Economy hits Disney hard.

[ashliejere]

I just heard that Disney is firing 450 employees. Not to sound insensitive to those workers...but how is that effecting the CP? At all?

 

[msminnie2010]

I dont know if this will sound insensitive (being fired sucks for everyone) I will get worried about the Dis CP once they say 4,500 employees will be fired...

 

[Enchanted3]

Hopefully it won't affect the CP. I think its mostly management.

 

[Berlioz70]

It is only affecting salary and manager CMs - nothing front line - at this point. And do keep in perspective... 450 people out of more than 60,000 is less than 1%. It's hard to hear (especially when it's people you know) but Disney is really keeping more people employed than what they are laying off! Unfortunately, those numbers aren't what make the news.

 

[chevyrules05]

It is only affecting salary and manager CMs - nothing front line - at this point. And do keep in perspective... 450 people out of more than 60,000 is less than 1%. It's hard to hear (especially when it's people you know) but Disney is really keeping more people employed than what they are laying off! Unfortunately, those numbers aren't what make the news.

x2
I am at disney almost everyday and it is ALWAYS packed, the "economy" isn't hurting them bad

 

[glendalais]

According to what we're being told out here, WDW is being affected by the economy, but has been so far been able to weather it thanks in part to the massive discounting that's been going on (Buy 4, Get 3; Free Dining; Armed Forces Salute; Free on Your Birthday; etc.). Even then, people aren't spending as much on things like Food & Merchandise.

Generally, WDW will pare to the bone it's Salaried and O&T Cast before they even begin they even begin to think about touching Hourly Frontline Roles.

A large percentage of the Central Floridian population is employed by Disney in such capacities, and it would be a public relations disaster if they were to start laying frontline CMs off needlessly. In addition, for the Unionised roles, there are rules of Seniority that have to be observed if the company decides to lay people off.

That being said, don't completely discount the possibilty of Frontline layoffs. Just today at the DLR, we closed one of our resort restaurants, as much as we can, high-seniority hourly Cast Members from that restaurant will be transitioned into other roles within the Hotels of the Disneyland Resort; however, a great number of them will also be laid off

Orange County Register: 39 Disney employees told restaurant will close

In the off chance that WDW does need to start laying off hourlies, CPers would likely be the first to go, since they're not covered under the contract, and are generally not seen as being there for the long term anyway.

It would likely take the form of an announcement that economic situations have required the emergency cancellation of the College Program, and the eviction from housing/release from employment of all Participants, with or without notice so everyone can arrange for emergency transportation back to their home states.

Professional Internships, on the other hand, are all officially Hourly Office & Technical/Salaried positions, I believe. They can be cut in dire economic times without that much hassle. Indeed, I'm quite surprised that such a fate hasn't befallen the current batch this semester.

 

[Rufio]

in the midst of all the doom and gloom...current rate is at 8.1% for Feb...
in a lighter not 1983's rate was 10.8.

when the mouse finally begins to crack...then no one is fully magical safe.

Mickey really seems to be a great economic factor in interpreting the current status of success or failure nation wide.

 

[chevyrules05]

According to what we're being told out here, WDW is being affected by the economy, but has been so far been able to weather it thanks in part to the massive discounting that's been going on (Buy 4, Get 3; Free Dining; Armed Forces Salute; Free on Your Birthday; etc.). Even then, people aren't spending as much on things like Food & Merchandise.

Generally, WDW will pare to the bone it's Salaried and O&T Cast before they even begin they even begin to think about touching Hourly Frontline Roles.

A large percentage of the Central Floridian population is employed by Disney in such capacities, and it would be a public relations disaster if they were to start laying frontline CMs off needlessly. In addition, for the Unionised roles, there are rules of Seniority that have to be observed if the company decides to lay people off.

That being said, don't completely discount the possibilty of Frontline layoffs. Just today at the DLR, we closed one of our resort restaurants, as much as we can, high-seniority hourly Cast Members from that restaurant will be transitioned into other roles within the Hotels of the Disneyland Resort; however, a great number of them will also be laid off

Orange County Register: 39 Disney employees told restaurant will close

In the off chance that WDW does need to start laying off hourlies, CPers would likely be the first to go, since they're not covered under the contract, and are generally not seen as being there for the long term anyway.

It would likely take the form of an announcement that economic situations have required the emergency cancellation of the College Program, and the eviction from housing/release from employment of all Participants, with or without notice so everyone can arrange for emergency transportation back to their home states.

Professional Internships, on the other hand, are all officially Hourly Office & Technical/Salaried positions, I believe. They can be cut in dire economic times without that much hassle. Indeed, I'm quite surprised that such a fate hasn't befallen the current batch this semester.

EVERY year disney has done some sort of give away or somehting to get people here on year they even gave a car away every day.

your in cali you just don't know how busy it is here EVERY day

Disney could not function without CP an CS

 

[Praise2Him]

Disney could not function without CP an CS

If by CS you mean CareerStart (and I hope you do), then I so hope you are right!

DD and I are checking the website every day and they are still not recruiting for CS

We heard that IF they did have the CS program this fall they would start recruiting the end of March and it's already the 27th, so we're starting to lose hope.

 

[graygables]

It is only affecting salary and manager CMs - nothing front line - at this point. And do keep in perspective... 450 people out of more than 60,000 is less than 1%. It's hard to hear (especially when it's people you know) but Disney is really keeping more people employed than what they are laying off! Unfortunately, those numbers aren't what make the news.

Agreed. My idiot BIL was one who lost his job this week. Everyone needs to remember that when Eisner was in "office", he built the company like a mushroom. There was the stem, which is the front line that makes it work, then this huge cap of superfluous management. There was a good ol' boy network and friends creating roles for friends. The trimming of the "cap" has been in the works for YEARS, this is nothing new. It's only been sped up and making news b/c of the economy. From what I've seen, the company needed some trimming down. Department of Redundancy Department kind of thing. I strongly believe they are trying to find a balance and get back to basics and a lean organization with only the best of the best left standing.

The company is heavily invested in the College Program (and diversity, which the CP provides by default), I can't see it going anywhere anytime soon. As we saw last semester, many of the PIs were superfluous, nice, but not necessary and the same could be said for Career Start, but I think the CP is firmly entrenched and it would take something devastating to wipe it out.

 

[YesIStillLoveDisney]

I remember another post on here somewhere about how Disney had announced a while back that they were cutting down on management but that it had been in the works for some time and was just taking affect now. I wish I could find it since there were a lot of people on their pointing out that it just happened to fall at a bad time so people were falsely blaming it on the economy.

 

[chevyrules05]

If by CS you mean CareerStart (and I hope you do), then I so hope you are right!

DD and I are checking the website every day and they are still not recruiting for CS

We heard that IF they did have the CS program this fall they would start recruiting the end of March and it's already the 27th, so we're starting to lose hope.

yes Careerstart they should start recruiting soon call disney a couple of times a week

 

[Praise2Him]

As we saw last semester, many of the PIs were superfluous, nice, but not necessary and the same could be said for Career Start

That's what I was afraid of!

yes Careerstart they should start recruiting soon call disney a couple of times a week

I really, really hope you're right! We'll definitely keep checking!

 

[Goofster18]

FORGET 450!!!!! I just heard from my FT friend in WDW in Florida that over 1000 people have been fired, and not just management, like legitimate FT and PT people, who had done the CP some years back then went FT and have even had some years under their belt. Whether or not this is just the downsizing, I personally feel that some part of this is definitely related to the economy. Say what you will, but Disney is not immune, and attendance is not what it used to be there before the downfall of the economy right now. Cross your fingers for those who have jobs can keep them and those that lost them, they can find another!!!! And lets just hope the CP and programs like that stay intact and that they don't get removed or downsized (not immediately, but if we keep spiraling down!!!) i don't mean to be a hater or such, this is killing me to write, but I wanted to let everyone know.
(Try to) Have a Magical Day!!!
Goofster18

 

[graygables]

FORGET 450!!!!! I just heard from my FT friend in WDW in Florida that over 1000 people have been fired, and not just management, like legitimate FT and PT people, who had done the CP some years back then went FT and have even had some years under their belt. Whether or not this is just the downsizing, I personally feel that some part of this is definitely related to the economy. Say what you will, but Disney is not immune, and attendance is not what it used to be there before the downfall of the economy right now. Cross your fingers for those who have jobs can keep them and those that lost them, they can find another!!!! And lets just hope the CP and programs like that stay intact and that they don't get removed or downsized (not immediately, but if we keep spiraling down!!!) i don't mean to be a hater or such, this is killing me to write, but I wanted to let everyone know.
(Try to) Have a Magical Day!!!
Goofster18

I'm here now and that is simply not what is going on at the moment. If it were, you can bet the media would be all over it like a duck on a Junebug. I'm not exactly sure what qualifies as a "legitimate FT and PT" person, but between my 2 DDs and myself, we're just not seeing that happen in our varied departments (merch, attractions, ops). I know there have been some purges recently of seasonal folks who never came back to do their time, but that's not unusual. The positions we're seeing drop are salaried and considered superfluous in the new structure that is being built, for instance, all of the Cast Services jobs were eliminated as well as some in food & bev (like my BIL).

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

I know of some hourly cast that lost their jobs, mostly in some of the Office & Technical roles, including Labor Ops, Operations Learning and Development, Special Events, and Cast Services.

I have not heard of anyone in a STCU (union) role (Attractions, Custodial, Housekeeping, Front Desk, Merchandise, Foods, Entertainment, Transportation, Techs, Maintenance) losing their job without cause. (If you have attendance issues, the normal point system still applies, and after a certain point, you're outta here; if you do something stupid like steal from the guests or from the company; if you consistently deliver exceptionally poor guest service; etc)

 

[wdwhereicome]

Yeah, cms were fired for cause...the cause...Disney is cutting what they feel are unnecessary roles. And yes, I know people in food and beverage and merchandising...managers, salaried and hourly...that were walked off property this week. Did they do anything wrong? Absolutely not! Cuts are cuts. This is a company-wide reconstruction. Period.

 

[SandrA9810]

SyracuseWolvrine is right. It's not going to affect the unionized positions. But if you're in any kind of O&T position, your job could be gone. CP's and seasonals don't fall under the union, so they can get cut as well. But since CP's are such cheap labor in comparison to full timers, they'd rather bring in more CP's to fill in the front lines.

But even if you are in a union, you should still watch your back. i'm sure there's still going to be people who are going to get canned for mild mis-behavior, or anything they can think of.

 

[SandrA9810]

I think it was more along the lines of 4500. Some one decided to knock off the last number. But 4 managers got cut in just frontierland. And if whole departments like cast services have been cut, you know darn well that was more than 450 people.

Think about it, 450 people, would be like one manager from each operations department... not 4 or 5 from each and whole departments.

 

[Berlioz70]

Someone please correct me - since I don't work in the park my informaiton could very well be wrong... but we were told that even though the cast services department was cut several of the people were "absorbed" back into their area. Meaning that they took a pay cut but still have a job.

I know in my department, several of the managers were given the option to be demoted or to leave, it was a mix on who did what. But of course, others were layed off without the option. My department was cut more than 50% (that's about 100 people), however, we're all classified as O&T so no front liners here.

I heard that the latest number was closing in on 1000 - which is still less than 2% of our work force here, so it's not as bad as people are making it seem.