Stadtcasino Baden Improves Staff Scheduling and Engagement with UKG Pro WFM

The Stadtcasino Baden group and its subsidiaries are leading casino operators in Switzerland. The group owns the Grand Casino Baden in the heart of Switzerland and Casinó Locarno in the country’s southern region. The group employs about 400 people across the two locations and sees more than 400,000 casino visitors each year.

Challenges

For many years, department heads in each Stadtcasino Baden department scheduled employees on spreadsheets, but not all in the same way. With a mix of full-time salaried and hourly employees and seasonal workers but no data or insights into shift planning, they often scheduled a similar number of staff no matter the day or time of year. Administrative workers used timeclocks to track their time, but with no processes and workflows in place, they used the system however they liked. Another challenge was complying with all labour regulations, casino-specific requirements, and the state gastronomy labour contract.

Solutions

Stadtcasino Baden’s timekeeping system was approaching its end of life, and the timekeeping company could not offer a scheduling solution with the capabilities needed, so the casino company explored other options. Having a single system that could be used across all locations and departments was important when evaluating solutions, as was moving to a digitalised solution that could handle a wide range of people management needs.

The casino company’s HR department had been evaluating the UKG HR Service Delivery™ solution to manage HR tasks, so the steering committee charged with finding a new solution evaluated the UKG Pro® WFM solution ― a combined human capital management and workforce management solution ― as well as one other solution. Stadtcasino selected UKG.

“We wanted to follow our journey on digitalisation, and we saw more potential to grow with UKG, and it has more modules,” says Jannine Hodel, Group HR Director at Stadtcasino.

The UKG® solution was configured to meet the varying needs and regulations of Stadtcasino’s different worker groups and departments. For example, per Switzerland’s labour laws, the maximum number of hours worked per week can vary by type of job. With the wide range of labour regulations and policies built into the solution, Stadtcasino can be confident it is in compliance when scheduling and paying workers.

With many of the same leaders and practices in place for the prior 10 to 20 years, change management was a challenge initially. To improve solution adoption, the company provided in-house training and brought leaders and supervisors together in groups to complete testing, enabling them to learn from one another and see the benefits of the solution firsthand. Training was tailored to the specific needs of individual groups of employees. 

Results

In the gaming department, which has about 130 employees, the change from shift planning in Excel to creating shifts in the automated UKG solution is delivering efficiencies that should free up the time of shift-planning staff.

Stadtcasino employees have multiple ways to clock in and out, depending on their worker type or preference. Many begin and end their shift punching their time at a terminal clock, some use the mobile app, and office workers typically use the solution on their computers. All can see their vacation and overtime balances in the solution and can use the app to request time off and see whether their request has been approved. This process is far more efficient than workers requesting time off and their supervisor approving and manually inputting each request, as was done previously.

“The new system offers employees more options through self-service functions,” says Hodel, noting that the biggest challenge was employees finding their vacation and overtime balance in the solution, which the company had adjusted from days to hours for more precise balances.

“This digital transformation aligns with Stadtcasino Baden’s vision to position itself as a ‘House of Entertainment’ ― combining hospitality, gaming, and technology,” she adds.

UKG Pro WFM is delivering greater visibility into and oversight of employee time worked. Supervisors must review and approve their workers’ timecards in the solution, a process that didn’t exist previously.

Employees have greater visibility into and control of their schedules and time, too. Using the mobile app, they can see their schedules and time worked, as well as request time off, shift changes, and shift swaps.

“As we start to show supervisors and workers more of the self-management functions they can use, I think this brings a huge benefit to the company,” says Hodel. “It’s more and more common that you can do everything on your mobile, and people are asking for this kind of flexibility and transparency.”

Empowering employees at all levels with these self-service tools can help engage and retain staff ― creating an advantage in a competitive marketplace.

Insights gained from the UKG solution’s workforce data and analytics are also providing advantages. Stadtcasino can easily see workforce trends, such as whether employees are taking their required break time and time off between shifts. And the company can track sick days and accidents by employee and department, so initiatives can be developed to support employee wellbeing.

The executive team is looking to use solution insights for better resource planning and staffing. Considering the weekday, weekend, holiday, and seasonal fluctuations in guest numbers, Stadtcasino now will be able to use solution data to more accurately align staffing with anticipated guest numbers. This alignment will both improve the guest experience and help control labour costs.