Disney offering up to $1000 sign on bonuses

mgf

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...000-signing-bonuses-nine-months-after-layoffs

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mgf

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Note - Florida ends enhanced UI today. For those speculating the enhanced UI was constraining demand for jobs, the timing and nature of this announcement by Disney points.... in a different direction.
 

ifan

Well-Known Member
Note - Florida ends enhanced UI today. For those speculating the enhanced UI was constraining demand for jobs, the timing and nature of this announcement by Disney points.... in a different direction.
They can both be true simultaneously. Also industry and wage inflation specific. There are a lot more jobs paying $15-20 an hour now, that require zero college education, than there were a couple years ago. Many employers have been forced to raise their wages to retain front-line employees. Working at the local McDonalds or Walmart might pay more than certain Disney World roles (a sad fact.)

The Disney bonuses are for specific positions that it seems are in short supply in most regions (chefs, servers, housekeeping) - and the Bloomberg article points out some of the other issues. Some jobs are still offering work from home privileges which appeal to many.

It's hard to argue against enhanced UI impacting the job market (how would it not?), but there are also numerous other changes in the employment landscape.
 

WDW Pro

Well-Known Member
They can both be true simultaneously. Also industry and wage inflation specific. There are a lot more jobs paying $15-20 an hour now, that require zero college education, than there were a couple years ago. Many employers have been forced to raise their wages to retain front-line employees. Working at the local McDonalds or Walmart might pay more than certain Disney World roles (a sad fact.)

The Disney bonuses are for specific positions that it seems are in short supply in most regions (chefs, servers, housekeeping) - and the Bloomberg article points out some of the other issues. Some jobs are still offering work from home privileges which appeal to many.

It's hard to argue against enhanced UI impacting the job market (how would it not?), but there are also numerous other changes in the employment landscape.

100% correct. Well said! Also note that these wage increases are resulting in a cyclical feedback loop with inflation, which will (and is) making higher product prices for WDW.
 

mgf

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
They can both be true simultaneously. Also industry and wage inflation specific. There are a lot more jobs paying $15-20 an hour now, that require zero college education, than there were a couple years ago. Many employers have been forced to raise their wages to retain front-line employees. Working at the local McDonalds or Walmart might pay more than certain Disney World roles (a sad fact.)

The Disney bonuses are for specific positions that it seems are in short supply in most regions (chefs, servers, housekeeping) - and the Bloomberg article points out some of the other issues. Some jobs are still offering work from home privileges which appeal to many.

It's hard to argue against enhanced UI impacting the job market (how would it not?), but there are also numerous other changes in the employment landscape.

I don't disagree with this response. I was just largely pointing out that it is not exclusively the enhanced UI as many claim.
 

"El Gran Magnifico"

Bring Me A Shrubbery
Premium Member
100% correct. Well said! Also note that these wage increases are resulting in a cyclical feedback loop with inflation, which will (and is) making higher product prices for WDW.

Disney has always outpaced CPI. They will again. They don’t need an excuse to justify any increases. But if they have one - they most definitely will use it to its fullest.
 

cranbiz

Well-Known Member
Right. Prices never went up at Disney until this recent atrocity of almost paying people enough to not live in their cars or crappy motels.
If you put a little effort into your skill set, you could make a decent wage at Disney. Would you get rich, not normally, depending on your career path. There were many positions that paid a living wage prior to today.

Bus drivers were always in demand and paid decently. Yes, you had to put some effort into it. You had to have a relatively good driving record and had to get the correct learners permit and endorsements on your own but Disney trained you, provided the bus for your driving test and paid you a lot more than an attractions host or hostess.

If you had the drive, you could always work attractions, F&B, etc. and work your way into management. I know several CM's who did that and were successful.

Like anywhere, you make the choices to advance yourself. If you choose not to, how is that anyone's fault but yourself.
 

Sandurz

Well-Known Member
The lack of foresight exhibited by the mass layoffs was really something special. I think it was Len Testa who ballparked the cost of keeping staff on payroll for a whole year at about $1B. The repercussions of those layoffs will be felt for years. And as it turned out, it would not have been an entire year of paying people to do nothing. A good chunk of them would have been back and working for months already! And they‘d be able to instantly staff up to meet demand, without having alienated a huge portion of the Orlando labor market for presumably years to come.

Obviously we didn’t know how things would look this time last year but either the entire theme park industry was going to collapse and $1B is a drop in the bucket loss wise, or you‘re prepared to come out ready to hit the ground running. Seemed like an easy choice to me, but I’m no Bob.
 

James Norrie

Well-Known Member
The lack of foresight exhibited by the mass layoffs was really something special. I think it was Len Testa who ballparked the cost of keeping staff on payroll for a whole year at about $1B. The repercussions of those layoffs will be felt for years. And as it turned out, it would not have been an entire year of paying people to do nothing. A good chunk of them would have been back and working for months already! And they‘d be able to instantly staff up to meet demand, without having alienated a huge portion of the Orlando labor market for presumably years to come.

Obviously we didn’t know how things would look this time last year but either the entire theme park industry was going to collapse and $1B is a drop in the bucket loss wise, or you‘re prepared to come out ready to hit the ground running. Seemed like an easy choice to me, but I’m no Bob.
I'm having a similar discussion in another thread about this very theme. Bob really has terrible foresight and lacks ability to plan for the future whilst simultaneously seizing the day today. It would've been an easy sell to investors to use the "mandatory downtime" to enact improvements and upgrades in P&R, and instead he laid everyone off and let things stagnate.
 

chimchimcheree

Well-Known Member
The lack of foresight exhibited by the mass layoffs was really something special. I think it was Len Testa who ballparked the cost of keeping staff on payroll for a whole year at about $1B. The repercussions of those layoffs will be felt for years. And as it turned out, it would not have been an entire year of paying people to do nothing. A good chunk of them would have been back and working for months already! And they‘d be able to instantly staff up to meet demand, without having alienated a huge portion of the Orlando labor market for presumably years to come.

Obviously we didn’t know how things would look this time last year but either the entire theme park industry was going to collapse and $1B is a drop in the bucket loss wise, or you‘re prepared to come out ready to hit the ground running. Seemed like an easy choice to me, but I’m no Bob.
The airlines are paying for it, too. American Airlines in particular is having to cancel hundreds of flights after laying off hundreds of workers. It's almost like that PPP money should have been conditioned on capping layoffs in order to receive the money so it didn't go straight in to c-suite pockets.
 
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Thelazer

Well-Known Member
The lack of foresight exhibited by the mass layoffs was really something special.

OMG Was It EVER.
Univseral / Disney / SeaWorld all of them.

I remember SeaWorld's little downsize of long term employee's and within 3 weeks job postings were already up for those positions.
I remember Universal saying "We value our team members..." (until they ripped the org charge in half and it was black Thursday.)
I remember Disney putting good folks with 20 years under there belt out of a job overnight.
I remember seeing so many people I know, so many friends out of work, begging for table scrapes.
I remember every single cast member starting up a side hustle selling baked good welcome home boxes.

It's my honest hope, that someday, sometime, somewhere these company's will be called onto the carpet for what they did!

WAY TO MANY Family's went hungry in central Florida and it never needed to happen.

And now, if anyone wonders why it's so hard to hire (outside of the die hard I'll work for Disney bunch) all they need do is remember how little these company's valued there employee's over the last year and half.
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
OMG Was It EVER.
Univseral / Disney / SeaWorld all of them.

I remember SeaWorld's little downsize of long term employee's and within 3 weeks job postings were already up for those positions.
I remember Universal saying "We value our team members..." (until they ripped the org charge in half and it was black Thursday.)
I remember Disney putting good folks with 20 years under there belt out of a job overnight.
I remember seeing so many people I know, so many friends out of work, begging for table scrapes.
I remember every single cast member starting up a side hustle selling baked good welcome home boxes.

It's my honest hope, that someday, sometime, somewhere these company's will be called onto the carpet for what they did!

WAY TO MANY Family's went hungry in central Florida and it never needed to happen.

And now, if anyone wonders why it's so hard to hire (outside of the die hard I'll work for Disney bunch) all they need do is remember how little these company's valued there employee's over the last year and half.

But... but... “Disney is a business!”
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
There are businesses out there, that made it thru this without laying off people.
Those busniesses surly did not have even CLOSE to the deep pockets that Disney/Universal/Seaworld does.
I know. That’s just the common excuse when Disney treats the park staff like manure.
 

Touchdown

Well-Known Member
I wouldn’t lump SeaWorld in with Comcast and TWDC. They do not have ad deep a pockets and are on much more financially shaky ground.
 

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