How do you instantly communicate with each and every frontline employee across a casino? How does your message get across in an establishment that's busy, large, and open 24/7?
For Penn Entertainment, the answer was simple: reach everyone on an employee communications app, quickly and efficiently. Penn Entertainment partnered with Speakap to create its own employee hub, an employee engagement platform that mirrors the organization's structure and gives frontline employees the right information they need, without all the extra noise.
Allie Evangelista
Vice President and General Manager, Hollywood Casino Perryville
A 24/7 business makes it difficult for me to reach everyone at the same time. Sometimes it might be weeks before I see a specific team member. Speakap's employee communication solution allows me to reach every team member at the same time, from the convenience of their own home or during their scheduled break. The employee communications app is customizable to our business, and to our property, such as with the casino I manage, Hollywood Casino, Perryville. We then invite our team members to join the app and communicate with them on the secure social intranet software. Even though joining is voluntary, we've seen a good success rate of adoption because frontline employees see the value and do want to receive the information we share.
Lorie Arrants
Cashier Player Services, Hollywood Casino Perryville
I've been working here since the casino opened in 2010. And we later adopted Speakap in August 2021. I can say that I've seen a vast improvement in our communication since implementing the social intranet software. When we first opened up, we had to run to HR, wait for an email, or even go directly to our manager and discuss things. And now all we have to do is pick up our mobile devices and open the employee communications app. We always know what's going on, whether we're here at the casino, or at home.
David Heller
Dealer, Supervisor, Hollywood Casino Perryville
I check Speakap everyday, both before and after work, just to make sure that I know what's going on with the property, and to see whether managers have added any news to the employee communications app. I find that it’s really easy to navigate. You don't have to worry about going through emails or whatever, and you can see your schedule right there in real-time. And if anything is happening in real time, you see it right away instead of hearing about it later. The notifications also help with receiving information instantly — it's really great.
Allie Evangelista
Vice President and General Manager, Hollywood Casino Perryville
I think it's fair to say that printing a memo and posting it on the wall, in the hopes that people get the information they need, is old school and doesn't work anymore. People are very used to their mobile devices. In fact, they want information in a timely manner.
How did you launch Speakap?
So, the cool thing is that when I started working with the Speakap team and started customizing this employee communications app, we talked about what I would like to see. They didn't just give me a brochure and say: this is what we can offer you and we can implement that tomorrow. On the contrary, they let me understand that it's a process. We got together and discussed what I was looking for, and what role I wanted for the internal communication mobile app. We looked at how it was going to help me communicate with my team, and how it could act as an employee engagement tool for my team members. And based on that, we created the employee communications app together.
What features do you use on the internal communication software?
One Speakap feature that comes with the social intranet software, which I think is very helpful and has helped our team members tremendously, is the homepage that you first see on the app when you log in. We're able to add some links there that make it easier for employees to access, which increases our employee engagement on the app. I also like the events feature that lets me set up events and notify team members about any upcoming activities.
Is having an employee engagement platform important to you?
I'm big on employee engagement. I believe that when team members are engaged in the workplace, they tend to stay, produce better results, and work better with each other. Having an employee communications app such as Speakap has helped me improve employee engagement across teams. And I believe that having an employee communication software helps me build a team culture to the extent that they feel like they're part of a family. And that's where I want to work. And I know that that's where my team members want to work too.
