Northern Nevada companies boost hiring incentives, face staffing shortages

RENO, Nev. (News 4 & Fox 11) — Heather Kinnear said this is the most challenging labor market she's ever seen.

"And I've been in HR a long time," she added, laughing.

Kinnear is the director of human resources for the Atlantis Casino Resort.

They currently have about 200 positions open. Jobs ranging from entry level housekeeping and dishwashing to a planning and analysis manager.

"It's significant. In the six years that I've been with the company, we've never had more than maybe 100 to 120 positions open for a busy season," Kinnear said.

She's been trying to fill the positions for the past four or five months. As summertime business continues to pick up, especially with COVID restrictions all but gone, the Atlantis shifted gears to lure new workers.

"We have a lot of incentive programs for specific departments and jobs, in addition to the significant wage increases that we just implemented," said Kinnear.

Adding hiring incentives and signing bonuses has been gaining traction amongst many businesses lately. Managers see it as a way to attract employees in a very tight labor market.

Kinnear hopes it's enough to bridge the gaps. Right now, like other workplaces, employees are filling in on roles outside the scope of their job.

She said employees who normally don't work in recruiting are filling in so they can make the hiring process as quick as possible.

"It's where hiring is maybe 20% of HR's activity in a day, it's probably about 70% of our activity right now," said Kinnear.

If their higher wage incentives don't work, Kinnear said they're looking at visas to potentially bring in workers from abroad.

The Atlantis wants to hire locally first, she said. But the visa option could bring in more employees quickly so her current team doesn't get burned out from overwork.

At the Grand Sierra Resort, the same problems persist. Like the Atlantis, the GSR currently has about 200 openings.

They're implementing $1,000 hiring bonuses for certain positions to bring in workers.

"It's just been difficult. There's a lot of places hiring, there's not a lot of workers in the market," said Christopher Abraham, the senior vice president of marketing for GSR. "We're spending time and energy marketing these positions to advertising, social, digital marketing. There just doesn't seem to be enough workers who want a great career in hospitality."

Abraham said it's critical to fill these roles as quickly as possible.

The numerous vacancies are already impacting business operations with employees performing multiple duties and working overtime, he said.

Cabela's in Reno announced Wednesday a $750 sign-on bonus for new hires. $250 after their first 30 days and $500 after 120 days. They're currently hiring dozens of positions.

SMX Staffing is a recruiting firm for the e-commerce company, Zulily. The company, located off USA Parkway, is hiring over 100 new positions in the next few weeks.

The staffing agency is offering up to a $500 sign-on bonus for new hires while also paying an additional $3.00 an hour in overtime pay.

SMX said they're hiring 30 to 40 people a week for Zulily until the end of the year.

"We're bringing in close to that, but not definitely not where we need to be," said Nathan DeArman, the recruiting manager for SMX Staffing.

DeArman said it's a saturated market right now, recognizing the same struggles in other companies.

"Everybody in town's hiring. We have the added trouble of being all the way out in USA Parkway," said DeArman. "Not everybody wants to drive out there. Pretty much everybody in town is struggling to find enough people."

He's worried about what will happen if these incentives and bonuses don't bring in enough new workers. The current employees will have to work overtime nonstop until the company gets caught up. That leads to other problems.

"Lots and lots of overtime. Anywhere from 50 to 60 hours of overtime. Then, morale gets down," he said. "We do whatever we can to get people to be happy. And be as happy as they can in their jobs."

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Contact reporter Brett Forrest at bforrest@mynews4.com.

Follow @brettforrest89 on Twitter or @brettforrestKRNV on Facebook.