Pocono Manor promises diverse workforce if given slots license

Eric Mark
Pocono Record Writer
September 29, 2006

POCONO MANOR, PA – If a billion-dollar gaming resort opens here, it will be staffed by a diverse workforce at all levels.

That was the message Pocono Manor executives had for 300 guests at a forum devoted to diversity in hiring, held Thursday afternoon in the main lodge of the sprawling resort and private community.

Developer Greg Matzel, who bought Pocono Manor last year and applied to the state Gaming Control Board for a slots license, has said the high-rise hotel/casino he plans to build — plus the shops and amenities surrounding it — would employ about 4,000 people, making Pocono Manor the largest private employer in Monroe County.

The people who hold those jobs will represent all races, genders and backgrounds, and many of them will be local, according to Dennis Gomes, who will be the CEO of Pocono Manor Resort & Casino if Matzel gets a slots license.

Gomes, 62, a veteran senior executive in the gaming industry, made clear that he takes the issue of diversity and discrimination personally. He recalled how he and his large family, of Portugese descent, endured derogatory comments and disdain from some of their neighbors in a small town in California, where, he said, he grew up "very poor."

"I can't stand discrimination," he said, in remarks after the forum ended.

Gomes and other speakers during the hour-long forum extolled the merits of a diverse workforce and repeatedly promised that Pocono Manor would hire workers at all levels based on their abilities and qualifications.

The changing face of Pennsylvania's workforce will add richness to the work experience of Pocono Manor casino employees, said Jane Bokunewicz, a professor of hospitality management at Drexel University and a human resources consultant to Pocono Manor.

She called it "cultural pluralism," citing statistics that project the percentage of minorities in the Pennsylvania labor pool will increase from 12.5 percent to 14.3 percent over the next six years.

Bokunewicz noted that she has seen this change first-hand in her hometown of Shenandoah, in Schuylkill County, 17 miles southwest of Hazleton. Many hard-working Hispanic families have moved to Shenandoah recently, she said.

Modern technology will make it easier for prospective employees to apply to work at Pocono Manor.

It's called "paperless recruitment."

Pocono Manor has hired HRLogix, a recruiting management technology company, to accept and process online employment applications.

HRLogix will, among other services, track diversity hiring at Pocono Manor, said Larry Curran, company president. He noted that the online option makes it easier for those who work night shift jobs to apply for work. He also promised to "treat applicants like guests."

The state Gaming Control Board has said it will award Category 2 slots licenses — which will authorize up to 5,000 slot machines in a "standalone" casino — in December.

Matzel says he will have a temporary slots casino up and running within nine months, if he is awarded a slots license. If that happens, Pocono Manor plans to hold job fairs and expedite its hiring process early next year, Gomes said.

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