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Meet the women leading Wynn Resorts’ culture change

A new CEO and reconfigured board of directors should empower Wynn Resorts to overhaul the company culture and advance women, say the executives leading a new initiative.

Las Vegas-based Wynn, beleaguered by a sexual harassment scandal, in April named Corrine Clement to lead a new department to support diversity and inclusion, gender equality and fair treatment in the workplace.

Clement, vice president of culture and community, is launching an ambitious program that includes training in diversity and inclusion as well as sexual harassment. In addition, her department plans leadership training for employees at five levels of the organization, from interns to executive directors.

Corrine Clement, left, and Kim Sinatra
Corrine Clement, left, and Kim Sinatra

The #MeToo movement has elevated people’s sensitivities, Clement said. That awareness offers an opportunity to more deeply examine how employees handle interactions that turn uncomfortable and how managers respond to complaints. “When you’re trying to shift or elevate culture, the biggest tool is creating consistent, transparent communication,” she said.

‘Committed to inclusion’

Wynn Resorts founder, Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn resigned in February following allegations of sexual misconduct — that for decades he had harassed female employees and coerced them into having sex. He was replaced by President Matt Maddox, who joined the company in 2002 and was elevated to the No. 2 position in 2013.

With the board of directors under fire for not investigating complaints of harassment, the company in March announced that two longtime male directors would step down; it subsequently announced the appointment of three women to the board.

“Our CEO is committed to inclusion,” said Kim Sinatra, executive vice president and general counsel who oversees the new department. The “newly invigorated” board is behind the advancement of women, who make up 41% of the leadership positions in the U.S. at manager and above, she said.

Wynn operates its flagship hotel and casino in Las Vegas, two properties in the Chinese Macau region and is constructing a resort in the Boston area. It employs 12,500 in the U.S., 47% of them women.

Clement is beginning her department’s initiative with a survey for U.S. employees, to be followed by focus groups and town hall meetings. That will enable Wynn to glean how it stacks up against other hospitality firms and corporations, and to identify areas of employee dissatisfaction.

Training is a challenge because there are so many nuances in the way people interact with each other, it’s hard to make rules, said Peggy Berg, founder of the Atlanta-based Castell Project, a nonprofit striving to advance the careers of women in hospitality. 

“There are predators and there are people who get confused. All of us get confused and most of us aren’t predators,” Berg said. “We have to figure out how to read signals, where are the boundaries and how to manage situations. It’s good that we’re talking about it.”

The #MeToo movement and the national conversation on workplace propriety is helpful because so much expertise is being generated, Sinatra said, adding, “we’ll see the kind of tools that companies are using and what is effective.”

Sinatra, who is trained as a real estate lawyer, joined Wynn in 2004 and led development as the company built its Las Vegas and Macau properties.

Clement joined Wynn in 2014 and moved to Macau, where she served as executive director, innovation and creative development. She was responsible for communications and internal marketing for the Wynn Palace resort that opened in August 2016. That was a tough assignment because of the area’s 1% unemployment level. So the hotel had to recruit from competing properties. “To attract top talent, you have to build a culture compelling enough that people want to join us,” she said.

She is particularly proud of a multi-functional app her department developed for employees that enabled them to trade a work shift, find local services and even check the timing of a shuttle that carries workers between their homes and the hotel. After nearly three years, she returned to the U.S. and served as head of innovation and creative development at Wynn Las Vegas.

“When you’re honest and share what’s happening day-to-day, that’s when you create a team and can take your culture to an industry-leading position,” she said.

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