Originally Posted By Westsider Al Lutz talked about this in his update today, and here in the Learning Center (which is more of a CM gossip lounge with Internet access than anything to do with "learning") other CM's are also talking about their friends who can't get hired at DL anymore. Basically, the Disneyland Resort is now fully staffed and has been for several months. Very few people are leaving, something I can attest to, and everyone is now scared to call in anymore for fear of losing their jobs and not being able to hire back in after a couple of months. Casting did shut down for two weeks and reopened yesterday with a skeleton crew, basically just enough people to process the top applicants and put them on a waiting list if they want to wait up to six months for a call back. I know a girl who worked in Casting and has been reassigned to another department that doesn't even need her, and so far for the last two days she says she just sat in a cubicle waiting for someone to tell her what to do or invite her to a meeting or something. Today at lunch she snuck off property because she was afraid if she went to the Eat Ticket cafeteria at TDA someone would ask her what she has been doing in her "new role". As far as she can tell, she has no role and no apparent responsibility. I'm sure they'll figure it out eventually, but for now she just sits there rustling papers whenever someone walks by who might be a boss. Casting is a shell of its former self, with no apparent need this winter. So, for those former CM's that thought they might hire back in 2009 doesn't look like it's going to be your year. I was told Casting is now basically throwing out any application from a former CM with a "Restricted" rehire status, and even "YES" rehire statuses are suspect because Casting knows managers never documented everything and YES rehire statuses don't mean much anymore. To get a shot at being put on a waiting list you need to be a new face with no prior history at Disneyland and have a stellar interview and presentation. Prior work experience is a must, and impressive extra-curricular activities and education help. It's amazing how quickly things changed, isn't it? From my perspective, it is already better having a more stable workforce who knows what they are doing more often than not. It makes the work easier that way when you aren't constantly surrounded by new hires or rehires from other departments. Personally, I hope it stays this way for a long time.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Interesting. And over in the WDW section, we have reports of "full-time" CMs stretching to get even 35 hours a week, let alone 40 hours. Contrast this with a couple of years ago when it seems that there were severe problems in hiring to fill all of the available positions.
Originally Posted By alexbook >>The Labor Department will release its December employment report on Friday at 8:30 a.m. EST. According to a Reuters poll, economists are expecting payroll jobs to drop 500,000, bringing job losses for all 2008 to about 2.5 million.<< <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE50439I20090105" target="_blank">http://www.reuters.com/article...20090105</a> I'm just sayin'...
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but it sounds a lot like a place that is planning on doing cuts in the near future. No one gets hired, the few that do leave take care of a little bit of attrition, and they won't have to lay off the newly hired, lower paid workers when the cuts come. Instead, they'll get to lop off some higher paid employees. Not that I want to be a downer or anything, I really don't.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones When the economy picks up again, don't worry, most people won't settle for employment at Disneyland anymore until they change their ways.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << When the economy picks up again . . >> Not happening anytime soon, especially in So. Cal.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "When the economy picks up again, don't worry, most people won't settle for employment at Disneyland anymore until they change their ways." At least if you have anything to say about it.
Originally Posted By gadzuux It does seem like the kind of place where you wouldn't work there long if you didn't want to do it. There are easier ways of making more money. You have to park far away from your worksite and be shuttled in, you have to wear clothing provided for you (sometimes really weird clothing too), you're effectively trapped at your workplace for your entire shift (no running out for coffee or lunch or errands), and often dealing with heavy crowds inside the park and snarls of traffic coming and going. It sounds exhausting to me. I'd be looking for something else within six months tops. Unless you really enjoy working at the circus for peanuts, which (being a DL fan) I can understand too. But not everybody feels like we do.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones The most damning part of the article. "The work environment for those hourly folks is still just as unimpressive as it used to be, with decrepit break rooms, inedible slop in the hourly cafeterias, and out of touch TDA leaders reading their lines via PowerPoint to a glassy-eyed audience that tuned them out years ago" Never mind that they aren't paid very well. The recession has effectively "fixed" Disneyland's casting problem and they didn't even have to lift a finger.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Forgive me SpokkerJones for not being hip to all the jive, but what exactly is your continual beef with Disneyland?
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones I enjoy keeping up on Disneyland news, issues and controversies and post what I feel about what I read and hear.
Originally Posted By beamerdog >>It does seem like the kind of place where you wouldn't work there long if you didn't want to do it. There are easier ways of making more money. You have to park far away from your worksite and be shuttled in, you have to wear clothing provided for you (sometimes really weird clothing too), you're effectively trapped at your workplace for your entire shift (no running out for coffee or lunch or errands), and often dealing with heavy crowds inside the park and snarls of traffic coming and going.<< Exactly like working the games at a baseball stadium!
Originally Posted By VanFrance2009 Between Al's second hand knowledge and Westsider's first hand experience, it sounds like we can all look forward to getting the type of service that we SHOULD get when visiting Disneyland. I love it that former Cast Members that have blown their opportunity in the past no longer have access to that revolving door that was once Casting. If one has a restricted rehire status, it probably means that you just weren't cut out for this type of work. And Westsider, if you are right about Casting digging deeper into the records of the former Cast Members that have yes rehire status, I think that is amazing. I could imagine a scenario where former Cast Member that has a yes rehire status but when you check their work history, you find out that they have warnings for Disney Look or that they called in sick on Christmas and New Years Eve - why would Disneyland want those people back??? Good riddance, I say. Westsider - are those folks REALLY being turned away? It's not a right to work at Disneyland, it is an honor. And if you blow that opportunity, TOO BAD! Call me crazy but I'm excited that it is difficult to get a job at Disneyland. I think it should be. It will be interesting to see how long Casting is in this mode. If this keeps up for a substantial period of time, both Cast Members and guests will no longer be able to lay the blame of poor service at the feet of the new Cast Members. It seems to me, that blame (if necessary) will be directed to the leaders of those Cast Members that have either not taken the time to develop their Cast or have not taken the time to manage them out of Disneyland. VF2009
Originally Posted By SuperDry <<< I could imagine a scenario where former Cast Member that has a yes rehire status but when you check their work history, you find out that they have warnings for Disney Look >>> That's an interesting point, what you say about the Disney Look. I wonder if resort management will take the current employment climate as an opportunity to better enforce the Disney Look and similar rules? I'm thinking along the lines of prohibiting sunglasses that don't allow for eye contact, use of CM cellphones on stage, and CMs engaged in on-stage conversations with each other at the expense of guest contact, and so on. Perhaps now is the opportune time to address these issues, such that the corporate culture can be swayed back to the old ways of doing things, and hopefully have at least some effect going forward when the employment pendulum swings back in the other direction.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "It's not a right to work at Disneyland, it is an honor." Hahaha. "Call me crazy but I'm excited that it is difficult to get a job at Disneyland. I think it should be." It's only difficult because so many people are settling to work there because the unemployment rate is so high, and climbing. It's nothing Disney did. Disney did not offer higher pay nor did they improve workplace conditions. Don't worry, when the economy improves in late '09/early '10 Disneyland will be back to near 100% turnover rates. Everybody is holding on to their crappy jobs in this environment.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones "and hopefully have at least some effect going forward when the employment pendulum swings back in the other direction." What effect will it have when the economy improves? People will put up with the BS from guests and management as long as the economy is in the can. Once job prospects improve, many CMs will leave in droves unless TDA fixes the underlying problems that caused the employment woes in the first place.
Originally Posted By VanFrance2009 "many CMs will leave in droves unless TDA fixes the underlying problems that caused the employment woes in the first place." It seems to me that the underlying problem that has been hurting the efforts of Casting can be directly tied back to nearly doubling of the required amount of Cast Members when the Resort expanded. There was never an opportunity to reach a new sort of equilibrium for the labor needs of the Resort and the Casting department was forced to have almost monthly Job Fairs for years and years. I find it hard to believe that the Cast Member experience is so much worse than it used to be. I think that may be people wishing for "the Good Old Day" without knowing what they were really about.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA ^^^nice screen name there. I actually knew Van France and worked with him when I was at The Disney University. Cool guy.
Originally Posted By monorailblue <<I find it hard to believe that the Cast Member experience is so much worse than it used to be. I think that may be people wishing for "the Good Old Day" without knowing what they were really about.>> BEEEEEEP. Wrong answer. Try again. I'm about to hit my 15th anniversary of my first day of Disneyland work. I can say with absolute certainty that the work environment, perks, etc. are worse than they used to be in many ways. But that's only a tangent to what I wanted to say. I hired in at the resort three times (and left each time with a positive re-hire, free of excessive call-ins, appearance issues, etc.). The first time, the process took four months--to get a seasonal job washing dishes and bussing tables. They were exceptionally choosy, because turnover was very low and job satisfaction was exceptionally high. By my third application, the entire process, from applying to actually being offered a position, took less than one working day. In that same time period, I lost a permanent locker, lost the ability to park on-site, got a substantially worse wage (as a % of CA minimum wage), fewer cast activities, very strict rules on cast items (remember when we used to be able to make sanctioned t-shirts, anyone?), a hugely expanded management structure (including supervisors who often weren't signed off to work the jobs they supervised), reduced benefits, reduced discounts on many items (including admission media), loosened grooming standards, diminished/weakened Show standards (TL 98 Costumes, elimination of boots at Big Thunder, etc.) and on and on and on. Where once depended on a system of individual initiative and responsibility, they resort shifted dramatically into strict computer and surveillance of each moment of the day. An example of this is TGS. 15 years ago, any Cast member, of any location or status, had the ability to provide a number of items to Guests as service recovery, without ANY supervisory approval. (This included up to $25 or $30 in merchandise, if I remember correctly.) This system functioned for many years because the Cast were spectacular. When the work and benefits soured, the Cast followed. Over time, the Cast could not be left with this power, so supervisory approval for many types of Guest recovery was required. Rotations were replaced with CDS--the Cast couldn't be trusted to work as they should, so a computer had to mandate every move. Scheduling had to be replaced with GEMS--managers and schedulers couldn't be trusted to make the "best" schedules, to the computer does it. And on and on. The reasons behind each of these things are myriad--not just the economy and not just corporate mandates and not just increased competition in the workplace and not just DCA and not just Paul Pressler and so forth. Reaching a point where Casting can be choosier again will, hopefully, breathe a bit of life into the real Cast Member spirit, now so long battered and beaten and mostly forgotten.
