Disney Employees Must Return to Office Four Days a Week, Bob Iger Says

[Wendy Pleakley]

I’m not surprised many people prefer it, but I’m not sure that making working from home the norm is the best way forward for society at large. I’d even go so far as to say that increased productivity isn’t worth it for the loss in human interaction.

For sure. I think people became more anti-social during COVID and it still hasn't bounced back completely.

There's probably a balance to be had in many cases but for me, there's only one person in my office that is part of my direct team, and a few peripheral people so the social aspect of work isn't super important, other than just general human interaction.

No reason for us to go into an office if it's inconvenient for people.

A lot of the pushback here is to this notion that, we've always done the thing where we drive to/from work for 2 hours in bumper to bumper traffic, that's the way it has been so that's the way it should continue to be, spending time and resources on the daily.

As well as the notion that the cast member dispatching Everest has to work outside so it's only fair that the office worker doesn't work from home.

 

[buckeyegator]

thoughts? to me the pandemic was over at least a year ago, no need to hide away.i am sure these people enjoy working in their pajamas, not paying high gas prices to drive to work, no tolls, no wear on your car, and almost no accountability to see if working to earn your salary.if the parks are open they should return.

 

[drnilescrane]

I’m broadly sympathetic to the idea that you need the creative teams back in the office. Strange World is a project that had the majority of its creative gestation occur during the work from home period (I.e. when the directors rolled off Raya, another troubled project) and it really shows.

If the only way to get those people back working together is to force the individual contributors in back office roles into the office as well… c’est la vie.

 

[denyuntilcaught]

thoughts? to me the pandemic was over at least a year ago, no need to hide away.i am sure these people enjoy working in their pajamas, not paying high gas prices to drive to work, no tolls, no wear on your car, and almost no accountability to see if working to earn your salary.if the parks are open they should return.

Didn't know what one wore when working behind a screen was a measure of what they can produce.

 

[No Name]

I missed this whole conversation initially, and so many of the opinions here are not rooted in any kind of logic. Yeah, people like to work from home, and will possibly leave for jobs where they can. That doesn’t reflect poorly on their character or anything like that.

thoughts? to me the pandemic was over at least a year ago, no need to hide away.i am sure these people enjoy working in their pajamas, not paying high gas prices to drive to work, no tolls, no wear on your car, and almost no accountability to see if working to earn your salary.if the parks are open they should return.

You just listed four great reasons to work from home and still think it’s a bad idea?

 

[TP2000]

You just listed four great reasons to work from home and still think it’s a bad idea?

I get it too, it would be great to work from home in your PJ's all day. You don't have to pay for gas, or dry cleaning, or lunch in the cafeteria. You save a lot of money and get some time back for yourself.

But long term, there are some industries and professions that will be harmed by 100% work from home. Creative and collaborative companies like Disney are clear examples of that. You need the team physically together on site for a majority of their work time.

Career mentorship and leadership development for younger/newer employees would be severely stunted, if not impossible, without consistent face-to-face human interaction. There's also that invaluable mix of humanity that is gained by hearing a funny story from coworkers, poking fun at silly rules from HR or the crazy cat lady in Payroll, talking about who watched The Crown last night or what team won the game. It builds trust and community with a team of humans that can not be gained from a one hour Zoom call about the new Quarter 4 TPS Reports.

But it's that mentorship part for younger employees that really concerns me. The younger folks may think its great to work from home at age 26, but suddenly they'll wake up at age 46 and see that their career stalled out two decades ago and they didn't get where they thought they'd be. And they don't even know their own boss very well, and vice versa.

Bob Iger said all of that above far more elegantly than I could have, but I hope you get my point.

But sure, on Fridays everyone gets to work from home in your PJ's and get the weekend started early? Go for it! That could work for a lot of companies without impacting longer-term employee development and leadership building.

 

[No Name]

I get it too, it would be great to work from home in your PJ's all day. You don't have to pay for gas, or dry cleaning, or lunch in the cafeteria. You save a lot of money and get some time back for yourself.

But long term, there are some industries and professions that will be harmed by 100% work from home. Creative and collaborative companies like Disney are clear examples of that. You need the team physically together on site for a majority of their work time.

Career mentorship and leadership development for younger/newer employees would be severely stunted, if not impossible, without consistent face-to-face human interaction. There's also that invaluable mix of humanity that is gained by hearing a funny story from coworkers, poking fun at silly rules from HR or the crazy cat lady in Payroll, talking about who watched The Crown last night or what team won the game. It builds trust and community with a team of humans that can not be gained from a one hour Zoom call about the new Quarter 4 TPS Reports.

But it's that mentorship part for younger employees that really concerns me. The younger folks may think its great to work from home at age 26, but suddenly they'll wake up at age 46 and see that their career stalled out two decades ago and they didn't get where they thought they'd be. And they don't even know their own boss very well, and vice versa.

Bob Iger said all of that above far more elegantly than I could have, but I hope you get my point.

But sure, on Fridays everyone gets to work from home in your PJ's and get the weekend started early? Go for it! That could work for a lot of companies without impacting longer-term employee development and leadership building.

I agree with what you said, but mostly with the part I bolded (look at me bolding things… I’m learning from the best… and we’ve never met in person!). I think a good mix is key though, dependent on the job, and for me that’s way less than four days a week in the office. If Disney needs people there four days a week, that’s fair, but the reality is that they may miss out on some talented folks who aren’t on board with that, in exchange for whatever benefits they see from having everyone in the same room.

 

[Dranth]

thoughts? to me the pandemic was over at least a year ago, no need to hide away.i am sure these people enjoy working in their pajamas, not paying high gas prices to drive to work, no tolls, no wear on your car, and almost no accountability to see if working to earn your salary.if the parks are open they should return.

Yes, I do enjoy not losing more of my paycheck to go do the exact same job in the office that I can do remotely. If people lack the self-will to do their work without someone standing over their shoulder then by all means, return to the office.

Also, how is there no accountability? I can tell you by the minute how much people have done in a day, and I don't need to be in the office to do it. Sounds like a poorly run business that doesn't measure productivity.

 

[Disorbust]

My daughter and her team are dealing with this right now. I completely agree about the mentorship. Her leaders don't care if they get any executive exposure where she does so WFH does hinder this. But Orlando has changed post pandemic. Unless you actually experience the traffic day to day, it hard to wrap your head around. One co-workers commute is now 90 minutes when it was 45 minutes pre-covid. He can.t get his kids to day care and be at work by 8:00am anymore.

The costs now are over the top, her rent went up by 40%. WFH decreased some costs and others moved "farther away" for less rent, cheaper housing prices.

The RTW isn't really being done fairly causing alot of tension and not a very collabertive work enviroment.Add to this the whole ambiguity of "who is moving to lake Nona" and who is getting layed off it just not a good work enviroment. Disney will lose talent and that might be part of the "grand" plan but the star performers will move on and leave many who are there to collect a check.

 

[DrewmanS]

Everyone has their opinion on the benefits of work from home or work in office. A large majority of people who work from home say they are more productive. But the vast majority of people say they have above average intelligence, but by definition 50% have to be below average. We are very poor at accessing our own performance relative to others.

Large companies now have data that shows whether or not work from home made their employees "more productive". If it were true that the majority of people were more productive working from home and cost the employer less, then no company would require return to an office. So, those requiring return must see value associated with that deision. It might be a different value proposition for each company: better collaboration, improved creativity, productivity, oversight, connections, retention, security, etc. So if you think you are 20% more productive working from home at a lower cost to you and your employer, imagine how much the performance of the "average" employee dropped to justify brining people back to the office!