Station Casinos honored again with Fortune magazine list

Station Casinos has made the 100 Best Companies to Work For list in Fortune magazine for the second year in a row.

The company was ranked 55th overall and 14th out of the 38 large-sized companies, which employ more than 10,000 American-based workers. Station also was the only Nevada-based company on the list.

The magazine has San Francisco-based Great Place to Work Institute compile the list based on company policies, corporate culture -- which is generally the company's operating philosophy -- and employee opinion.

Two-thirds of the score is based on employee opinion, which is gathered by randomly choosing 400 employees to complete a 57-question survey that asks about job satisfaction, benefits, pay, camaraderie and attitudes toward management. The last third of the score is based mainly on the corporate culture, benefits programs and the company's demographic makeup.

As for Station's demographic makeup, minorities account for 48 percent of its U.S. workforce, said Valerie Murzl, Station's vice president of human resources.

"I'm ecstatic," Murzl said. "Last year I was shocked. This year I was amazed. It's such a difficult competition. It's very exciting."

Station also received recognition for its Dream Campaign. The focus of the campaign was to learn what the goals of the employees were, and if there were some common ones, to identify how Station could help its employees achieve them. A somewhat common aim among employees was to become U.S. citizens and to learn to speak better English.

"It's not traditional to offer a citizenship program, but that's OK, because we're kind of out there," said Murzl.

With 35 to 40 percent of Station's roughly 13,000 employees speaking Spanish, Murzl said the company also thought it would be fitting to offer English as a second language classes, commonly referred to as ESL.

Because of the Dream Campaign, the company now offers free ESL courses, organized citizenship clinics, and has instituted a 24-hour bilingual hot line.

"We're very nontraditional and very humanistic. We keep our employees engaged," Murzl said.

Other programs offered to Station employees include a home ownership program, which assists employees with down payments and the overall process of purchasing a home; driver education courses for the workers' children; and management classes to anyone interested.

"The attitudes of management is what makes working here so good," said Xochitl Zapata, a Palace Station employee. "And we get management training at their expense. The great thing is there are so many opportunities to advance."

Zapata, 20, works in room service and is anticipating her 21st birthday.

"In gaming, you need to be 21 in order to have all the opportunities," she said.

Murzl noted that she understands not everybody will benefit from the programs.

"But if I can help 10 own their own home, or 100 team members (employees) become citizens, then I'm happy," she said. "It's not about the quantity, it's about the quality. That's the way my brain looks at it."

Murzl has been with the company for nine years. When she started her employment with the company, it had 5,000 workers. She said she is happy to have watched the company experience such substantial growth.

It's a process that seems to be ongoing: Red Rock Station, near the Las Vegas Beltway and Charleston Boulevard, will be opening April 18. Also slated to transpire in the near future is moving the company's main offices to Red Rock Station from Palace Station.

"When Red Rock opens, they'll begin building the second tower," Murzl said. "And Aliante will be the next one."