When Jyoti Chopra joined MGM Resorts in November 2019, she expected to concentrate on her years of experience as a diversity practitioner across various business sectors.
But the COVID-19 pandemic caused Chopra, a senior vice president and chief people, inclusion and sustainability officer, to use her skills in unexpected ways.
“Managing through the crisis has led us to move to a more dynamic, real-time model in areas like workforce management and planning,” Chopra said Wednesday during the virtual keynote presentation “Navigating a Global Workforce Through 2020: A Fireside Chat with MGM’s Jyoti Chopra” at the Global Gaming Expo. “What’s important is to continually review, refine, refresh against the operating environment.”
In a wide-ranging conversation with Katherine Sayre of the Wall Street Journal, Chopra, emphasized the need to retain and develop talent despite the pandemic’s effect on the MGM’s workforce, which varies from the personnel she worked with at previous employers including Bank of New York Mellon, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd., and the United Nations.
“I think you’ve got to calibrate your plans based on the workforce model that you have, based on the business model that you have,” Chopra said. “So, as we look at our business model at MGM Resorts, it’s a very diversified business. We span gaming, entertainment, hotels and resorts, retail and sports betting. And the talent pools that you need in a diverse business model like that is vast, and we have all kinds of jobs ranging from chefs to reception and front desk to hotel operations to financial analysts. That’s one of the things that makes the talent pool in this industry tough. There are so many different types of jobs that are needed with the enterprises we have.”
Chopra said the majority of MGM Resort’s workers were furloughed earlier this year. Currently, about 50% of employees have returned to their jobs. To help furloughed workers, MGM created an Alumni Portal, launched in September, through which former employees can access information about employment opportunities at MGM and throughout the gaming industry.
The company also has created an employee emergency grant fund. Administered by the MGM Resorts Foundation, the fund has paid over $14 million to current and former employees in need of financial assistance.
Chopra said that MGM plans to “bring as many people back as we possibly can” once business volume returns to pre-pandemic levels.”
But what that workforce will look like is uncertain.
“We’ve now pivoted to a model where a majority of employees in corporate functions are almost fully 100 percent remote working,” Chopra said. “We’ve had to completely rethink technology, tools, how we work, the nature of work.”
“The entire management team here recognizes people’s lives have been disrupted, “Chopra added. “People have had to deal with unprecedented, health and well-being issues, loss of life, tragically, with children not being able to go to school. … Living up to this notion that we care for each other is something in which we really take pride.”
Chopra recognizes that the majority of MGM Resorts’ workforce is hourly who work on shifts 24/7/365. Safety precautions, per state guidelines, have been implemented at all MGM properties, to safeguard the health of employees and customers.
But Chopra adds that not all gaming options are currently available, and some restaurants at MGM properties remain closed.
“We are closely monitoring business volumes and levels,” Chopra said. “At present all our properties in Las Vegas and across the nation are open, and we hope to do everything we can to keep them open.”
