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Disney executives have come up with the answer to rock bottom Cast Member morale
- Thread starter ptaylor
- Start date
eliza61nyc
Well-Known Member
Or we can turn that around to say that nowadays everybody who works entry level service jobs feel that they should make 80k a year.
The problem is these jobs were never designed to support a family or even an individual their entire lives. Now I don't know about the cost of living in Orlando but I'm sorry I don't understand how a person working in Wendy's, making beds or in six flags expects to pull down 60, 70 thousand a year.
Now every person, every single person deserves respect and dignity on the job. No if ands or butts,. I too worked for big mega company (chemical industry) and we occasionally have the same morale issues, usually after we got no raise or cutbacks although we are one of the last mohicans that still has a pension, which I'm sure will change but the janitor on the job is not going to make what the scientists makes.
One of my worst jobs was Walmart, one step up from indentured servitude, and the 34st. Macy's in NYC, both jobs were enough for me to know I never wanted to depend on them for my survival
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Why not?
eliza61nyc
Well-Known Member
No idea, maybe because they are/ were entry level and I guess it use to be people didn't expect to be executives upon being hired.
Maybe it's based on how we assign value to skill set. I have to admit I don't assign the same skill set say to the guy who did my knee replacement as to the guy who empties my trash can.
To this day they best job I had wàs a camp counselor at a YMCA camp, I figured out real quick that I'd have to live with my parents forever if I kept that job
Don't know but entry level jobs are or use to be just that lowest paid entry level. Because someone chooses to stay there 15 years doesn't make the job different
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Missing20K
Well-Known Member
Kids, unless you hate yourself, be one of the first two.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Who’s suggesting paying a janitor the same salary as a surgeon?
You said that “these jobs” were never designed to support a family or even an individual. And I asked... why not?
eliza61nyc
Well-Known Member
And I said, I don't know and I honestly don't. Again not sure what the cost of living is in Orlando but in Philadelphia a cashier at Walmart is not paid a living wage, again I can only "guess" that at some point in time these jobs were classified as low wage/entry level.
I don't know who or how jobs are valued. Now I just quickly googled a "livable" wage for Philadelphia and came up with ~56k a year, that's about 27/hour.
I have no idea why McDonald's or six flags does not pay that but I will say someone getting that job and then thinking they will be paid that will be bitterly disappointed.
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Dead2009
Horror Movie Guru
Unless you ask the bus drivers. They probably know.
eliza61nyc
Well-Known Member
Does anyone know they average length of time cast members stay at Disney , are they told there is a lot of growth in the job? Just curious
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
They will probably be honoring all of the 50 year cm’s October 1.
Tom P.
Well-Known Member
Because several decades ago, we as a society decided that we are unwilling to pay high enough prices for products and services to support those kind of wages for those kind of jobs. Can you imagine how prices would be different if, instead of corporate behemoths like Walmart charging bargain basement prices for products from China, we still had locally owned stores in our downtowns selling American made goods?
Although everyone would be for good pay and working conditions in theory, the actual reality -- not hyperbole -- is that we would rather have our products manufactured by essentially slave labor overseas than pay more for the product.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
But a company like Disney can pay living wages and still be profitable. I’m not saying everyone should be paid the same, obviously not. But full time employees shouldn’t even be able to qualify for low income housing!
And increased labor costs can get passed onto the customer in terms of higher pricing. If the $12 plus undercooked, reheated turkey leg goes up in price, I will pass.
It honestly varies. There are people who work in frontline operations for 25+ years and are fully "in the bubble." Back in the day they had a lot more senior leadership that had risen through the ranks, but nowadays it not nearly as many.
The other issue within Parks & Resorts, especially at WDW, is they are VERY bottom heavy. So while you could work your way up over 20+ years to become a Proprietor or GM, that career growth is a lot slower than it would be elsewhere in another industry. Plus, even professional jobs that would be Director or VP level in Burbank stay stuck at the Manager level in Florida.
Comparing the staffing of "bottom heavy" of enormous Parks and Resorts WDW and not so DLR is like comparing day and night.
eliza61nyc
Well-Known Member
I think there are a lot of factors that effect that. In theory that sounds great but things are rarely linear from point A to point B.
Big companies like Disney, Dow and DuPont have stockholders, and they aren't just rich guys playing with money. They are your 401ks and retirement funds. Nowadays we expect annual returns of 6-7%, no one wants slow and steady growth. Imagine if people/ funds stopped investing?
Next, let's say you do give that burger flipper his livable wage (go back to the 27 bucks an hour where I live), what happens to the food chain? Now how much do you pay his boss?
What about the small business that is not Disney, he's going to have to at least stay some what competitive in order to survive? How does he now pay a "livable" wage? I grew up in a family restaurant, there is simply no way to pay a full time dishwasher 70k a year and stay in business.
Now let's talk those low income housing? Does inflation hit those? You think those rent don't increase once they get wind of those salary increases?
Things rarely exist in a vacuum.
That's why I asked how quickly do folk "move" up once in these jobs, maybe the better emphasis is to get these folks moving into better paying positions. I don't think people should be stuck in entry level labor for 25 years
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danv3
Well-Known Member
Smiley/OCD
Well-Known Member
Obviously, you never worked in the retail world...spent 20+ years in management and not only was I fed this pablum, I was expected to feed the same to my staff...I did it, but forewarned them to take it with not a grain but a 5 lb. bag of salt. Never did it it with a straight face, and always on the DM's s**t list (words of swear) but at least I had the respect of my staff. This is nothing new. People actually get paid 6 figures to come up with that stuff.
redsfan4life
Active Member
I think we might work for the same company . A retailer that started in Cincinnati in the grocery business ?
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
So the emphasis when hiring a wdw janitor is to move them up as quickly as possible? How long can someone stay at a job before they aren’t “bettering themselves.”?
If a business can’t stay in business and pay living wages those businesses should close because they are not being run properly. (Not sure where 70k comes from though, that’s a bit high for a living wage).
If WDW cm’s were paid a living wage they wouldn’t qualify for low income housing so it wouldn’t matter to them.