2019 Sapphire Gala Voting

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* 1. Please pick your choice for Best New Talent of the Year:

This award recognizes an emerging star employee that has been employed at least 6 months with Gateway but less than 1 year.

Nominees should demonstrate the following:

Consistent performance

Quick learner

Shows initiative

Willingness to learn and take on new responsibilities

High probability to be nominated for EOM

Strong commitment to Gateway’s core values

X has only been employed a few months but has been nominated multiple times by their colleagues and managers. X also won an employee of the month award because their customer service skills are always on point and customers are returning just to see them. To achieve this recognition from peers in such a short time speaks volumes to their work ethic, personality and lasting impression on people.

X is a jack of all trades and came onboard as one role and quickly transitioned to new roles due their talent of handling high volume & fast paced situations with ease and confidence. X took extra shifts without hesitation to ensure the business ran smoothly. X strives for excellence, takes charge and ensures that issues are addressed and rectified immediately.

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* 2. Please pick your choice for Humanitarian of the Year:

This award recognizes the work of an employee in their community who volunteers outside of work hours consistently and/or regularly and actively participates in Gateway volunteer activities. This employee is devoted to the welfare of humanity.

Nominees should display a strong commitment to Gateway’s core values and demonstrate community work through the following ways:

Promoting human and/or animal welfare

Aiding those less fortunate through consistent selfless acts

Eliminating the suffering and pain of others

X volunteers from numerous causes such as Santa’s Anonymous (10+ yrs) and the Mustard Seed (3 yrs). They are compassionate, kind and always willing to help out.

X works in a number of roles and keeps the site apprised of many of the Gateway Gives events and initiatives. X is actively involved in the Drive Thru Breakfast campaign and present every Friday morning for an hour or two to help with the Starfish Backpack program regardless of how late they’ve worked the night before.

X offered to help a fellow employee with a self-started initiative to give back to those less fortunate in their community. X was able to gain traction of the event with additional employees donating their goods and also raised over $500 in cash. On the day of the event it rained, yet 20 coworkers came to volunteer and hand out the donations. The event would not have been successful without the help of X.

X volunteers for many local organizations and charities including Brown baker Society, Lumby Hockey association, Maitee Society, and the Western Hockey association. Every summer X goes and picks fruit from the local orchards and distributes them to various organizations around town and to fellow staff. During the holiday season X collects donations from family & friends and goes out into the community to provide care packages to the homeless in the local area.

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* 3. Please pick your choice for Good Samaritan of the Year:

This award recognizes an employee who saved a life or conducted a selfless act of kindness or a single good deed that benefited one or many people, while on shift or on Gateway property. This employee demonstrates a strong commitment to Gateway’s core values and is a valued team member within their department.

Whilst on break outside the casinos, X helped assist an individual experiencing an overdose until Security was able to arrive. X helped to prevent the individual from hitting their head on the pavement and hurting themselves. The individual refused intervention from Security but allowed X to continue to help. X kept them calm and safe until paramedics arrived at which time they returned to work.

A male patron had passed out in the woman’s washroom which required a female employee to locate the individual. X volunteered and located the patron and informed Security, to which Security was then able to take over. X is always willing to jump in and help where needed.

This employee received 2 separate nominations for the same situation: X had to break into washroom stall to administer help on an unresponsive patron with no pulse. X administered CPR for over 10 mins until paramedics arrived and took over. Due to these efforts and actions, the patron left the casino alive. In addition to these two nominations, X has been nominated for EOM twice, and won once.

A customer submitted a review raving about outstanding customer service and employee’s above and beyond measures to assist their elderly mother with dementia who had won a casino draw. During the draw process the patron experienced confusion and panic. X removed the patron from the excitement and took the time to calm down the patron, treated her with compassion and took the time to explain the process and walk her through the steps.

An elderly lady was becoming distressed as she had left her purse in a taxi and wasn’t able to contact the company. X assisted the elderly lady with tracking down the taxi company and making calls and successfully helped to locate the missing purse.

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* 4. Please pick your choice for Leader of the Year:

This award recognizes an employee who inspires others, contributes to building an outstanding workplace, and leads their team in setting the standard for best practices.

Nominees should demonstrate the following:

A strong commitment to Gateway’s mission, vision and values

Participates in employee events and training and development activities

Takes initiative outside of regular job duties

Anticipates obstacles and exhibits good decision-making

Utilizes good communication skills and is encouraging, and supportive of team members

Consistent high performance

High performing department or team

High probability of promotion to senior roles

Controls high stress situations tactfully and calmly

Willingness to learn and take on new responsibilities

Ability to train others and gladly willing to do so

Voluntarily assists co-workers in order to complete important projects

Professional demeanor & integrity

Conscientious, honest, hard-working

X quickly advanced in their role and has held many different titles and been promoted several times. X consistently volunteers in support of Gateway Gives, took initiative to manage the uniform program for all departments and learns every department’s duties and responsibilities to be more knowledgeable and effective in their role. X’s positivity and calm demeanor raises everyone’s performance and spirits.

X a point of contact and provides leadership for many Departments on site and is often seen wearing different hats to support daily operations. X often sets the tone for a shift through fun posts on pre-shifts to playing upbeat music in the hall. X has co-chaired the creation and implementation of the two site initiatives that focus on employee engagement, teamwork and a fun positive work environment. X likes to create teamwork situations that have a fun focus and encourage employees to have goals.

X can often be seen engaging patrons in conversation about their experience at the site and resolving customer concerns. X is knowledgeable about Marketing promotions and keeps up to date in an effort to be able to assist patrons more effectively even though it’s outside of their department. X has provided training to the department not only to their site, but a neighboring site also. X always takes on new challenges and volunteered to take the lead on a project by drafting up several ‘How-To” guides that proved to be beneficial to additional properties that underwent the same project and system upgrade. During this system upgrade there was a site issue and X immediately came in on their day off to assist and made themselves available to additional sites during their upgrade. X was one of the first in the province to completed GROW 101 and 102 and always looking to learn and provide insightful feedback during departmental calls.

X takes on a leadership role in everything they do and wants to ensure they work they are doing is for the good of the team and works for everyone involved. Their work ethic is commendable and they are an employee many others look to, to ask questions about the schedule or anything they have concern about. They work tirelessly on the schedule and will even come into the office to check on everyone if on site for dinner with their family.

X is always looking for ways to make improvements, whether it is focused on reducing expenses or increasing revenues. X is eager to expand their knowledge in all areas, listens to others, takes feedback well and works to better themselves and their team at every turn.

X was instrumental in the organization of the new slot machines throughout the renovations and came in on their day off to label and number all new slot machine in the room to ensure they are done properly and consistent. X is a good leader with good time management and amazing people skills and always looking to take care of their team.

X was promoted and transferred between sites and has exceled in all aspects. In addition to creating new programs and tracking sheets to help the department run smoothly, Xl not only writes the weekly schedules, but has also found ways of improving customer service while trimming the department labor budget at the same time. X also takes time to connect with employees on a personal level and help with any issues and serve as a positive role model. X has many tricks of the trade that they keep close to them, including the recipe for their much loved potato salad, loved by coworkers.

X was an amazing help during the carpet refresh project by coming in on days off to lead the time and ensuring everyone was prepared and knew what to do without any delays. They are the backbone to the department and the go-to person when it comes to projects.

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* 5. Please pick your choice for Employee of the Year:

This award recognizes an employee for achieving excellence in their department, and being the best worker across the site.

Nominees should exceed expectations of their usual job description and demonstrate the following:

A strong commitment to Gateway’s mission, vision and values

Participates in employee events and training and development activities

Takes initiative outside of regular job duties

Anticipates obstacles and exhibits good decision-making

Utilizes good communication skills and is encouraging, and supportive of team members

Goes above and beyond the requirements of the job

Exceptional customer service skills and goes the extra mile

Serves as a role model to others

Displays a helpful, cooperative and positive attitude

Achieves positive outcomes through the use of clear communication, encouraging and supporting team

Strong commitment to Gateway’s core values

X takes a vested interest in those they train and provides in depth, personalized training plans. X championed the rollout of several department initiatives and provided valuable feedback to the management team regarding the effectiveness of the changes. X regularly receives praise from coworkers, management and guests and X’s typical response is to recognize their peers and their collaborative efforts.

X has a friendly demeanor and “can-do” attitude. There have been numerous emails and customer service reviews raving about X’s service and going the extra mile to make patron visits more enjoyable. X is the first to sign up for any and all community events and is a contributing member to the site’s success. X has recently been promoted where the team is confident they will succeed.

X’s positive demeanor, genuine smile, words of encouragement and "ready to help" attitude emanates throughout the site. Colleagues have stated that they have come to work with troubles bringing down their spirits, but just a short conversation with X restores their smile and joy. X is able to adapt to any situation and has drafted operationally sound solutions to current practices. X invested the time to improve the department including an action plan to implement those changes. X is constantly looking for ways to be more efficient, help save costs and ensure patrons customer service is second to none. X has also become a member of the departmental training team, contributes to One on One session with constructive ideas, volunteers for special projects and finds interesting ways to engage the staff.

X always comes in early and stays until everything is cleaned and set up for the next day. They take pride in their work and are an example of the RITE values. They are fair and understanding when training new staff and working and support the team in everything they do.

X is dependable and generally the first contact when a shift needs to be filled. X takes initiative and has a keen interest in their job and the industry and asks a LOT of questions. X takes training sessions very seriously. As a more senior employee, X happily assists newcomers. X can be relied on to conduct business according to our internal policies and is trustworthy and dependable to take a leadership role when a Supervisor or Manager is not present.

X always presents themselves in a professional and respectful manner and exercises good judgement on a daily basis. X greets patrons with a smile and offers a pleasant opening and closing remark. X is a helpful, team player who never hesitates to help.

X applies their GREAT training at all times and knows almost all their patrons by name, addressing their needs with a positive attitude. A VIP player from out of town also took the time to ensure that a Supervisor was informed that X needed to be recognized for their customer service of always making people feel welcome and for treating everyone with the same level of respect.

X always takes initiative in helping train all new team members to ensure they all learn the proper procedures. X volunteers for various tasks and also adjusts their shift to help the Shipping & Receiving team to ensure outlets receive their orders. X is often nominated by their coworkers and managers.

X sets and stocks the line so when busy, there is no need to worry about running out of anything. X fills in the gaps when the team is down a person and ensures the team is always prepared and ready to go.

X is a huge factor in the success of our draws and slot tournaments by encouraging the team to actively promote and engage the patrons. X is also an active member of the recreation committee that is dedicated to improving the team’s morale by organizing multiple staff events throughout the year. X brings a positive attitude every day and overcomes any challenge or obstacle with a smile on their face.

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* 6. Please provide your name:

Name