Why diversity delivers for Crown Resorts

Why diversity delivers for Crown ResortsCrown Resorts has raised the diversity stakes with a ‘whole of business’ approach that is winning awards and applause. So, what is Crown’s secret to success?One of Australia’s largest entertainment groups, Crown Resorts owns and operates two of Australia’s leading integrated resorts: Crown Melbourne and Crown Perth entertainment complexes.Crown’s work to create a safe and supportive workplace based on principles of equity and inclusivity was rewarded with the Moulis Legal Award for Diversity for companies with more than 2 employees at the recent Property Council of Australia / Rider Levett Bucknall Innovation & Excellence Awards. A multi-dimensional approach to diversity is driven from the top down, and is overseen by the company’s executive general manager of human resources, Alicia Gleeson (pictured).Gleeson, who has been with Crown for 16 years, says diversity has been “in our DNA” during her entire career with the company, “largely because Crown has always focused on employing people from the local community, regardless of their background and skills”.”When we opened Crown in Melbourne, there had never been a casino in Victoria, so we had to start from the ground up and develop the skills,” she explains.Initial recruitment focused on providing job opportunities to Victorians, and that led to an “extraordinarily” diverse workforce, especially culturally and linguistically, Gleeson explains. Employees currently hail from more than 40 different countries, and range in ages from 18 to 65.”We’ve always believed if someone comes in with the right attitude, we can develop the right skills,” Gleeson adds.Crown’s diversity agenda began with “genuine and focused” work to provide employment to people who were otherwise marginalised. “We started working with people who had been retrenched as manufacturing declined in Victoria, but this has expanded since then,” Gleeson explains.The 0 Training Places program can be accessed by retrenched workers, women in crisis, Indigenous Australians and new migrants looking to retrain with a qualification in hospitality or security.This program formed an integral part of Crown’s formal diversity and inclusion programs which now support gender equity, Indigenous Australians, LGBTI inclusivity, cultural and linguistic diversity and people with disabilities.Indigenous employment has been a focus area since 2008, when then-chairman James Packer signed the Australian Employment Covenant – the largest collaboration of employers in the nation’s history – and committed to provide 300 jobs to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”Our attitude has always been: the Aboriginal community has existed for 40,000 years. As a business, don’t we want to learn from that?”The real-world impact Crown’s commitment has on people’s lives is quite breathtaking. Gleeson shares the story of one member of Crown’s team in Perth, an Indigenous woman with a family history that has been scarred by the Stolen Generations. While caring for six children, two of whom were her grandchildren, the woman was struggling to maintain suitable accommodation. “As the first Indigenous member of our management team, this woman was a valued employee. We worked with Indigenous Business Australia to help her get a home loan, using her employment bonus as part of the deposit. As a result, this woman and her husband are building their first home.”Crown has recently upgraded its Indigenous employment commitment to create 2,000 job opportunities, and employment parity – meaning three per cent of its workforce – by 2021.Another industry-leading program is CROWNability, supported by ambassador Kurt Fearnley, which works with potential candidates and employees with disabilities.”We focus on what people are able to do, rather than their disability,” Gleeson says. This means tailoring a job to suit each team member’s capabilities, and providing one-on-one coaching and guidance, until people are ready to work independently.Gleeson points to the example of one young employee, a young school leaver with an intellectual disability, who has been employed to complete the “range of repetitive but important tasks” in Gleeson’s HR team. “We provided one-on-one support through a work experience program, and once he could work independently, we employed him full-time. He enjoys the repetition and predictability of tasks that other members of my team don’t, and has become a respected member of the team,” she says.Crown has always employed many people who identify with LGBTI, Gleeson says.”Our commitment is that people can feel confident bringing their whole selves to work,” which led Crown to establish an LGTBI steering committee with a charter, strategy and framework.As for gender diversity, Gleeson says Crown’s management once “looked like every other company in Australia, with a triangle of women at the bottom that decreased the further we went up”. Crown joined the Victorian Male Champions of Change in 2015, and this has helped the company develop “a strong gender equity framework”.Among the many programs on offer, Women of Crown Management is enhancing the management and networking skills of female leaders, raising their profiles and creating a pool of skilled women for senior positions. “Of our current inaugural cohort of 12, one has already been promoted to general manager in our largest business unit,” Gleeson explains.And what does it mean to win the Property Council of Australia / Rider Levett Bucknall award?”We put our hearts and souls into being an inclusive employer. To gain recognition for that was thrilling,” Gleeson concludes.