John Stearns
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 10, 2005 12:00 AM

A Sedona hotel and restaurant operator is doing its part to create happy employees in a national hospitality industry seemingly rife with dissatisfied workers.

The result: Employees are responding and managers say service and revenues are improving.

"Happier employees mean happier customers," said Dina Spector Gomez, chief operating officer for Sedona Center, which includes Amara Creekside Resort, two shopping plazas and three restaurants in the bustling tourist strip of uptown Sedona.

That's not a major revelation, but too few companies are paying the right kind of attention to employees, according to industry observers.

Sedona Center officials believe they are and say the results are clear. Turnover last year among the nearly 200 employees in the hotels and restrauants ran about 13 to 18 percent. Those numbers are virtually unheard of in an industry where average turnover is estimated at 50 percent and is sometimes significantly higher. Business is improving at one restaurant, and there has been dramatic improvement in hotel guest comments, Spector Gomez said.

The company's incentives include higher-than-average pay, scheduling flexibility for family matters, full health benefits at 25 working hours per week, free wiring of paychecks overseas for employees supporting non-U.S. family and expense-paid vacations for top employees.

Workers have noticed.

Terri Camaioni, manager of the company's Vista Cantina restaurant, has spent 13 years in Sedona in a variety of hospitality jobs and never had insurance for her son or a paid vacation before joining the company about two years ago.

"I was in shock" by the pay offer, she said. "I was like 'me'? " Since then, Camaioni, in her late 40s, has received two raises and says the benefits, focus on family and other incentives make it the best job she has ever had. "I wouldn't give it up for anything."

The company places profitability sixth on its list of six values, knowing that profits will rise if it adheres to higher-ranked values such as a work environment where teamwork is expected and rewarded (No. 1) and encourages employees to seek a work-home balance (No. 2).

At Amara in Sedona, bellman Matthew Scoll feels fairly compensated and likes the feeling of equality among the staff. "No one feels they're low man on the totem pole," he said.

The assistant manager of housekeeping, Maricela Campos, said Amara's focus on putting family first is big.

"It's very important," said Campos, a wife and mother of two. "I feel very good working here."

Amara employee happiness starts with hiring, General Manager Kevin Johnson said.

He interviews each new hire, looking for the right attitude. In turn, management is willing to listen to employees, he said. It started a jazz-and-martinis night on Mondays in response to a bartender's suggestion.

Spector Gomez and other employees said word is getting out about working there.

"I'll tell you one thing, our openings don't last," she said.