Is this the new standard and am I the only one who sees it?

[Tom P.]

My response would be "If you don't want me working at the other parks, you'll have to hire me full time."

My response to that from an employee would simply be to offer them the opportunity to work full time for my competitor by firing them.

 

[J Hedge]

Before the visit we just returned from I would have agreed with the OP completely. We visited in February and again in August, & the cast members were lackluster at best and rude at worst. But we just returned from a week & most of the cast members were fine - some even fantastic. None of the interactions with cast members were what I would call bad (except maybe the Jingle Cruise skipper - he was pretty awful ) & most were very friendly and interacted with our group positively. We were even pixie dusted more than we've been in a while - wildcard fast passes for our entire group, & free Mickey bars for the littles from Scrooge McDuck (his handler, anyway.)
I don't know if things are improving in this regard, or if it was just luck of the draw, (or because I have cute grandkids ) but it was definitely the best experience at Disney we've had in a while. Certainly not as good as things were 15-20 years ago, but much better than recent trips.

Now the high prices, overcrowded extra cost events (MVMCP, I'm looking at you,) and poor food quality are another matter all together...

We also stayed a couple of days at Cabana Bay at UO & had a great time, but I've never had this type of complaint there. The team members always seem happier at Universal.

 

[larryz]

My response to that from an employee would simply be to offer them the opportunity to work full time for my competitor by firing them.

They'd probably be happier at your competitor, then, since their competitor doesn't try to regulate their life outside of their employment.

 

[Tom P.]

They'd probably be happier at your competitor, then, since their competitor doesn't try to regulate their life outside of their employment.

It has nothing to do with regulating your life outside of employment. It has to do with protecting the business. It is extremely common for employers to have a rule or contract clause prohibiting employment with a competitor. There are just too many opportunities for conflicts of interest.

I am the IT Director for a private college. My contract prohibits me from working for any competing school within a certain radius. My employer does not care in the slightest if I work for others outside of my time working for them. In fact, I regularly do outside IT consulting work. But they don't want any of their employees working for a direct competitor.

 

[larryz]

It has nothing to do with regulating your life outside of employment. It has to do with protecting the business. It is extremely common for employers to have a rule or contract clause prohibiting employment with a competitor. There are just too many opportunities for conflicts of interest.

I am the IT Director for a private college. My contract prohibits me from working for any competing school within a certain radius. My employer does not care in the slightest if I work for others outside of my time working for them. In fact, I regularly do outside IT consulting work. But they don't want any of their employees working for a direct competitor.

At certain levels of responsibility, that makes sense. At the level of front-line cast/team member, I don't see it. But I can see how such draconian edicts might impact front-line CM morale and attitudes.

 

[jaklgreen]

At certain levels of responsibility, that makes sense. At the level of front-line cast/team member, I don't see it. But I can see how such draconian edicts might impact front-line CM morale and attitudes.

Exactly what I was going to say. The non compete contracts are for those with higher skill level, more money jobs. Jimmy Johns got in trouble for this because they had given their employees a non compete clause where after they left, they could not work at an establishment that made at least 10% of their income from sandwiches for 2 years. A court ruled that was improper at these skill and pay levels and they had to pay out a settlement.

 

[daisyduckie]

At certain levels of responsibility, that makes sense. At the level of front-line cast/team member, I don't see it. But I can see how such draconian edicts might impact front-line CM morale and attitudes.

Heck I work retail and if I wanted another part time job, there are other places that I cannot work at. No one viewed as a competitor.

 

[Tom P.]

Heck I work retail and if I wanted another part time job, there are other places that I cannot work at. No one viewed as a competitor.

Exactly. Non-compete rules are not limited to highly skilled or highly paid employees. I have worked retail as well, and it always included the provision that you could not work for a competitor. Those are common arrangements in many areas of employment. I am not surprised at all that Disney and Universal wouldn't want their employees working for each other.