Disneyland Resort Buys Even More Property

[Californian Elitist]

Modern day Disney mistreats its employees on a level that would shock and disgust most guests, if they had any real clue.

Couldn't be more true.

I currently work in entertainment and a lot of us, myself included, have worked for Disney and we all say the same thing; the Mouse is not fun to work for and we'd never work for Disney again. I can speak for myself when I say I felt I was mistreated when I worked for the company. One particular incident really hit the top of the iceberg and it clicked in my head that Disney couldn't have cared less about me as an employee. Easily replaceable.

A lot of Disney employees end up at Universal or elsewhere at some point.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Couldn't be more true.

I currently work in entertainment and a lot of us, myself included, have worked for Disney and we all say the same thing; the Mouse is not fun to work for and we'd never work for Disney again. I can speak for myself when I say I felt I was mistreated when I worked for the company. One particular incident really hit the top of the iceberg and it clicked in my head that Disney couldn't have cared less about me as an employee. Easily replaceable.

A lot of Disney employees end up at Universal or elsewhere at some point.

Very true. I know a lot of people who couldn't believe how well they were treated at Universal compared to Disney. Lots of ex-CMs there.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

Kind of grateful that I live far enough away from a Disney resort to not have any regular contact with the daily operations that go on. Not gonna lie.... for now I'm perfectly fine being a patron and mesmerized by the "magic" without focusing on the ugly side (whatever that means) of Disneyland's business. That isn't to say that I wouldn't turn in my fan card if Disney were caught doing something illegal or grossly mistreating it's workers and/or customers though. I've never been the sort of fan who cares about TDA water cooler gossip, union worker gripes, DLR workplace culture or the quality of the food in the employee cafeterias.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

Kind of grateful that I live far enough away from a Disney resort to have any regular contact with the daily operations that go on. Not gonna lie.... for now I'm perfectly fine being a patron and mesmerized by the "magic" without focusing on the ugly side (whatever that means) of Disneyland's business. That isn't to say that I wouldn't turn in my fan card if Disney were caught doing something illegal or grossly mistreating it's workers and/or customers though. I've never been the sort of fan who cares about TDA water cooler gossip, union worker gripes, DLR workplace culture or the quality of the food in the employee cafeterias.

Couldn't be more true.

I currently work in entertainment and a lot of us, myself included, have worked for Disney and we all say the same thing; the Mouse is not fun to work for and we'd never work for Disney again. I can speak for myself when I say I felt I was mistreated when I worked for the company. One particular incident really hit the top of the iceberg and it clicked in my head that Disney couldn't have cared less about me as an employee. Easily replaceable.

A lot of Disney employees end up at Universal or elsewhere at some point.

I was shocked to learn in the past year how many people migrate from Disney to Universal. I always thought it was the other way around.

And apologies to all--I never meant to hijack this thread.

 

[Longhairbear]

Couldn't be more true.

I currently work in entertainment and a lot of us, myself included, have worked for Disney and we all say the same thing; the Mouse is not fun to work for and we'd never work for Disney again. I can speak for myself when I say I felt I was mistreated when I worked for the company. One particular incident really hit the top of the iceberg and it clicked in my head that Disney couldn't have cared less about me as an employee. Easily replaceable.

A lot of Disney employees end up at Universal or elsewhere at some point.

A few our friends have worked for the Mouse in various departments. Actors get the biggest illegal treatment union wise, but few want to report them. My husband is sorta glad he was never hired as an animator there, a job he dreamed of.

 

[TP2000]

I'm fascinated by the comments of Disneyland's employee mistreatment here. And just a tiny bit suspicious.

California has the strictest and most comprehensively pro-employee labor laws in the country. It's been that way for decades in this state. The process for reporting and/or prosecuting an employer who violates those laws couldn't be easier or more employee-friendly than it is in California. And the major media in the state like the Los Angeles Times are notoriously anti-Disney and anti-big business, and would love to reveal an infraction or illegal practice by a high profile employer like Disney. After all, we all are repeatedly told by the media and kind politicians that capitalist business is the evil enemy and benevolent big government is our only savior.

And yet none of these alleged discretions or illegal practices that Disneyland and/or the Walt Disney Company force onto their enslaved California employees have ever been revealed publicly. What gives? Why is that?

 

[TP2000]

That isn't to say that I wouldn't turn in my fan card if Disney were caught doing something illegal or grossly mistreating it's workers and/or customers though.

That already happened last year. Disney was widely accused of violating American immigration and visa laws with their apparent misuse of the H1-B Visa program, wherein they fired Americans working in good-paying IT jobs in Orlando and replaced them with cheap immigrant labor from India. http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/25/technology/disney-h1b-workers/

 

[Phroobar]

I agree with TP2000. Where are the alleged discretion or illegal practices? Listening to a Disney forum you would swear cast members are whipped and made to sing over at IASW. I just want to know what these are. If minimum wage jobs are the only complaint how much should a unskilled cast member get paid? Those kind of jobs are not meant to be careers. They are for people working while at college not for people with six kids and a mortgage.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I was shocked to learn in the past year how many people migrate from Disney to Universal. I always thought it was the other way around.

And apologies to all--I never meant to hijack this thread.

I'm one of those ex CM's who eventually ended up at Universal, though I don't work there anymore. Employee treatment is like night and day. I knew lots of previous Disney CM's at Universal and we'd always talk about how bad it was and how we were mistreated. I remember when I worked at Disney, meeting a CM who had come from Universal; she couldn't stop talking about how she hated Disney and couldn't wait to go back to Universal.

A few our friends have worked for the Mouse in various departments. Actors get the biggest illegal treatment union wise, but few want to report them. My husband is sorta glad he was never hired as an animator there, a job he dreamed of.

Your husband should feel VERY lucky lol.

I had always wanted to work for the company, since I was a child. My uncle, who just retired from Disney, worked at the Walt Disney Studios and warned me about working for the company. He said it was unpleasant and not fun at all. I had to see for myself, and I did.

My supervisor and I were just talking about this yesterday, coincidentally. We are in the middle of trying to hire someone who currently works for Disney and hates it there, unsurprisingly. My supervisor also previously worked for Disney, and she put the experience in perfect words when she said one has to "sell their soul."

I'm glad I got to work for the company and see that it actually isn't where I want to be. I would have never known unless I had experienced it myself.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

That already happened last year. Disney was widely accused of violating American immigration and visa laws with their apparent misuse of the H1-B Visa program, wherein they fired Americans working in good-paying IT jobs in Orlando and replaced them with cheap immigrant labor from India. http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/25/technology/disney-h1b-workers/

I'm well aware of the charges, however Disney claimed that it acted within the law.

http://www.ibtimes.com/disney-h-1b-...t-over-foreign-workers-not-based-fact-2280709

Does anyone know how the case was settled?

 

[Travel Junkie]

I'm fascinated by the comments of Disneyland's employee mistreatment here. And just a tiny bit suspicious.

California has the strictest and most comprehensively pro-employee labor laws in the country. It's been that way for decades in this state. The process for reporting and/or prosecuting an employer who violates those laws couldn't be easier or more employee-friendly than it is in California. And the major media in the state like the Los Angeles Times are notoriously anti-Disney and anti-big business, and would love to reveal an infraction or illegal practice by a high profile employer like Disney. After all, we all are repeatedly told by the media and kind politicians that capitalist business is the evil enemy and benevolent big government is our only savior.

And yet none of these alleged discretions or illegal practices that Disneyland and/or the Walt Disney Company force onto their enslaved California employees have ever been revealed publicly. What gives? Why is that?

I don't think anyone is alleging illegal practices by Disney, simply they aren't treated very well when compares to other workplaces. I have had many friends who worked for Disney over the years and most of them would classify it as at or near the bottom of places they would ever go back to. Part of this is the guests they have to interact with, part of it is the reality of working for a massive company with tens of thousands of employees at a single site, but a lot of it has to do with how Disney treats them. Again nothing illegal, but not very smart either to not respect the faces of your company to the general public.

 

[Phroobar]

What do you mean by respect? Are we saying lower management is a bunch of a-holes? Let's keep the job in perspective of a minimum wage job that is equivalent to retail sales at the mall or fast food. I don't mean people in entertainment or maintenance workers with skills. I mean a job that takes no job skills do to.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

What do you mean by respect? Are we saying lower management is a bunch of a-holes? Let's keep the job in perspective of a minimum wage job that is equivalent to retail sales at the mall or fast food. I don't mean people in entertainment or maintenance workers with skills. I mean a job that takes no job skills do to.

Are you saying that management has a right to be a-holes because front line jobs are minimum wage? There are no jobs at Disneyland that require no job skills to perform. It's not like these people are on some mindless assembly line - they're operating complex attractions, cleaning up after guests, dealing with angry guests, etc. Skills are required for all of these positions, not the least of which are the skills to not go postal on some entitled family from Malibu that thinks you're their house slave.

Good managers treat their employees with dignity and respect, regardless of what their position is. This is called basic human decency, and the rewards of such decency to management are loyalty and higher quality work. This is a concept that eludes Disney on a massive scale, which is why turnover is high (very costly to the company I might add) and even talented executives have been forced out (see Steve Burke and Matt Ouimet, now running Disney competitors).

No one here is alleging illegal practices (although, if you want to have a good time, start talking about unionization in a non-union department at Disneyland and see how long your job lasts), just really crappy ones.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Are you saying that management has a right to be a-holes because front line jobs are minimum wage? There are no jobs at Disneyland that require no job skills to perform. It's not like these people are on some mindless assembly line - they're operating complex attractions, cleaning up after guests, dealing with angry guests, etc. Skills are required for all of these positions, not the least of which are the skills to not go postal on some entitled family from Malibu that thinks you're their house slave.

Good managers treat their employees with dignity and respect, regardless of what their position is. This is called basic human decency, and the rewards of such decency to management are loyalty and higher quality work. This is a concept that eludes Disney on a massive scale, which is why turnover is high (very costly to the company I might add) and even talented executives have been forced out (see Steve Burke and Matt Ouimet, now running Disney competitors).

No one here is alleging illegal practices (although, if you want to have a good time, start talking about unionization in a non-union department at Disneyland and see how long your job lasts), just really crappy ones.

There should be a "love" option. Spot on.

 

[Travel Junkie]

What do you mean by respect? Are we saying lower management is a bunch of a-holes? Let's keep the job in perspective of a minimum wage job that is equivalent to retail sales at the mall or fast food. I don't mean people in entertainment or maintenance workers with skills. I mean a job that takes no job skills do to.

I think part of the problem is that attitude right there. These people are the face of your company and the attitude is they have no skills? It takes a skills to be a front line CM.

 

[Deleted member 107043]

Would it be too much to ask that we go back to discussing Disney's property acquisitions in Anaheim and take the current conversation about Disneyland's workplace culture to a new thread?

 

[Phroobar]

Are you saying that management has a right to be a-holes because front line jobs are minimum wage?

I'm not saying they have the right to be a-holes. I'm just wondering if they ARE a-holes to their staff or is it the other way around.

Do employees show up late or at all? Do they not perform their job as expected? I am saying that a front line cast member running the dumbo ride doesn't need a college degree to run the ride. Anyone can do it if properly trained by their managers on how the ride operates and how to greet guests based on the ride operation specs manual. As with any service oriented job, the employee needs to be respectful of the customer and find ways to make them happy within the bounds of their job. If they can't, management needs to step in and help solve the problem. If better training is required, it's managements job to provide it. Their job performance depends on their worker bee's performance. It's not in management's best interest to treat them like crap but there is line where their skill set outweighs the amount of problems they generate.

 

[Phroobar]

I think part of the problem is that attitude right there. These people are the face of your company and the attitude is they have no skills? It takes a skills to be a front line CM.

What skills? What school do you learn them? Do you put them on a resume? If I had two resumes what would I look for to be a front line CM?

 

[SSG]

Would it be too much to ask that we go back to discussing Disney's property acquisitions in Anaheim and take the current conversation about Disneyland's workplace culture to a new thread?

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

Would it be too much to ask that we go back to discussing Disney's property acquisitions in Anaheim and take the current conversation about Disneyland's workplace culture to a new thread?

I second the motion. I won't respond to any more of this O/T in this thread. I didn't mean for this to happen. My bad.