Hard Rock Spends $100M To Bump Up Wages Of Non-Tipped Employees
Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming on Tuesday announced that it will be investing $100 million to increase starting wages for 10,000 employees at the company’s hotel, café, and casino locations around the country.
The increase will see new starting wages ranging from $18 to $21 an hour, which, as the company emphasized, is at least 2.5 times the federal average of $7.25. According to the hospitality and gaming company, most eligible employees will receive a 40% bump in their starting wage, while some will see raises worth over 60%.
The company elaborated that the decision to invest in the pay bumps — which will affect around half of their total US force across about 95 job classifications, including cooks, housekeepers, security and call center employees — was driven by persistent inflation and the current macroeconomic environment.
“We looked at all the starting salaries of all our (front) line employees, certainly recognizing the economic conditions that have been going on,” said Jim Allen, Chairman and CEO of Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming.
“We just wanted to do something to really help out and show appreciation to our employees. We’re trying to find the highest quality employees, thanking them for their efforts and recognizing that with compensation,” he added.
US consumer prices went up 8.3% year-on-year in August, blowing past expectations, with food inflation at a 43-year record high.
The decision also underscores the importance of longevity and retaining the “highest caliber” employees in a very competitive talent market.
“We’re certainly not in a mindset of cutting any way we can in order to just save short term and potentially lose the focus of the long-term quality of service that we’re trying to provide to our guests,” Allen said.
The company currently has over 1,600 jobs available at the new starting wage rates.
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