching typhoon, Pakhar.
GEG admitted yesterday that “not everything was handled perfectly.”
Company chairman Lui Che Woo last night issued a statement in response to the public relations crisis. In the statement, he pledged “a MOP60 million contribution including MOP30 million from the GEG Foundation plus a MOP30 million matching contribution from the Lui family to support the relief efforts of the people of Macau as well as our GEG team members [employees].”
On Friday, a separate statement was issued to publicize the volunteer work of GEG employees in cleaning up streets and delivering food and water to the elderly.
In that statement, GEG pledged to provide a “special typhoon allowance” of MOP1,000 for all operations employees, in addition to the current allowance of MOP100 and transportation allowance of MOP100 under such weather conditions.
It will also offer paid leave of absence for employees who could not come to work on August 23, 24 and 25 due to the typhoon and no deductions to salary will be made for arriving late during this period.
