Rhino Sports & Entertainment Services is an event management company that provides game-day customer service to a variety of intercollegiate athletics programs. Their clients include athletics programs at Clemson University, Duke University, Liberty University, North Carolina A&T, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest University. Established in 2012, the company is based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and was formed as an outgrowth of the Winston-Salem Dash Minor League Baseball Team. The company prides itself on providing superior customer service, and its employees seek to create a positive experience both for fans and for customers at each of these venues.
While it is not a large company, Rhino prides itself on recruiting high-quality people who are dedicated to enhancing the brand of the clients they represent, and focuses on training them to be even better. The companys training incorporates team-building activities that not only helps their leadership team but also helps to develop staff relationships so they will inform each other about their strengths, weaknesses, personalities, and unique skills. Rhino also believes in setting aside time for employees to be engaged in staff picnics and other informal staff gatherings that helps to create a more unified organization.
At the Virginia Tech property in Blacksburg, Virginia, Rhino employs approximately 300 part-time and five full-time employees. Rhino is responsible for all event staffing on the Virginia Tech campus, which includes everything from athletic to concert events, parking for events, and even security for a psychology exam on campus. The full time-staff at Rhino hire primarily two types of part-time employees: (1) security licensed personnel and (2) customer service personnel who are not licensed in security. Employees may be employed as ushers, security personnel, ticket scanners, bag checkers, field security (protecting players), or access control.
Licensed security personnel work in various locations around the sport facility on game days, and work front- and back-of-stage during security for concerts. Security personnel are responsible for checking bags, and generally speaking, for keeping all customers safe while they are in the venue. Virginia Tech has a clear-bag policy by which only items in a clear bag are allowed through the gate. All security personnel at Virginia Tech must adhere to a hands-off policy; they may not make any physical contact with customers. In the event of a serious security threat, these personnel are trained to contact the appropriate police jurisdiction.
The second type of part-time employee is not licensed in security, but must have excellent customer service skills. These employees work in various capacities around campus. Some of them are employed as house management personnel, required at any event with over 1,000 attendees on the Virginia Tech campus where there may be a need for attendees to evacuate. This requires an employee who can clearly communicate appropriate evacuation procedures and who possesses excellent customer service skills. Parking areas are another point of contact for these employees. There are 20 permit lots, public paid parking, and RV parking lots on campus. Training for parking personnel includes customer service and parking training. These people are trained as to know what types of tags to look for in various parking areas on campus, including recognizing hanging tags, year number, and game number. It is very important for these people to be detailed oriented to ensure that customers are displaying the appropriate tags. Their knowledge of campus has to be very good. Finally, some of these employees are positioned in premium areas such as the stadium suites, where they work as greeters or elevator attendants. Employees who are positioned in the suites must confirm that customers on their floor hold the appropriate credentials, only allowing those with appropriate credentials to access certain parts of the facility.
A good employee at Rhino is normally someone who is outgoing, smiles, and is approachable by attendees. This is emphasized during the two-and-a-half-hour customer service training that takes place on campus. During this time, Rhino staff learn the Rhino mission statement: Unsurpassed customer service to every customer every time. Part of this training focuses on proper interactions with people, forming relationships with customers, building bonds, and taking care of customer needs while they are in the facility. Another aspect is positional training, which is unique based on where an employee works on campus (e.g., basketball arena, football stadium, parking area). During this time, employees learn more about the facility, where to park when arriving to work, checking in, and getting their uniform, and overall job expectations.
Respond to the following questions/statements:
- List three or four of the primary reasons why you think Virginia Tech would outsource and not run their athletic events in-house.
- The case describes two types of part-time employees (licensed security personnel, and those who are not licensed in security) who work for Rhino at Virginia Tech. This chapter discusses a number of theories concerning motivation of employees. Using these theories, compare and contrast how a full-time Rhino employee might motivate these two types of employees.
- The chapter suggests that volunteer training is critical to the success of an event. Based on what you have read in the case study, what areas of training does Rhino do best? Are there areas of training where Rhino could improve? Write a two-paragraph essay describing their areas of strength and weaknesses.
- The case describes some team-building activities employed at Rhino. Outline two or three other strategies that Rhino might employ in an effort to build a stronger team of employees at Virginia Tech