You know, it’s kind of ironic that — just last week — Walt Disney World management honored the resort’s cast members by giving them their very own “Window on Main Street.” For now — just a few days after giving them that window — the Mouse appears to be giving long-time WDW employees the shaft.
Don’t believe me? Then take a gander at this e-mail that I just recieved from a rather disgruntled Disney World cast member:
Jim:
I haven’t seen anything yet up on JHM about all the problems that the Mouse is having with finding people to work at Walt Disney World these days. So — just in case you hadn’t heard about this, Jim — I thought that I’d share a few stories.
Do you know how Disney used to have this hard-and-fast rule about how you had to be at least 16-years-old before you could work at WDW? Well, that rule’s not so hard-and-fast anymore.
An e-mail just went out to all Disney World cast members announcing that the company was now willing to make an exception for the children of WDW employees. So — if you had a son or daughter that was at least 15 years old — you were then encouraged to bring them by the Casting Center for a job interview.
Mind you, this e-mail didn’t limit Disney World cast members from just recruiting their own sons or their daughters. The way this note was written, if your second cousin’s foster child just turned 15, you are still encouraged to bring them onto property to come for a job interview.
That makes the Mouse sound desperate, doesn’t it? You don’t know the half of it, Jim. You know those 4,000 people that Disney just hired out of Polk County? Many of these new cast members are so poor that they don’t have their own cars. Which is why — in order to get these people to property to work — Disney had to arrange free transportation for them.
That’s right. Free transportation for 4000 new hires. That means — Monday through Friday — a fleet of buses leaves various points in Polk County at 7 a.m. to truck all of these people up to Orange County. Just so they can then be on property at 9 a.m. to begin working. Then — at 5 p.m. — this process reverses itself. With all these new hires climbing back onto buses to begin their long trip back to Polk County. Just so they can all be home for dinner by 7 p.m.
That sounds like a pretty nice thing for the Mouse to do, don’t you think? Well, not if you’re a full-time WDW employee.
What’s the problem? Well, you see, because all of those new hirees having to be on buses headed back to Polk County at 5 p.m., that means that these folks got all the 9-to-5 jobs. Which means — in order to accommodate all these new Polk County people — veteran Disney World cast members are now having their hours all shifted around. With employees who used to have 9-to-5 schedules winding up with opening or closing shifts at the theme parks. Which is really screwing up a lot of people’s home lives.
So the downside of this new Polk County program is that some of WDW’s very best employees — the cast members who hung in there through thick & thin, the people who came into work in the middle of all of those hurricanes last year — they’re now being stuck with all these lousy shifts. Which is why a lot of these people are now thinking about quitting the Walt Disney Company.
So you see, Disney’s effort to tap into Polk County’s previously untapped workforce may result in a lot of employees who live the Orange County & Oceola County area opting to stop working at the Walt Disney World Resort. Which means that the Mouse — after blowing all this money to provide free transportation for all these new hires — is now going to have to find even more people to cover for all those cast members who quit working for Disney because their 9-to-5 shifts were given to someone from Polk County.
Confusing, ain’t it?
I just wanted to drop you a note, Jim, because I was hoping that you could somehow get the word out to Disney World management that — while they’re concentrating on finding new people to come work at their parks — they’re unintentionally creating a working environment that’s making a lot of long-time employees think about bailing out of the Mouse House.
I mean, giving us a window is nice and all. But you know what WDW cast members really need right now? A break. Plus a management team that realizes that the resort’s veteran employees deserve some respect & consideration from the Disney Company because they were actually there first.
Which is why these people (I.E. The folks with families. You know, the cast members with the 15-year-old sons & daughters that Disney now wants to try & recruit to come work at their resort?) deserve the 9-to-5 shifts. Not the new hirees.
Thanks for letting me vent, Jim.
Well, here’s hoping that someone in WDW management actually does read JHM. More importantly, that they take this heartfelt plea to heart.
Your thoughts?