Casino Employees Percections of Their Quality of Work Life : Critical Review

Casino employees percections of their quality of work life : Critical review .

Introduction

The study ‘Casino employees’ perceptions of their quality of work life’ by Wan Yim King Penny and Chan Sow Hup Joanne explores in depth as to what contributes to a good quality work life or QWL for employees working in the casino industry ,in this case casinos in Macau.

Summary

This study has been undertaken for the specific purpose of determining what is a good quality work life according to the employees working in the casino industry in Macau. Since there has been limited research in the area of casino industry and it has also received limited attention in terms of research , this study sheds light on and discovers issues that were not known to be faced by the employees in casino industry previously.

The research methodology in use here is qualitative ,by using qualitative methodology the researchers were able to get more in depth answers. 40 casino employees were interviewed face-to-face ranging from supervisors to dealers and managers coming from different casinos in Macau. Only 40 employees were interviewed because the researchers had reached the isomorph i.e. they were not receiving any new information after interviewing the first 40 employees. The research results demonstrated that factors such as fair pay, proper guidelines to promotion ,adequate rest time, better resting place, cooperation ,communication ,added benefits or fringe benefits from their jobs et cetera contributed to a good quality working life for casino employees.

Evaluation

The cornerstone of this research study is election of qualitative methodology which allows researchers to dig deeper and get more accurate answers. Also the casino industry has been comparatively unexplored. The factors that were found to be contributing to a good quality work life were fair pay, fringe benefits ,proper promotion guidelines, better co-operation and communication between colleagues and departments at the casino, training, staff activities to improve communication , respect and recognition by bosses, proper supervision ,better working hours and to be allowed a choice of working in smoking or non-smoking areas of the casino. The employees expect higher salary as they work in unhealthy conditions in casinos with no windows and the casinos are filled with cigarette smoke and their responsibilities increase if the casino is short on staff which only ads up to their stress at work. Some of the employees reportedly have no social life ,they cannot stay with their families or friends because of their frequently changeable job timings.

The results of this research if brought into practice may show a  rise in job satisfaction and an unintentional increase in turnover .

However the interviewed casino employees were not concerned with their job security ,while a research that also took place in Macau  (Wong , et al,2013) , targeting specifically the Chinese casino employees in Macau  pointed out that the employees are concerned about their job security.

The ethnic origins of the 40 casino employees that were interviewed have not been disclosed in the paper, which demonstrates that the findings of this research may not be applicable to all the casino employees in Macau itself ,or anywhere else .May it be socio-economic or socio-cultural differences ,the results maybe varied at different geographical locations.

The research targeting Chinese employees in casinos in Macau (Wong et al,2013) also pointed out that casino employees are prone to develop a gambling problem or already have a gambling proble . This issue if found to be a general issue in various casinos could be a new problem for the casinos as well as the casino employees.

Conclusion

This research study carried out by Wan Yim King Penny and Chan Sow Hup Joanne is a much needed exploratory research in a field that has not been much explored before .Some of the results of this research have been newly discovered and some have been known, however it does shed light on the issues the casino employees have to go through in their day today life and what changes they would like in their work environment in order to lead a good quality work life. However the research results cannot be applied to other casino employees at other locations due to lack of reliability of the results .

Hence more research needs to be done pertaining to what is good quality of work life for casino employees at various different locations to come to a suitable and a more applicable conclusion.

Reference list

Wong, I.L.K. & Lam, P.S. 2013, "Work stress and problem gambling among Chinese casino employees in Macau", Asian Journal of Gambling Issues and Public Health, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1-16.

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