Poor management and hiring at WDW?

[vbfamily]

I don't think we can say who is right or who is so very wrong here.

There are many people who would commit whole-heartedley to many of those food service and housekeeping jobs just to be bringing in a paycheck every week. Disney should know where to look for them.

This is just a topic and these are just our opinions. No one person is completely right or completely wrong.

I think there is good mixture of what most of the posters have mentioned. There are excellent CM's, there are bad ones, there are great guests, there are bad ones.

I re-read the original post and I'm starting to go off topic so, in conclusion, Disney should have filled the room (even with offering a discount they would have made money) and the CM should have been able to recommend a decent place to eat (it's her job).

Even if there aren't enough qualified workers as some people suggest, Disney usually was able to take the weakest of applicants and somehow put that "Magic" in them and turn them into something special.

 

[Sammie]

The Labor shortage was documented many times here in Central Florida in the news media. It was not my opinion or Ducklite's.

Below is a couple of the articles.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/Your_Business/YB_SegArticle/0,4621,292835----5-,00.html

http://www.businessweek.com/1997/45/b3552063.htm

And this was released by the AP:
Theme Parks Desperately Search For Workers
ORLANDO, Fla. (05/24/00) (AP)--Walt Disney World is so desperate to find summer workers that it recently threw a recruiting party at one of its parks and even sent a search party to Puerto Rico and New York to find new hires.

Disney World isn't alone. Orlando's other large theme parks, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando, are having just as hard a time finding housekeepers, chefs, dancers, stunt people, lifeguards and ticket takers to fill positions in a job market with a 2.5 percent unemployment rate.

Disney World needs to hire 2,000 summer employees over the next two months. Universal, which currently employs 11,500 people, wants to hire more than 1,000 summer workers. And SeaWorld, with 3,000 workers, plans to hire 500 summer employees.

Nowhere is the job shortage more critical than Walt Disney World. With four theme parks, 17 hotels and two nightlife complexes, it is the largest single-site employer in the nation with 55,000 employees.

About 2,000 prospective workers recently attended a recruiting party at Disney-MGM Studios.

Between munching on ice cream bars and watching performers on stilts, prospective workers were questioned by 100 interviewers.

The 500 workers Disney hired that night will go through Disney's orientation program and must pass a mandatory background check.

Disney's rivals are also using innovative ways to recruit workers.

Universal Orlando recently hired 100 workers from nearby retirement communities for its two theme parks and entertainment complex. It has also recruited at local high schools and established a relationship with Goodwill Industries to recruit workers.

"There are lots of jobs here in central Florida, so there is a lot of competition in the job market right now," said Rick Larson, Universal's vice president of staffing and administration.

SeaWorld, which is opening a second park in July, Discovery Cove, is offering $50 to $150 to workers who recruit friends or relatives to fill positions. The park also plans to expand a college internship program, which each year brings about 500 workers from Europe and the United States.

One way the theme parks could attract more workers is to raise the starting minimum wage, said Ben Ramirez, a Disney field representative for Local 362 of the Service Employees International Union. Starting minimum wage for Disney is $6.35 an hour. Universal starts its workers at $6.15 an hour. SeaWorld Orlando's starting hourly wage begins at $6.20 for merchandise salespeople and $6.45 for food service workers, an area where demand for help is great.

"This a company that can definitely afford to pump up the wages in central Florida, especially with the way the economy is going," Ramirez said of Disney. "Everything is going up but wages."

Some workers at Disney, the only unionized theme park in the area, are being forced to work mandatory overtime because of the worker shortage.

"People are working seven days straight," Ramirez said. "We're getting people who are burned out because they're working so much overtime."

 

[jdjbright]

I've worked in the hotel industry. Most of the hotels will pay for the guest relations to test out many resturants and activities in the area. This way they can give some good advice. If Disney is not doing somthing like this, maybe they should.

 

[WolfpackFan]

Originally posted by Sammie
The Labor shortage was documented many times here in Central Florida in the news media. It was not my opinion or Ducklite's.

Below is a couple of the articles.

Sure would have been nice if your documentation was current. The article you posted was for May 2000 and the links were for earlier than that. Not exactly proof that there is a labor shortage now. I know here in North Carolina, unemployment is at it's highest levels since the Great Depression. I know many folks that would move to Orlando tommorrow to get a job (including my son). Just tell us where he needs to go to signup and I'll get in the car tommorrow and drive him down.

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by WolfpackFan
Sure would have been nice if your documentation was current. The article you posted was for May 2000 and the links were for earlier than that. Not exactly proof that there is a labor shortage now. I know here in North Carolina, unemployment is at it's highest levels since the Great Depression. I know many folks that would move to Orlando tommorrow to get a job (including my son). Just tell us where he needs to go to signup and I'll get in the car tommorrow and drive him down.

Tell him to go to Disney's Central Casting, if he's willing to accept P/T casual status with no guarantee of hours and no benefits, in food service or maintanance, at slightly above minumum wage, they'll hire him. In fact here in NJ where I live, there are TONS of jobs if you're willing to make under $7 per hour with little or no benefits.

Anne

 

[jeannej]

Come one! The late teen early 20's employees are acting normal.
If each and everyone of us were honest with ourselves, we would realize that we acted the same way in the low paying jobs we had to get us through college or at least provided the spending money. We were more concerned with what was happening after work than the work itself.

My mother works for one of the hotels. She has been a disney employee for 15 years and says that the management stinks and are afraid of the employees at times. (With various grievances processes etc) She says the quality of the employee has slipped but it is as bad with some of the older workers as it is with the younger employees. My mother loves working for Disney and loves making sure the guests have an wonderful expereince. But, it sure is hard when coworkers make the working environment hostile or the management makes decisions like the one at Port Orleans to merge housekeeping with front desk and just threw the housekeeping phone people into the mix and had them fielding questions that would be handled by front desk personnel with no training what so ever.

She also says that some of the guests seem to think that should be getting a lot more than they pay for and are rude, obnoxious and are gross. (She use to clean rooms and has some pretty outragous stories)

I beleive if Disney would just enforce it's employee policies, the morale would be better and there would be a better calibre of employees.

jeannej

 

[peachgirl]

I know many folks that would move to Orlando tommorrow to get a job (including my son).

The jobs that have been lost due to a turndown in the economy were, for the most part, high paying jobs. These aren't the kind of people who can or will settle for minimum wage, part time, no benefit jobs.....which is what you get at WDW. The same is true for where I live, minimum wage jobs are a dime a dozen.

The CM who headed our tour group was asked about working at WDW. This was less than 3 months ago and she said basically, if the applicant is a living, breathing human being, they get hired. She said they did their best to place those who obviously had no talent for dealing with the public behind the scenes, but they weren't always successful nor did they always have that luxury due to the fact that they are so desperate for workers.

Of course if they'd stop the attitude that you should work for Disney just for the thrill of it and pay them a decent wage, that might change. Then again, I can't wait to hear the screaming that would go on when they raised prices to cover the increased cost.

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by WolfpackFan
Sure would have been nice if your documentation was current. The article you posted was for May 2000 and the links were for earlier than that. Not exactly proof that there is a labor shortage now. I know here in North Carolina, unemployment is at it's highest levels since the Great Depression. I know many folks that would move to Orlando tommorrow to get a job (including my son). Just tell us where he needs to go to signup and I'll get in the car tommorrow and drive him down.

Since the shortage has not improved and also due to the fact that Disney has stopped hiring in many areas due to the economy the Labor Shortage is not necessarily a current news item. If you will review my earlier statement, I did say that the worst problem was a couple of years ago.

I am sure many would move to Disney and take a job, but not at the current wage they are paying for hourly help and basically that is about all they are offering currently due to the economy.

Due to the shortage of available workers a few years back and then the hiring freeze now, Disney is understaffed in many areas. That results in less than stellar service at times and overworked employees.

As the shortages occured and the economy suffered Disney did not replace many of its employees, they simply gave the extra work to the existing employee.

I am sure I would never presume to know the current situation in NC, as I don't live there nor do I have friends in the current job situation there. However I do have many friends being affected by the current situation here in Orlando, that was all I was saying.

Thanks Peachgirl, for seeing the situation as it presently exists in the Central Florida area. My friends would say you pretty much "hit the nail on the head" and they are faced with this situation daily.

 

[mrsltg]

I think the difference is work ethic. I'm 27 and I've worked since I was 16. I have never been rude to a customer. I am pleasant and I smile during my interactions with just about everyone. My parents raised me to put in a honest days work for honest pay. That's all there is to it. There could be the biggest labor shortage in the world, it's no excuse to be rude to anyone! I don't care how much money you make, if your job calls for public interaction, put a smile on and deal with every customer as though they are the most important person in your world. It really is THAT simple.

Erin

 

[justhat]

mrsltg, I totally agree with you. I too have been working since I was in high school, throughout college, and now in graduate school too. Sure, there were days where I felt my low hourly pay wasn't even worth me going in, but I went and acted friendly and tried to help people as best as I could. Of course, like everyone, I'm sure I had days where I was not as friendly or helpful as others, but for the most part I tried to be focused when I was at work. So yes, I excuse a few bad days for every worker since we wouldn't be human without some mistakes, but I definitely don't think a low pay is a good reason to have a bad attitude.

 

[peachgirl]

I definitely don't think a low pay is a good reason to have a bad attitude

I agree, but low pay attracts less desirable people. It's no excuse for it, but it's a fact of life.

As I said before, I don't think it can all be blamed on the pay scale. And I don't find it to be that big a problem to start with.
For what they are paid and the nonsense they put up with from guests, I think that for the most part, they do an amazing job.

 

[aurora713]

First of all, the guest relations CM was out of line. Totally. If you don't know...find someone who does.

I am sure many would move to Disney and take a job, but not at the current wage they are paying for hourly help and basically that is about all they are offering currently due to the economy.

Thank you!

I worked for Disney. I did the College Program in the fall of 2000. I am definitely a Disney person, and I LOVED working there. I worked *Main Entrance Merchandise* at the Studios.

But it is hard. Some guests do suck. But I have more stories about wonderful guests that touched my heart than I do bad guests that made me cry (yup...one guy was so mean, he made me cry).

And as much as I would love to have that job again, it just wouldn't be possible. Like others have mentioned - $6.00/hr, around 30 hours a week, no benefits, no guarantee of hours, cutbacks in all areas making the jobs harder - it isn't possible.

They are replacing good, veteran CMs with College Program students to avoid higher payscales and benefits. When I went back to WDW for my honeymoon last July, I was sad to see quite a few wonderful veteran CMs gone from my area. Every 4-6 months, a new batch of young, college front-line workers comes in. By the time they are trained fully, they are gone. And some people just aren't *Disney* people. But Disney needs a whole lot of people on those front-lines, you are probably going to run into a few who suck.

It is my dream to move back to Orlando and work for Disney (as soon as DH finishes school, that's exactly what we want to do), and as fufilling as working with the public was...I couldn't make a real *grown-up* living on it. And with all the effort I put into getting my degree, I would like to use it.

CMs are having to do more, having to put up with horrible guests, and getting paid pretty poorly to do it. I'm surprised that there aren't more horror stories like the guest relations CM. Disney is still doing pretty good, when the level of service is dropping everywhere.

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by aurora713
First of all, the guest relations CM was out of line. Totally. If you don't know...find someone who does.


Thank you!

I worked for Disney. I did the College Program in the fall of 2000. I am definitely a Disney person, and I LOVED working there. I worked *Main Entrance Merchandise* at the Studios.

But it is hard. Some guests do suck. But I have more stories about wonderful guests that touched my heart than I do bad guests that made me cry (yup...one guy was so mean, he made me cry).

And as much as I would love to have that job again, it just wouldn't be possible. Like others have mentioned - $6.00/hr, around 30 hours a week, no benefits, no guarantee of hours, cutbacks in all areas making the jobs harder - it isn't possible.

They are replacing good, veteran CMs with College Program students to avoid higher payscales and benefits. When I went back to WDW for my honeymoon last July, I was sad to see quite a few wonderful veteran CMs gone from my area. Every 4-6 months, a new batch of young, college front-line workers comes in. By the time they are trained fully, they are gone. And some people just aren't *Disney* people. But Disney needs a whole lot of people on those front-lines, you are probably going to run into a few who suck.

It is my dream to move back to Orlando and work for Disney (as soon as DH finishes school, that's exactly what we want to do), and as fufilling as working with the public was...I couldn't make a real *grown-up* living on it. And with all the effort I put into getting my degree, I would like to use it.

CMs are having to do more, having to put up with horrible guests, and getting paid pretty poorly to do it. I'm surprised that there aren't more horror stories like the guest relations CM. Disney is still doing pretty good, when the level of service is dropping everywhere.

Thanks for the first hand account of how it is. I have many friends that work for the parks and I listen daily to what they go through.