This has been a seriously challenging year for many casinos and resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. It is largely a miracle that any of them have survived. Those who have, have done so by making difficult decisions.
It comes as no surprise, then, that restaurant and nightlife giant Tao Group has been forced to permanently lay off twelve members of its team. The Tao Group management team has had a situation forced on them and, as a consequence, have had to take this action.
Reopening Not Enough To Save Positions
General Counsel of the Tao Group management team Steven Lugerner admitted that it was regrettable to have laid off staff, yet there was little the company could do:
“This layoff is due to unforeseen business circumstances related to the indefinite restrictions on indoor event and gathering spaces in Las Vegas”
At the beginning of September, Gov. Steve Sisolak issued a statement that will help businesses on the Strip, by allowing them to open with a higher capacity. This move sought to “lift restrictions on bars in counties that previously had these mitigation measures in place”.
Unfortunately, this positive move came too late for the Tao Group management team, which had already given notice to staff.
Where the Tao Group Management Team Trimmed
Understandably, the group sought to lay off only a small percentage of staff from multiple locations. Three floor managers lost their job at the Tao Asian Bistro at the Venetian. The Tao Group management team also let one kitchen manager go from Beauty & Essex.
Elsewhere, two security personnel, two marketing staff, two finance staff, and another kitchen manager also lost their jobs.
The layoffs were announced on September 30, and letters to those affected were delivered as laid out by the WARN act. These letters act as a sixty-day warning notice to the employee. This is an excerpt from the letters that were issued:
“After reviewing the recent government orders, our staffing and business needs, and the uncertainty as to future operations, we are providing this notice to you at the earliest possible time,”
Following Trend of Staff Layoffs
The Tao Group is just the latest company to have been forced into losing high quality, and well-trained staff as a result of this year’s events. MGM resorts were forced to cut 18,000 employees nationwide, with most of those cuts made to employees in Las Vegas. This is what Chief Executive Bill Hornbuckle told staff at the time:
“While we have safely resumed operations at many of our properties and have returned tens of thousands of our colleagues to work, our industry – and country – continues to be impacted by the pandemic, and we have not returned to full operating capacity,”
MGM wasn’t the only one to take this tough step. Many casinos and resorts have also had to give employees the bad news that there is no longer a position for them.
Slowly But Surely For The Tourist Hotspot
There is no doubt that when the situation begins to improve the MGM and Tao Group management teams will attempt to bring those trained staff back into their resorts. This doesn’t appear to be imminent, but some positive signs are appearing.
Through incentives such as the ‘Work From Vegas’ program, which is aimed at the casino and resort employees and those working at home offices. The Strip has been a little busier of late, coinciding with the reopening of restaurants, which we covered here. Of course, the relaxing of capacity rules has certainly helped.
It will take months, possible even years, for Vegas to look anything like what it once did. Tourism numbers are slowly rising, though, and Vegas is certainly more robust than many tourist hotspots.
Even the famed Vegas buffet scene, covered by us here, is starting to see more diners and more food being sold than has been the case for months. Both are promising signs of a recovery. Let’s hope that things do pick up and that many who have lost their positions can again find employment.
