By Seth Daniel
In a special meeting of the Access and Opportunity Committee of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) in Everett City Hall on Tuesday morning, April 11, Wynn Boston Harbor told members of the Committee that they are now meeting or exceeding all of their diversity hiring goals for construction.
In fact, Wynn’s Jenny Peterson noted that more than 25 percent of the construction workforce on site is minority – with a goal of 15 percent.
“We’re meeting all of our goals on diversity,” she announced. “We’re excited to see all the numbers come in this way…We are trying to build on these successes now.”
The Access and Opportunity Committee was put together by Jill Griffin of the MGC and the Commissioners.
“Something like this effort doesn’t work unless you have a kick-butt channel to make it work,” said MGC Chair Steve Crosby. “This is that channel for us. We’re fairly proud of this and it’s working well. This part has been focused on construction employment, but we’ll roll it on over to permanent employment when the time comes, especially where that is something that is under complete control of the licensee.”
Peterson noted that for the first time during construction, workforce participation goals for minorities, women and veterans exceed their goals. The numbers are as follows:
- Minorities, 326, 25.3 percent of the workforce (15.3 percent goal).
- Women, 80, 6.9 percent of the workforce (6.9 percent goal).
- Veterans, 61, 6.2 percent of workforce (6.2 percent goal).
Wynn and Suffolk Construction also announced that they are staging a quarterly appreciation program for subcontractors who have gone above and beyond in helping to meet the diversity goals.
This quarter, Peterson said the winner was DiLorenzo Construction.
The reward includes a letter and citation from Wynn, a chance to win an annual drawing for a trip for two to the Wynn property in Las Vegas, $200 gift card for a dining experience in the area and a team lunch for the workers on the site.
“We wanted it be something for everyone,” she said. “We have something for the full workforce, something for a few key people on the ground, something for the leadership to decide what to do with in the Las Vegas trip and a recognition for everyone.”
Added Shelly Webster of Suffolk Construction, “This is something we’re really excited about and we plan to make it one of our best practices going forward.”
Peterson announced that they are also doing well in their contracts awarded to women, minority and veteran-owned businesses.
As of March 31, minority owned companies have had 35 contracts worth $46.5 million; women-owned companies have had 72 contracts worth $58.5 million; and veteran-owned companies have had 27 contracts worth $41.5 million.
That also exceeds all goals set for diversity in contractors, with the overall goal of 11.4 percent and the company hitting 12.1 percent.
Peterson said they expect the women-owned contracts to go up, as they have begun to use Saam Architecture as a subcontractor for their main architect, Jacobs.
Also, Webster added that they have found – via the bi-weekly e-mail blasts that are sent out to prospective contractors – a female-owned construction trailer business that they are promoting to all the subcontractors on the site.
“Now that we know she exists, we are putting her in all our pre-construction meetings with our subs to encourage them to use this woman-owned business for their trailers on the site,” said Webster.