Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ:CZR), the world's most diversified gaming and entertainment company, today announced domestic partner benefits for its team members, beginning in 2019. The company also released its ninth annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) report, PEOPLE PLANET PLAY, highlighting sustained progress against the company's CSR goals in 2017 and the early half of 2018, and its continued commitment to its employees, suppliers and communities.
"The ninth annual report highlights Caesars Entertainment's leadership in areas important to our company and society," said Mark Frissora, President and CEO of Caesars Entertainment. "As we expand our presence internationally, we are finding that PEOPLE PLANET PLAY is a core driver of value and a differentiator in new markets. It demonstrates that we continue to make new and exciting commitments to further enhance the value we bring to our guests, team members and communities."
PEOPLE PLANET PLAY
PEOPLE PLANET PLAY is the company's guiding CSR framework, encompassing plans, initiatives and programs to advance the way Caesars Entertainment and its affiliates ("Caesars") make an increasingly positive impact in society.
PEOPLE: SUPPORTING THE WELL-BEING OF OUR TEAM MEMBERS, GUESTS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES
In alignment with its mission to create an inclusive culture, Caesars is introducing new domestic partner benefits to team members beginning in 2019. The updated benefits widen Caesars' offering to new and current employees by enhancing the opportunities for same sex as well as opposite sex domestic partners. Benefits include medical, dental and vision plan options, short and long-term disability, life insurance and a selection of other voluntary benefits.
"Caesars Entertainment is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and strives to treat our employees equally," said Jan Jones Blackhurst, Executive Vice President of Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility for Caesars Entertainment. "We know our team members perform best when they can feel confident and know that their loved ones are well-cared for. This new offering is a reflection of the tremendous diversity found in our 65,000 team members worldwide."
Caesars' commitment to long-lasting, positive societal impact on the communities in which it serves was recently recognized by Civic 50, a Points of Light initiative. This is Caesars' fourth year on the list and its third time as the leader of the consumer discretionary industry.
Delivering Value
In the past five years, Caesars has generated $48 billion in economic value benefiting employees (wages and benefits), suppliers (payment for goods and services), government bodies (taxes and licenses) and communities (giving and volunteering), including $7.6 billion in 2017. Caesars contributed three times more to its communities per dollar of revenue earned in 2017 than the average U.S. corporation.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)
Caesars continues to advance equity across all divisions of the enterprise:
- In 2017, Caesars announced a goal to achieve gender equity in leadership roles by 2025.
- In 2017, 32 percent of managers were people of color, 4 percentage points higher than the national average of 28 percent.
- Caesars recognizes the benefits that diverse suppliers bring to our business and increases our procurement spend each year with minority and women-owned or disadvantaged business enterprises. Since 2011, our spend with third party certified diverse suppliers has grown from 5.8 percent of addressable spend to 16.7 percent last year, much higher (39 percent) than other participants in the Diversity Best Practices Inclusion Index.
Employee Wellbeing
Caesars continued to invest in employee engagement, development and wellbeing in 2017:
- Caesars' award-winning Wellness Rewards program saved employees a total of more than $30 million in 2017.
- Caesars Entertainment was ranked as the #1 gaming company on Glassdoor as of the end of 2017. Seventy percent of team members posting on Glassdoor would recommend the company to a friend (November 2017).
- Eighty-two percent of team members agree with the following statement: "I like when my company takes a public stand supporting the natural environment, equality of all people or other societal issue."
PLANET: TAKING CARE OF THE WORLD WE ALL CALL HOME
In 2018, Caesars advanced its commitment to environmental stewardship by achieving approval from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for targets that are aligned with the level of decarbonization required to keep global temperature increase below 2 degrees Celsius.
Caesars committed to reducing absolute Scope 1 and 2 emissions 30% by 2025 and 95% by 2050 from a 2011 baseline. Caesars also set a Scope 3 target to have 60% of suppliers commit to their own science-based targets by 2023. With these goals, Caesars leads the gaming-entertainment industry and aligns with the small number of corporations around the world that have publicly committed to science-based targets.
Leadership Performance in Water, Climate Change and Supplier Engagement
Caesars' company-wide environmental strategy, CodeGreen, continues to lead the industry and the corporate sector in general. Caesars is one of only 55 companies worldwide to achieve an A or A- score in three CDP rankings; the company was included in the Water A List and ranked A- for climate change disclosure and A- for supplier engagement.
PLAY: LEADING RESPONSIBLE GAMING PRACTICES IN THE INDUSTRY & CREATING MEMORABLE GUEST EXPERIENCES
Responsible Gaming
Caesars established the gaming industry's first responsible gaming efforts almost 30 years ago. For 15 years, the Company has deployed Responsible Gaming Ambassadors at each property; there are currently 880 Responsible Gaming Ambassadors across North American casinos.
- In 2017, more than 52,500 employees took part in more than 71,000 hours of Responsible Gaming training.
- Caesars has set a target for 100 percent of employees who receive Responsible Gaming training to say they feel empowered to proactively report Responsible Gaming concerns at Caesars by 2020.
Creating Memorable Guest Experiences
With a mission of inspiring grown-ups to play, Caesars creates memorable guest experiences, from live entertainment and fine dining to exciting new gaming technologies.
- Caesars continues to expand its global reach by bringing renowned hospitality, dining and entertainment experiences to Meraas' Bluewaters Island Development with the first two non-gaming Caesars resorts expected to open later this year. Additionally, the Company plans to open a non-gaming Caesars Palace luxury resort along the coast of Puerto Los Cabos, Baja, Mexico.
- Gwen Stefani's new Las Vegas Residency, "Gwen Stefani – Just a Girl" at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino adds to Caesars' more than 10,000 live entertainment shows annually.
For more information on Caesars' Corporate Citizenship, please follow @CitizenCaesars on Twitter or Facebook and visit the Corporate Citizenship blog at www.caesarscitizenship.caesarsblogs.com.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Aug 9, 2018 3am EDT / 12am PDT / 8am BST / 9am CEST