Harrah's Entertainment Reviews

Pros

Harrah's has embraced smart people from a variety of industries who are excited by gaming, hotels, restaurants, spa's, and nightclubs. There is alot of diversity in the workforce at the corporate office in terms of where people are from and the idea's they bring to the table. The CEO believes in employee engagement and is committed to being a best place to work.

Cons

Economy has forced some tough decisions in order for the company to prosper there were takeaways. Many of the takeaways are now coming back.

Advice to Senior Management

Focus on revenue generation and driving new business

Pros

(My experience comes from Hotel Operations) Prior to the rescission, Harrah's was a pretty good company. Management staff was good and so was the amount of information shared with employees. Benefits and pay for entry level positions were pretty completive.

Cons

2008 was a year of changes for Harrah's and it brought a new management team to most of the hotels. These management teams cleaned house and left us with pretty much the worst apples of the bunch. 401k matching was taken away, hotel staff was cleaned out, strict rules were put into place in order to find ways of letting go of staff members without having to pay them unemployment...ect...

Management meetings consisted of how many more people we can let go and how can we make things uncomfortable for other team members so they would quit (so upper management wouldn't have to lay off...again...to avoid unemployment). Once you got on this new management's bad side you were there for life. These elephants don't forget. Focus was taken away from employee development and now put into "Project Green" to save the company money.

Hotel guests ALWAYS come first at Harrah's as well. To the point where if one guest complained about you doing your job, the way you were instructed and trained to do so, upper management would force us to write up the lower level employee. Harrah's new motto was "Write up first, ask questions later." No one ever bothered to check to see if there are obstacles standing in the way of doing your job.

Advice to Senior Management

Where to start? haha. Get rid of the current upper management teams you have placed in all your Las Vegas Hotel Operations departments. Get the old ones back. Stop writing people up for cussing in the back room when upper management comes down cussing about not making bonus.

Pros

I was an office worker and I enjoyed the environment. PTO was good and I had no problem taking full advantage of that. There was "health care" but the lower wage worker had to go to the on sight clinic and get scripts from their pharmacy, otherwise the participting Docs were too expensive and LOW quality.
There was an excellent fitness center on site and free "food".

Cons

Uppermanagement made me sick with all of the skewed facts to make themselves look good.
The 401k match was taken away but never put back. The pay was dismal. I did a similar but less demanding job in another market an made 30% more but that's just the a.c. Job culture of keep em poor. After 2 years and one outstanding review after another I still did not make enough to live on my own. Ok, I made 11.47 an hour ugh. I hate to say it. Thank god I was able to move on from that hole of a city.

Advice to Senior Management

Take care of the people who take care of you so faithfully with all they have.

Pros

Opprotunities for advancement if you are willing to relocate or change departments.

Cons

No communicaiton between departments. The right hand has no idea what the left hand is doing. As a Supervior I do every job at the front desk from agent to bellman. I also deal with complaints about every other department besides the hotel.

Advice to Senior Management

More communication and recognition from management. Everyone needs to get on the same page.

Pros

you get to meet different people every day instead of the same routine which is nice. some of the employees you work with are great too

Cons

long hours, not very good pay, need more flexible scheduling for employees so we can have more family time with them

Advice to Senior Management

communication is key. all employees to express their concerns or questions and provide feedback. if we're doing something wrong, explain and provide a solution

Pros

Work hard and you can move up. Many different properties around the U.S. and some overseas. Many in resort locations.

Cons

Private Equity firm pigs Apollo and TPG have eviscerated this company through massive layoffs and cuts. Customer service went out the window in the name of reducing expenses. Their purchase of Harrah's could not have come at worse time - just before the current recession. They now have (literally) a mountain of debt and cash-strapped, weary consumers are not gambling the way they once did. It is likely that gamblers will be much more conservative after this devastating recession and gamble less frequently.

Advice to Senior Management

Casinos are everywhere now. Focus on other lucrative areas of the industry - restaurants, entertainment, hotels, etc.

Pros

a well known employer that is known throughout the world. Sadly its not known for anything especially good or innovative.

Cons

no real sense of direction within the industry. Company is being run by those who have very little knowledge of the industry.

Advice to Senior Management

my suggestion would be to slowy but surely reinvest in the most prtoductive employees, move them through the ranks and allow them to do what they do best.

Pros

If you play the game, there is definitely opportunity for advancement. Be prepared to leave your morals and self-respect behind, however.

Cons

The company repeatedly tells bold-faced lies to its employees, which has led to the lowest morale in a workplace I have ever seen. They say they have the best salaries, but the salaries they offer are less than the competition on the same service level. They say they have the best benefits, until you find out about the ones being offered by other large casinos. And finally, they say that they are the best gaming company to work for - In my 32 years of gaming, I have worked for 5 large employers and have never seen a group of people who hate their jobs this much. Harrah's solution to low morale is toys and games.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop asking the employees how they feel about their jobs. We all lie and say that we love our jobs because if we aren't constantly 'upbeat and positive' then there will be problems. Use some common sense. Your employees are adult human beings, not puppies or children.

Pros

Interesting career choice, good place to learn the casino and hospitality industry. Friendly people, lots of different locations where to work, relatively easy to transfer between departments.

Cons

Incredibly arrogant management. Debt load is so crushing, they can barely afford to keep the doors open. Recruiting pitch was a big bunch of lies - talked about access to senior management, advancement opportunities, etc. - all a load of crap. They cut the 401(k), made management take a pay cut, and the health insurance is awful. PA program has absolutely no structure - personal experiences vary wildly.

Advice to Senior Management

What happened to you people!?? Harrah's used to be a success story in taking high quality talent with a desire to lean the industry and giving them the tools to become senior leaders. No more - management is mainly concerned about protecting their own jobs and bonuses.

Pros

Describe some of the best reasons to work at Harrah's Entertainment : Big company with many opportunities for future growth.

Cons

Describe some of the downsides of working at Harrah's Entertainment: Big company so there is a lack of visibility and it is difficult to make your mark.

Advice to Senior Management

Offer some advice or feedback to the leadership at Harrah's Entertainment: I have only had positive experiences, so none at this time.