Letter: Venetian’s pay, benefits result of job market

Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999 | noon

The reasoning behind the Venetian's benefits package is simple: We are offering the best to hire the best. With a 3.6 percent unemployment rate in Nevada and the opening of four megaresorts -- Bellagio, last October; Mandalay Bay, March; the Venetian, April; and Paris, September -- representing more than 25,000 jobs, it is the job market's demands, and not the union's demands, that predicate the need to offer wages and benefits to attract the best employees.

Unlike other visitors, this untapped market has grown accustomed to, and quite frankly demands, good service. To that end, it is the customer's demands for high-quality service that cause us to pursue only the best employees. To date, we have received more than 103,000 calls to the Venetian job line (734-JOBS). With 4,000 job openings, we intend to hire only the best.

The Venetian has established a Peer Review Board, where three employees and two managers review an employee's complaints. If it finds that the employee was not fairly treated, the board has the authority to reinstate employees and pay them for time lost -- a guarantee of fairness unprecedented in the gaming industry.

In addition, the Venetian will gather information on our competitors' pay and benefits on an ongoing basis. The Venetian guarantees it will maintain a superior pay and benefits package.

WILLIAM P. WEIDNER, Venetian president and CEO