French Lick Springs Resort & Casino
to Launch Worker Training Program

InsideIndianaBusiness.com Report 2/16/2006 2:04:32 PM
The French Lick Springs Resort & Casino is investing $1.8 million to train existing and future workers to be ready to serve the public when the resort reopens in December.

Benchmark Hospitality International will provide hotel hospitality training on February 21, with Ivy Tech offering assessment tests, GED programs and other classes. The resort expects to employ up to 1,000 when it's fully operational.

Source: Inside INdiana Business

Press Release

FRENCH LICK, Ind. - When French Lick Springs Resort & Casino opens its doors in December 2006, employees will be trained and ready to serve the public-as many as 3,200 people daily. The resort is investing $1.8 million to provide free training to its existing and future workers, which could number more than 1,000 when complete.
Beginning Feb. 21, Benchmark Hospitality International will provide hotel hospitality training, with Ivy Tech supplementing efforts through assessment tests, GED programs and other classes. Existing employees will finish the program by June 30, and all new employees will receive the training prior to the resort's opening.
"Providing such extensive training before a property opens is highly unusual in this industry," said Scott Spurlock, general manager at the hotel. "Doing so, however, will enable us to give our guests with the best possible service from the start."

French Lick Springs Resort & Casino closed its doors Nov. 20, 2005, to enable the multimillion-dollar renovations of the property to occur in a safe environment. Doing so meant 350 of the resort staff would be temporarily unemployed. However, all employees were offered unemployment benefits and training in this 'chance of a lifetime' to gear up for the resort's reopening.

Every employee, minus one that retired, chose to remain on staff. As a result, each employee is eligible for a retention bonus equal to 100 percent of their prior year's earnings when added to unemployment compensation; continuous health insurance through COBRA, the cost of which is supplemented by the resort; and free participation in the $1.8 million of training that will enable employees to be ready to greet the public when the property reopens.

Area residents have waited decades for a renaissance of their rural hamlet. Current renovations of French Lick Springs Resort & Casino and West Baden Springs Resort will bring 1,500 construction workers on site, with as many as 1,400 new jobs created once the two properties open. Both will help Orange County shake its 7.7 percent unemployment rate. Downtown revitalization will be possible through the estimated $3 million in casino revenues that the town will receive annually.

The resort believes the $5 million they are spending on payroll to retain the workforce, as well as the additional money for training, will ensure employees return to their jobs better prepared to take customer service to the highest level. The employers, meanwhile, have set a new standard in how to care for their workers and restore a community in the process.

Source: French Lick Springs Resort & Casino