Case Study—Internal Mobility at Harrah’s Entertainment
The following case study, which examines gaming giant Harrah’s Entertainment, demonstrates how an organization can properly assess their talent and create an internal mobility structure based on solid, proven metrics.
Situation. In mid-2005, Harrah’s Entertainment acquired Caesars Holdings, creating a combined Human Resources organization servicing the largest casino operator in the nation. With properties across the country, and several properties located in concentrated areas (Atlantic City, Las Vegas), it was clear to senior management that allowing their talent base to move freely across the organization was critical to keeping operating costs under control, recruiting costs minimized, and retaining talent in hard-to-hire markets like Las Vegas. Quite simply, for most locations where gambling is legal, a worker has more then one employer to choose from. Harrah’s wanted to remain the choice of their well-performing employees even if their current job wasn’t their final destination.
Support structure. To support their Internal Mobility efforts, Harrah’s deployed:
An executive-facing team to recruit and manage the careers of top casino managers across the country.
A high-potential training and career development course for emerging entry-level managers to gain better visibility into their possible career choices. Partnering with recruiting teams nationwide to place high-potentials, they created personalized internal mobility assistance (with a champion within Learning and Development).
An advanced, web-based internal mobility system. This technology included employee self-service in applying for new positions, and for checking on the status of all pending internal mobility applications. It also included level-of-service timers for Human Resources and for hiring managers in responding back to each other and to candidates on transfer requests.
The Internal Mobility Program in Action. For all employees, access is granted to an internal mobility system that is available at kiosks throughout the properties. Employees can not only apply for jobs, but also they can e-mail Human Resources about positions currently under consideration. Since each property may have different policies in accepting transfers, the system allows for location-specific policy management. Technology is used to make sure that employees are following the rules of the property at which they are interested in working.
Time-to-Contact throughout the Internal Mobility Process is a critical measure for Harrah’s, so managers and Human Resources use technology to manage Time-to-Contact expectations as well, with flags indicating overdue tasks. See Figure 10.2, Human Resources Flags for Overdue Employee Activities (Hodes iQ).
The system will flag for Human Resources when the next step is due and if it is overdue.
Leveraging the Program Using Metrics. Harrah’s is able to capture all the information it needs for measuring Internal Mobility according to its goals through the use of systems and intensive education with Human Resources staff responsible for employee applications. The support systems used by Harrah’s lay the foundation for reporting and allow it to create interventions where needed.
A Study in Tying Internal Mobility Directly to the Business. When disaster struck Louisiana in the form of Hurricane Katrina, the value of an embedded Internal Mobility Program was put directly to the test. With two locations entirely closed for months, Harrah’s was able to leverage the technology and training adopted by Human Resources to manage thousands of displaced employees into properties across the United States within days. Harrah’s CEO was able to announce its internal mobility emergency handling immediately through news outlets, and Human Resources was able to manage and report on a huge influx of employee requests, including accurate daily reporting to the CEO.