Disney Parks laying off 28,000 cast members

[rteetz]

What exactly is the Imagineering thats being let go in large numbers? For parks? Animation? All of it?

Im not sure what it entails

Imagineering is parks and resorts. They aren’t involved in studios unless brought on for something very specific.

 

[Farro]

Imagineering is parks and resorts. They aren’t involved in studios unless brought on for something very specific.

I thought so but I wanted to make sure. Thanks!

 

[Brianstl]

Pretty sure I read that 2/3rds of the laid off were part time. And thanks for the correction on the salaries. Still a long way off from $60k a year.

Two thirds of the 28,000 laid off were part time. The article in question was referring to the money Disney saved when they stopped paying 100,000 workers they forloughed. 2/3rds of those workers were not part-time.

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1311757419903684610

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1311771269982027776

 

[RivShore]

Pretty sure I read that 2/3rds of the laid off were part time. And thanks for the correction on the salaries. Still a long way off from $60k a year.

A few things - I was just trying to show how big the overall numbers were. If that $500M per month was for half the workforce, that means it's a billion per month in full company payroll alone. They most definitely do not have the cash to last very long when that's just a part of thier overall monthly expenses.

That $60k/year probably includes benefits and burden so it's more like $43k in actual salary.

That is what I have seen - 2/3rds are part timers, which on the plus side for them, means that this hopefully wasn't their sole source of income but, on the downside for them and us, they probably worked there because they loved the job and Disney.

It's all just damn sad...

 

[Disney Bobby]

Two thirds of the 28,000 laid off were part time. The article in question was referring to the money Disney saved when they stopped paying 100,000 workers they forloughed. 2/3rds of those workers were not part-time.

Gotcha. But doesn't that make the $500 million a month even more unbelievable. If they were all full time, that would be an unbelievable $60k a year. With Disney's workforce being about 30% now, I dont see how they get to $500 million for 100k employees. Which is probably why "up to" was used.

And I agree. Really upsetting.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

Sad. Very sad.

 

[lelew]

I have been following along and just cant make sense of why Disney opened in the first place just to do massive layoffs. I have no idea how the business side of things work, I am just person who loves everything Disney and visit often. My question is does this have anything to do with the Florida going to phase 3? Do you think Disney feel like people would cancel trips due to the uncertainty of Florida decision to open everything up coupled with Disneyland not opening. I just don't understand why Disney did everything right to open up and now this. I was there for two weeks end of August and thought Disney was moving in the right direction. I was so impressed with the way they were handling things and was looking forward to come back in December. But with news of layoffs and Florida going into phase 3 I have decided to put things off. I pray that these layoffs are temporarily and cast members will get their roles back when things start getting back to normal

 

[imjustafatkid]

I have been following along and just cant make sense of why Disney opened in the first place just to do massive layoffs. I have no idea how the business side of things work, I am just person who loves everything Disney and visit often. My question is does this have anything to do with the Florida going to phase 3? Do you think Disney feel like people would cancel trips due to the uncertainty of Florida decision to open everything up coupled with Disneyland not opening. I just don't understand why Disney did everything right to open up and now this. I was there for two weeks end of August and thought Disney was moving in the right direction. I was so impressed with the way they were handling things and was looking forward to come back in December. But with news of layoffs and Florida going into phase 3 I have decided to put things off. I pray that these layoffs are temporarily and cast members will get their roles back when things start getting back to normal

If they hadn't opened, the layoffs would have been worse.

 

[Brianstl]

Gotcha. But doesn't that make the $500 million a month even more unbelievable. If they were all full time, that would be an unbelievable $60k a year. With Disney's workforce being about 30% now, I dont see how they get to $500 million for 100k employees. Which is probably why "up to" was used.

Considering that $500 million was spread to some extent across all of Disney divisions and includes cost to Disney in addition to salary (like payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, 401k matches, etc), I am actually surprised the dollar amount wasn't higher.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

I have been following along and just cant make sense of why Disney opened in the first place just to do massive layoffs. I have no idea how the business side of things work, I am just person who loves everything Disney and visit often. My question is does this have anything to do with the Florida going to phase 3? Do you think Disney feel like people would cancel trips due to the uncertainty of Florida decision to open everything up coupled with Disneyland not opening. I just don't understand why Disney did everything right to open up and now this. I was there for two weeks end of August and thought Disney was moving in the right direction. I was so impressed with the way they were handling things and was looking forward to come back in December. But with news of layoffs and Florida going into phase 3 I have decided to put things off. I pray that these layoffs are temporarily and cast members will get their roles back when things start getting back to normal

Many were still furloughed despite reopening. Go look at the list of still closed resorts and it’ll sink in a bit regarding how Disney can get by with so many less employees.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I have been following along and just cant make sense of why Disney opened in the first place just to do massive layoffs. I have no idea how the business side of things work, I am just person who loves everything Disney and visit often. My question is does this have anything to do with the Florida going to phase 3? Do you think Disney feel like people would cancel trips due to the uncertainty of Florida decision to open everything up coupled with Disneyland not opening. I just don't understand why Disney did everything right to open up and now this. I was there for two weeks end of August and thought Disney was moving in the right direction. I was so impressed with the way they were handling things and was looking forward to come back in December. But with news of layoffs and Florida going into phase 3 I have decided to put things off. I pray that these layoffs are temporarily and cast members will get their roles back when things start getting back to normal

Echoing the PP - Disney laid as few people off as they did b/c they opened.

Their business model cannot survive a longterm shutdown...getting some things opened started some revenue inflow and allowed for some CM re-employment (and maybe it could be more, but Disney has chosen to run lean) - without the opening, it would have been a catastrophic cut, vs just the horrible one it is...

This is a lesson I think people are missing with Covid shutdowns...businesses could shut down for 6 months b/c the previous Covid federal bills paid businesses to keep employees on payroll for up to 6 months (or to let those employees get temporarily furloughed and unemployment/extra Covid funds)...all those bills have pretty much expired, so businesses need to be fully open and operating, or they need to be cutting and operating leanly, or they will be staying closed and shutting down as a going concern...

The whole "it's Covid, we can't open" isn't affordable at this point for any industry anywhere...not with the current circumstances...

 

[imjustafatkid]

Considering that $500 million was spread to some extent across all of Disney divisions and includes cost to Disney in addition to salary (like payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, 401k matches, etc), I am actually surprised the dollar amount wasn't higher.

People always forget these things when discussing costs. After base salary, employers have to pay 6.2% to Social Security, 1.45% for Medicare, and .6% for FUTA. That doesn't even take into account any state employment taxes (3.5% in California, 2.7% in Florida). That's over 10% in both states! You can easily see how quickly that can add up.

 

[andyman8]

This is a lesson I think people are missing with Covid shutdowns...

Can we please not do this? There's a lot of anguish going on right now in certain circles, and this conversation doesn't help alleviate that in any way. In fact, I'd argue it only makes it worse. It just becomes a game of "I told you so" and politics. Right now, I hope people focus on finding ways they can help.

 

[RamblingMad]

People always forget these things when discussing costs. After base salary, employers have to pay 6.2% to Social Security, 1.45% for Medicare, and .6% for FUTA. That doesn't even take into account any state employment taxes (3.5% in California, 2.7% in Florida). That's over 10% in both states! You can easily see how quickly that can add up.

Social security and medicare are definitely expensive to fund. But, I think, the world is better place with both of these programs.

This was why the payroll protection loans were provided, so that businesses can continue to pay their people through this crisis. We're at least another year away from this being behind us. It's sad that CA couldn't find someway to allow DL/DCA to open to reduced crowds like FL did for WDW. This crisis isn't ending soon, so we need to find ways to live through it as best we can.

The big crisis now is how are these folks going to pay for medical expenses should they catch COVID-19.

 

[lelew]

There is no argument I'm just

Can we please not do this? There's a lot of anguish going on right now in certain circles, and this conversation doesn't help alleviate that in any way. In fact, I'd argue it only makes it worse. It just becomes a game of "I told you so" and politics. Right now, I hope people focus on finding ways they can help.

asking a question to get a better understanding of the whole situation. I would never learn if I don't ask questions

 

[Disney Bobby]

Considering that $500 million was spread to some extent across all of Disney divisions and includes cost to Disney in addition to salary (like payroll taxes, unemployment insurance, 401k matches, etc), I am actually surprised the dollar amount wasn't higher.

Around 19,000 of these 28,000 were part time. My point is that these layoffs are only a tiny fraction of the savings listed in your article.

 

[yulilin3]

Another friend, 11 years with the company, started as a CP and worked in many areas, most recently special events and festivals.

 

[RamblingMad]

Another friend, 11 years with the company, started as a CP and worked in many areas, most recently special events and festivals.

So sad. Sorry.