Layoffs at Walt Disney World and other divisions of WDC

[alphac2005]

A previous line of work involved contractual dealings with ESPN to keep their ESPN and ESPN2 channels on a basic cable lineup (approx 30 channels) in a rural area in the early to mid 2000's. The cost per subscriber per month for almost every other channel was from about 10 cents to upwards of 40 cents, give or take a few pennies. Stations like CNN, NBC, MTV, etc. Then there was ESPN and ESPN2 which were arround $4.50 per subscriber back almost 10 years ago. Their pricing model and arrogance was stunning back then. We paid it though.

I used to be in the arena myself. I saw in the past several months what the average carriage cost of ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNNews, and ESPNU work out to per subscriber, which is about $5.85. It's nuts. People don't understand that these channels are driving forces increasing your cable/sat bill. ESPN/HD alone is closing in on $5.00 of that cost, so then you work the numbers of how much profit the cable/sat want to add on top of the costs, as you well know.

If you take just some of the top watched US channels, ESPN, Discovery, Fox News, Nick, Disney, and TNT, the total for those alone are around $10 per subscriber.

 

[Joseph Robinson]

**Brushes Up Resume**

This was the year I was going to go back too .

 

[menamechris]

Those eight people cost $60/hr.
While they may appear to be doing "nothing" when you see them, they are hardly breaking the bank at WDW.

Mgmt does regularly review cast activities. Problem with a union environment is that people are not paid for performance, and dealing with these issues can be long and drawn out by red tape. Add in cast members who do not take job seriously (some CP's who hate their program...) and you get lack-luster performance.

Nothing is breaking the bank at WDW. However, inefficiency issues and haphazard scheduling such as this over all the various segments of the resort do create a huge waste of money and resources over the course of even just one day. It' not just the 8 cast members standing around the AK parking lot - it can be all of the parking lots on property. It's the cast member who isn't working a register at Casey's, but is sitting at the counter chatting with her best friend who is (which slows efficiency and guest interaction/courtesy, btw). It's also the friend I have who works at Magic Kingdom who said it was no problem to come out and visit me while I was at the park, and we ended up chatting and catching up for 30 minutes while she was on the clock (love her, mean it...but still...you're at work). Operations in the park is getting a lot like Disney's corporate structure - it's bloated with a ton of people not knowing what they are actually supposed to be doing, or what they have the power or clearance to do. That is a serious issue, not only to park operations and safety as a whole, but also Disney's bottom line...

 

[BigThunderMatt]

Your continuous generalizations towards people with a certain degree are a bit nauseating at this point. Thank you for judging me without knowing a thing about me though based solely on a degree.

When you snort Pixie Dust on a daily basis you have a tendency to repeat yourself ad nauseam.

 

[Joseph Robinson]

When you snort Pixie Dust on a daily basis you have a tendency to repeat yourself ad nauseam.

Seen both drugs and sex mentioned on the boards this morning. This ain't your parents Disney forum kids !

 

[wm49rs]

When you snort Pixie Dust on a daily basis you have a tendency to repeat yourself ad nauseam.

And incessantly swing after what are supposedly easy targets. Reeks of bovine excrement and laziness.....

 

[Pioneer Hall]

Sweetie, I've been in business for 30 years. I've known a lot of MBAs. So I am entitled to an opinion on them.

I've never met you. I've never mentioned you or talked about you. If you think I'm talking about you, then you have a very active imagination and one huge ego (as well as delusions of persecution). Not everything in life is about you.

But, I've seen MBAs in action. I've watched them ruin companies like Disney because it's very true that these guys aren't interested in making decades-long careers in companies...but instead are being taught in school that they need to look out for themselves, and jump around from company to company while staying no more than 3 years at each one. I have had dozens of MBAs tell me this is what they leave business school learning.

Perhaps you missed my point in the last post. you refer to mba's as a group. I have an MBA and you constantly bash us. So in turn I will assume you are talking about me like I have plague or something.

 

[asianway]

Nothing is breaking the bank at WDW. However, inefficiency issues and haphazard scheduling such as this over all the various segments of the resort doing create a huge waste of money and resources over the course of even just one day. It' not just the 8 cast members standing around the AK parking lot - it can be all of teh parking lots on property. It's the cast member who isn't working a register at Casey's, but is sitting at the counter chatting with her best friend who is (which slows efficiency and guest interaction/courtesy, btw). It's also the friend I have who works at Magic Kingdom who said it was no problem to come out and visit me while I was at the park, and we ended up chatting and catching up for 30 minutes while she was on the clock (love her, mean it...but still...you're at work). Operations in the park is getting a lot like Disney's corporate structure - it's bloated with a ton of people not knowing what they are actually supposed to be doing, or what they have teh power of clearance to do. That is a serious issue, not only to park operations and safety as a whole, but also Disney's bottom line...

How about the ones with Twitter accounts who tweet from onstage for their lifestyler buddies to come and visit?

 

[Skibum1970]

Perhaps you missed my point in the last post. you refer to mba's as a group. I have an MBA and you constantly bash us. So in turn I will assume you are talking about me like I have plague or something.

How dare you work hard and sacrifice years of your life to gain an MBA!!!

 

[Ava83]

Those eight people cost $60/hr.
While they may appear to be doing "nothing" when you see them, they are hardly breaking the bank at WDW.

Mgmt does regularly review cast activities. Problem with a union environment is that people are not paid for performance, and dealing with these issues can be long and drawn out by red tape. Add in cast members who do not take job seriously (some CP's who hate their program...) and you get lack-luster performance.

Curious, where did you get your info on how much they got paid by the hour? Would you link to your source, so we have no one questioning your validity.

Thank you

 

[Joseph Robinson]

Curious, where did you get your info on how much they got paid by the hour? Would you link to your source, so we have no one questioning your validity.

Thank you

When Disney has positions available for a certain role, they make the starting salary viewable to the public when you look at the job listing. Not like it is covert information. Feel free to explore to self-verify: http://wdw.disneycareers.com/en/default/

 

[Ava83]

When Disney has positions available for a certain role, they make the starting salary viewable to the public when you look at the job listing. Not like it is covert information. Feel free to explore to self-verify: http://wdw.disneycareers.com/en/default/

Thanks! I just looked it up and parking assistants make all of $7.83 an hour.

https://sjobs.brassring.com/TGWEbHost/jobdetails.aspx?partnerid=25348&siteid=5046&jobid=84976

Now, I may have read the original quote wrong, it may be in all those 8 people make that much (which makes sense)

 

[Joseph Robinson]

Now, I may have read the original quote wrong, it may be in all those 8 people make that much (which makes sense)

If those parking attendants made $60/hr? I'd drop out of college and go do that ! Glad to help!

 

[flynnibus]

It's typical big company thinking - costs are eating into our targets.. so cut costs 10% across the board. That becomes the mandate off high.. and as it trickles down into the ranks.. both good and bad get caught by it's wrath.

It's what happens when management is bad and unwilling to face and address problem areas. Instead of being able to say 'Group X' is deadweight.. they fight for all their groups.. and instead of the deadweight getting hit.. everyone suffers.

It's SOP for big companies unfortunately

 

[Alektronic]

Nothing is breaking the bank at WDW. However, inefficiency issues and haphazard scheduling such as this over all the various segments of the resort do create a huge waste of money and resources over the course of even just one day. It' not just the 8 cast members standing around the AK parking lot - it can be all of the parking lots on property. It's the cast member who isn't working a register at Casey's, but is sitting at the counter chatting with her best friend who is (which slows efficiency and guest interaction/courtesy, btw). It's also the friend I have who works at Magic Kingdom who said it was no problem to come out and visit me while I was at the park, and we ended up chatting and catching up for 30 minutes while she was on the clock (love her, mean it...but still...you're at work). Operations in the park is getting a lot like Disney's corporate structure - it's bloated with a ton of people not knowing what they are actually supposed to be doing, or what they have the power or clearance to do. That is a serious issue, not only to park operations and safety as a whole, but also Disney's bottom line...

That is just another failure in WDW Operations management, they have all the resources, but they don't know how to schedule people to be in the right place at the right times. They are thinking NexGen is going to slove all their problems for them so they can better schedule the CM's. Right now, they just rely on the CDS(Cast Deployment System) but someone has to enter all the info first, so when management is not sure what they are doing then it just rolls down hill and gets amplified.

 

[Ava83]

If those parking attendants made $60/hr? I'd drop out of college and go do that ! Glad to help!

I know right? I had started packing and thought, best to check that little detail out

 

[PhotoDave219]

Why cut cast where the success and $$ is flowing? I don't get that thinking. If the DCL side is performing well, why cut cast? If they reduce cast on the ships it can impact guest experience which will adversely affect the numbers for the future. Is this more short-sighted knee-jerking from TWDC to make the immediate numbers look pretty on paper? Sure feels like it to me. Kinda reminds me of, well, the government...short-sighted actions with zero regard for the mess the powers-that-be leave for future generations to clean up. Shameful.

Perhaps the cast-cleaning should start with the suits at the top. Less of them could be eliminated to make the most impact on the numbers. How about zero bonuses?

Personally, I'm feelin' my brand loyalty eroding slow but steady.

That way they can make MORE money. If you have 4 people and you can do the job with 3, then you just SAVED MONEY and your profit will go up.

Nevermind that you'll now have to pay overtime, etc. Probably the idea of some junior executive who is going to go get a bonus for ruining people's lives. Probably the kind of 26 year old MBA that does blow off a hooker named Cinderella.....

 

[PhotoDave219]

There's no concern for the longterm health of a company from these guys. They just want to cut, cut, cut so that when they leave in 3 years they can show savings and increased profits...and they are never held accountable for any problems that develop as a result of all those cuts.

Cut. Save Money. Get a bonus. Get a promotion. Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

 

[Lee]

Cut. Save Money. Get a bonus. Get a promotion. Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

You left out the "Get a better job elsewhere and leave your former employer a smoking ruins" part...

 

[bbarnett]

Sounds like 2009 all over again.