Desperate for Workers, MGM Resorts Is Trying a New Hiring Tactic: VR

As the “Great Resignation” and anti-work motion proceed to choose up steam, firms are combating document worker turnover. Customer service industries have been among the many hardest hit, with many staff saying no thanks to the concept of dealing with Karens day in and day trip throughout a pandemic. In a bid to curb worker attrition, MGM Resorts plans to make use of digital actuality to let candidates check out the roles earlier than they decide, Insider studies.

In an interview with the outlet, chief human assets officer Laura Lee mentioned MGM Resorts can be rolling out digital actuality headsets for customer-service roles at its employment facilities and start utilizing VR as a part of worker coaching. As such, job seekers could have the choice of simulating front-of-house roles like working on line casino video games and checking friends into accommodations throughout the hiring course of. Career festivals are one other avenue the corporate’s contemplating incorporating the immersive expertise, probably as quickly as January, Lee mentioned. It developed the VR module with Strivr, an enterprise VR coaching agency whose companions embody different huge names like Walmart and Verizon.

MGM Resorts has a workforce of roughly 83,000 employees throughout its portfolio of world-famous casinos such because the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, and MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In the previous, Lee mentioned the corporate used day-in-the-life movies and Q&As with present staff to assist in giving candidates a way of what the job entails, however these have inherent limitations.

“It can be very difficult just to verbally explain the types of positions or show a video,” she instructed Insider, including that digital actuality permits candidates to “throw a headset on and really experience the job.”

Particularly the position’s much less rosy features. Workers in customer-facing roles equivalent to hospitality, meals service, and retail are quitting at greater charges than in different industries, in accordance with data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And whereas there are undoubtedly a number of contributing components to this, surveys suggest that increasingly impolite prospects are a key motive why an increasing number of staff are strolling out.

With this in thoughts, MGM Resorts’ VR module will cowl “difficult guest interactions,” Lee mentioned. She instructed Insider that she “absolutely” anticipated that some candidates would determine the position wasn’t for them after making an attempt it out nearly. She speculated that if MGM Resorts had used VR as a part of its hiring course of forward of latest on line casino openings, it “might’ve resolved some turnover we experienced when people accepted positions and then realized it wasn’t quite what they thought it would be.”

Like many locations, MGM Resorts has struggled with understaffing, however the corporate’s chief monetary officer mentioned in a recent earnings call that labor availability has been bettering every month throughout the third quarter. As for the retail trade as a complete, the Labor Department estimated that, forward of the vacation season, the U.S. is quick greater than 200,000 retail jobs whilst weekly jobless claims proceed to hit record lows.