Perks being reduced for some CMs

[xdan0920]

It's easy to say that but being realistic, 65,000+ employees can't all be promoted. Someone has to do the grunt work.

Bingo.

I'm not sure how Disney works though, these people you are referring to, are they making the same hourly rate as a 1st or 2nd year employee?

 

[rucifee]

Bingo.

I'm not sure how Disney works though, these people you are referring to, are they making the same hourly rate as a 1st or 2nd year employee?

Here's some insight into that...top level attractions CMs earn around $13.57 per hour.

http://themeparkuniversity.com/disney/depth-look-walt-disney-world-employee-wages/

If you've dedicated 40 years of your life to the company, you can earn an extra $.50 an hour.

"Now, an attractions employee of Walt Disney World who has put in, for sake of argument, 40 years with the company (yes, they exist, I have met many) after this contract will make $14.07 an hour (with additional $.50 per hour wage increases per year over the next three years). More than a living wage in Central Florida, to be sure, but that’s assuming the employee doesn’t have any children or anyone depending on them."

 

[rael ramone]

This is another thought I've posted before.

$DIS is BY FAR the largest employer in the Orlando area. If they raised their compensation to one more appropriate for Premium Service, this would cause two things:

1. They would attract the best service workers in the area.
2. Surrounding businesses would be forced to raise their wages to compete for talent.

End result: A local population with more money to spend on your product.

 

[BigThunderMatt]

This is another thought I've posted before.

$DIS is BY FAR the largest employer in the Orlando area. If they raised their compensation to one more appropriate for Premium Service, this would cause two things:

1. They would attract the best service workers in the area.
2. Surrounding businesses would be forced to raise their wages to compete for talent.

End result: A local population with more money to spend on your product.

What Disney AND Universal don't seem to realize is that the money they "save" by paying as low as they do is made completely a wash by the fact that their turnover rates are so high. It's not cheap to onboard employees and they are literally doing at least 1-2 new hire company orientations every WEEK. Those people that train those classes do not solely train those, nor do the on-the-job trainers only perform that role. They often have other roles they perform and are paid a premium when training.

If Disney raises wages to a living wage amount even for the "entry-level" work, they would no longer have to be looked at as the employer that will literally hire anyone with a pulse (as they are currently seen), but instead as the company where roles are in short supply, but the perks are good and the competition is fierce. Disney would be able to, as you say, hire and retain the best of the best, being able to truly deliver on this "above and beyond" style of guest service they aspire to, and in turn be able to demand that type of performance from their employees.

I know many people who would love nothing more than just quit their job and work for Disney but won't do it because they know the living conditions most employees there face. THESE are the people Disney wants but, for the most part, it's not the people they're getting. They may get some of the post-College Program kids that decide that the lower wages are worth the experience but even they get disenfranchised after a few years and wind up moving back home.

 

[Andrew C]

Wait...is this not happening anymore?

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-wages-20150313-story.html

 

[rucifee]

Wait...is this not happening anymore?

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-wages-20150313-story.html

"Some Disney employees who made more than the minimum did not like the contract terms. They get raises of 50 cents per hour each year and considered that a minimal pay boost."
Oh, they get $.50 more? Lets celebrate by being able to buy two whole bottles of water at WDW with those extra daily earnings! SMH

 

[Andrew C]

"Some Disney employees who made more than the minimum did not like the contract terms. They get raises of 50 cents per hour each year and considered that a minimal pay boost."
Oh, they get $.50 more? Lets celebrate by being able to buy two whole bottles of water at WDW with those extra daily earnings! SMH

So raising the minimum from $8.03 to $10.00 in less than 2 years isn't significant to you? It isn't significant that there is (or may be) a ripple effect in the area as other companies raise their minimum wages as the article suggests? I thought this is what everyone wanted to see? Higher wages for those earning the least?

 

[lazyboy97o]

My pay stubs and tax returns from the last 8 years beg to differ.

Then you have a strong sense of civic duty or are doing your taxes wrong.

This is another thought I've posted before.

$DIS is BY FAR the largest employer in the Orlando area. If they raised their compensation to one more appropriate for Premium Service, this would cause two things:

1. They would attract the best service workers in the area.
2. Surrounding businesses would be forced to raise their wages to compete for talent.

End result: A local population with more money to spend on your product.

That end result would be very shorted lived. Businesses would smaller margins would raise prices to keep up. And most significantly rents (often the biggest single cost for the working poor at an average of 30% of income) would increase to fit the suddenly increased demand to the relatively static supply.

 

[rucifee]

So raising the minimum from $8.03 to $10.00 in less than 2 years isn't significant to you? It isn't significant that there is (or may be) a ripple effect in the area as other companies raise their minimum wages as the article suggests? I thought this is what everyone wanted to see? Higher wages for those earning the least?

Is it significant, maybe. Is it enough? No, the minimum probably needed to be raised then rather than now. The bottom line here is that those who have worked for 40 years as top level attractions cast members will only be paid $14.57 per hour. Is it good that new employees start higher? Yes. Is it great? Nah.

 

[raven]

Bingo.

I'm not sure how Disney works though, these people you are referring to, are they making the same hourly rate as a 1st or 2nd year employee?

These people are making the same rate as a newly hired CM when they've been there over 5 years. Any "raise" that happens is miniscule and extremely rare. And if they ever do get a raise, the Unions will raise their dues. So basically the the raise goes to the unions and not the employee.

 

[French Quarter]

ehhh....without getting political I would say Americans don't like the federal government intruding in their lives (in general at least). And of course, this is my opinion of how I see the majority of my fellow Americans

Yes...that is what I was saying.

 

[lazyboy97o]

These people are making the same rate as a newly hired CM when they've been there over 5 years. Any "raise" that happens is miniscule and extremely rare. And if they ever do get a raise, the Unions will raise their dues. So basically the the raise goes to the unions and not the employee.

The the employees need to fire their union, which I admit is not at all an easy feat.

 

[French Quarter]

Americans take a lot of things for granted, and despite seeing a million ways everyday that people make stupid & wrong decisions (like making a FP for Stitch), believe that in an unregulated world, people would make the right decisions. (They can't make them with their choice in life partners, parenting, etc, but business, no that would be run perfectly, all the time!) So its not like people want anarchy, they have just convinced themselves that there isn't a need. We are so far removed from what life was like here pre-WWII that we can't even imagine what the country was like to drive the choices that resulted in the institution of labor laws, unions, minimum wages, anti-poverty programs, etc in the first place. I suspect the devastation of WWII, rebuilding, the Iron Curtain, fall of Communism has given Europeans a more first-hand experience of how bad things can get, and in other parts of the world, more recent terrible events provided similar illumination. Even if you didn't live it, parents and grandparents experienced the effects and younger people notice their habits. All of my Grandparents operated under a different set of rules, not ever quite being able to rid themselves of the pains of living through the Great Depression and war rationing, quite a difference in attitude than the frivolity of today.

Yes this has been my observation to.

I didn't mean anarchy as in chaos. I meant anarchy as in living without governance.

And just to clarify for others, my comments weren't meant to be negative. Just my perspective on America as compared to other countries.

 

[French Quarter]

It's the whole reason the Untied States exists. The concept of a government as provider is nothing new and very much relates to the founding rebellion. The United States is also just that, plural, and there remains a strong emphasis on the local.

That also fascinates me. That the U.S. broke ties with Britan because it didn't want to be told what to do. Then, one of the first things it did was develop a government to tell it what to do. Seems like replacing one system with another.

 

[French Quarter]

My pay stubs and tax returns from the last 8 years beg to differ.

You don't get a tax refund?

 

[French Quarter]

Great points! Using that logic, I will always be "entry level" because by choosing to terminate my education at the Master's level, I will be limited in what English courses I can and cannot teach. I'll also never have the chance for a tenured position at a four year university and I probably won't be considered for larger leadership roles (like chair of a department).

This might be a terrible example, by the way

I think the poster was talking about unskilled workers, more so than entry level. It is somewhat unreasonable to think that, as an unskilled labourer, you are going to make as much money as someone in a different field with an education. Should your pay increase as you stay in a job longer? Absolutely. But to say that you should be capable as a regular CM to make what a professor or dental hygienist does ever seems odd.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That also fascinates me. That the U.S. broke ties with Britan because it didn't want to be told what to do. Then, one of the first things it did was develop a government to tell it what to do. Seems like replacing one system with another.

A big point of the founding ideology is that governments should not tell the people what to do but the people should tell the government what to do; government that more reacts instead of being proactive and involved.

 

[raven]

The the employees need to fire their union, which I admit is not at all an easy feat.

Especially when they never answer their phone calls, emails or other correspondence. Learned that I had to send a Certified Mail letter to make sure I knew they got it.

 

[JoeCamel]

That also fascinates me. That the U.S. broke ties with Britan because it didn't want to be told what to do. Then, one of the first things it did was develop a government to tell it what to do. Seems like replacing one system with another.

The basis was to get people telling us what to do BUT we had a say in who those people are. ("No taxation without representation"). In other words we got to elect them rather than a family ruling us and that rule being passed down through the generations.

Sadly it is no longer the people who elect the government, it is special interests and lobbyists.

Ok, back to perks being cut from CMs. I say vote with your feet, if the wage or benefits are no longer what you will work for then move on or get training so you can move up

 

[ford91exploder]

You don't get a tax refund?

If they are married probably NOT they probably ended up writing a check to uncle sugar, Who promptly sent that money to someone who has never held a job.