Mohegan Today App Enhances Connectivity & Engagement Among 11,000 Deskless Hospitality Employees

Mohegan Sun is one of the largest, most sought-after entertainment, gaming, dining and shopping destinations in the United States. The company owns and operates hotels, casinos and resorts in Connecticut, Atlantic City, Pennsylvania, Washington, Louisiana and has one on the way in South Korea.

With a dynamic workforce spread across the massive casino, it is imperative that Mohegan Sun is able to get important information directly into the hands of its employees, 80% of which are frontline workers who do not have access to desktop computers. In a competitive industry where a well-informed and customer-focused employee base is one of the last true brand differentiators, efficient internal communications are imperative.

Challenges
Most customer-facing casino workers do not sit in front of or have access to desktop computers. Many are part-time and do not have company provided email addresses. This presented Mohegan Sun, that operates 24/7, with a challenge when it came to effectively engaging, communicating with and reaching all of its 11,000 employees. Prior to going mobile and working with theEMPLOYEEapp by APPrise Mobile, the internal communications team at Mohegan Sun utilized numerous tools to get information to its employees. This included a bi-weekly newsletter, regular emails (only to those who the company had their email address), an internal intranet that was only available on site, printed materials and newscasts from Mohegan’s internal production team, which were displayed on TVs in employee-only areas. However, it was difficult to quantify the impact of each and to know for certain that important information was actually being received by its team members.

In evaluating its overall communications effort and recognizing that the vast majority of its employees are on their mobile devices when they have appropriate downtime, Mohegan Sun sought to identify a mobile solution that was:

• User-friendly and accessible to the largest percentage of its employees as possible.
• Available both via mobile and on the web for those employees who didn’t have a mobile device or preferred not to download business apps to their personal devices.
• Ensured that everyone in the company and across all of its locations had access to the same tools and information – or, information specific to each location.
• Included a way to push out alerts/push notifications to all employees or targeted groups of employees, especially in the case of emergencies.
• Was cost effective, easy to deploy and required minimal IT involvement.

Solutions & Results
Mohegan Sun partnered with theEMPLOYEEapp by APPrise Mobile and rolled out its employee communications app branded as Mohegan Today. Mohegan Today has become the company’s go-to tool for distributing internal communications. It is the first tool used when distributing important information and has completely replaced the company’s intranet. Mohegan Today:

• Consolidates all essential communications including the bi-weekly newsletter, the Mohegan Minute (daily property updates), contests and promotions, guest service scores and letters commending the team, surveys and more.
• Includes workplace tools so that employees only have to download a single workplace app to have access to their payroll and benefits, scheduling portal as well as practical information like job openings, employee dining room menus and a phone directory.
• Since its initial launch in May 2016, has adoption of 60% at the Mohegan Sun property in Connecticut and 40-50% adoption across all properties.
• Has grown from 7 administrators posting content to Mohegan Today to more than 20 allowing for content to be targeted not only to different properties but also employee groups making for a more personal and relevant app experience.

“Mohegan Today has quickly become the go to source for employees to easily access the information that’s not only important to them in their work, but also to their personal lives. Communicating with employees through their mobile device was no longer an option for us. Working with APPrise Mobile and theEMPLOYEEapp has taken our internal communications to a whole new level.” said Erin Frostad, Employee Communications & Involvement Manager