Employee Engagement Processes and Productivity among Las Vegas Five-Star Hospitality Organizations

Employee disengagement creates an unhealthy working environment. Disengagement rates among Las Vegas hospitality industry organizations led to dissatisfaction among employees and resulted in low productivity and profitability. This qualitative descriptive study involved exploring employee engagement strategies that hospitality industry supervisors and managers used to implement programs, thereby solving the employee engagement problems of their organizations. The conceptual framework for the study was leader-member exchange theory. Twenty participants with 5 or more years of Las Vegas hospitality experience who had already successfully implemented engagement programs answered open-ended questions in semistructured interviews. Company documents constituted an additional data source. Analyzing the data involved triangulation using multiple data sources in identifying themes such as interaction effects of employee engagement programs on employees, mutual respect between leaders and subordinates, and organizational benefits. Better engagement could lead to positive social change through increased job satisfaction and improved customer service, thereby engendering increased social interactions among members of the local community. The former could reduce stress and contribute to the quality of life of community members including the families of the workers. The latter could lead to greater profits for the employers, thus potentially increasing the tax base in the community.