Will The Last One Out Turn Off The Lights?
Posted: Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:46 am
From MiceAge
Cast (Away) Members
The more immediate question to be asked though is will there be any Cast Members left to work any new rides yet to be built? The infamously high turnover rate amongst Anaheim's hourly ranks we've told you about in the past has only gotten worse during 2006. Annual turnover rates have edged over 100% for some operational departments now, with the theme park Foods department now dealing with a turnover rate of 113% and the Outdoor Vending department reeling from a 125% turnover rate.
The Stores department, made up of all of those frenzied clerks dealing with maddening crowds at The Emporium or World of Disney at the end of the night, now has a 93% rate. And even the once glamorous Attractions department that used to pick the cream of the crop amongst the long line of applicants now has an annual turnover rate of 85%. These figures didn't get that bad overnight, we've been mentioning them for quite some time, and yet in just the last couple of months the TDA executives finally woke up to the crisis at hand and are now openly talking about it.
The answer to regular readers seems so obvious, doesn't it? Pay the Cast Members a bit more, and at least match the wages In N' Out Burger, UPS or Costco are offering, and then simply treat the hourly ranks with as much respect and dignity that the salaried ranks in TDA are given. Clean up and remodel the disgusting break rooms, fix the pathetic parking lot shuttle service, have the cafeteria cook a chicken cutlet that is actually edible, and provide reasonable flexibility to the schedules for young kids who are trying to go to college and work at Disneyland at the same time. If you had to try to corral 45,000 screaming tourists during the poorly engineered fireworks every weekend at Disneyland for 8 bucks an hour, you might appreciate a few simple pleasantries and professional courtesies from your employer, don't you think?
Yet in the grand tradition of too many modern Human Resources departments, nothing can ever be that easy. Instead of simply making the obvious fixes that anyone who was truly in touch with the situation could clearly understand need to be made, TDA is now undertaking a long series of "focus groups" and "fact finding missions" to try to "dig deep" into the alarming turnover rate. Interestingly, the TDA Human Resources department seems to have lost all of that similar information they gathered at some expense just a few years ago when they were trying to figure out why their hourly turnover rate had just hit the then shocking rate of 45%. Now that most hourly departments are at somewhere north of a 90% turnover rate, TDA's Human Resources group feels compelled to roll out an entirely new set of research to see if the answers are any different from five years ago when the turnover rate was only 45%.
To TDA's limited credit, they did just recently enact an emergency pilot program in regards to scheduling. The Casting Center is now offering part time positions to applicants who only have to work on Saturdays and Sundays year round, with no requirement that they increase their availability during the busiest weeks of Christmas, Easter Vacation or summer. In the past, the lowest level seniority Cast Members would need to be available at least five days a week during the peak holiday periods and in summer, with weekend availability only granted during the slow months. But for the next 90 days Casting will be offering weekend only positions that blow those decades old scheduling conventions out of the water. Current Cast Members aren't allowed to transfer into the new limited availability ranks, and as this just started last week in Casting that is news that is bound to frustrate current Cast Members. But at least there is one decision that was thought up outside the box when it comes to the horrific turnover rates.
Overall however, it's as if the big yellow TDA building was a living Dilbert cartoon here folks. In the grand scheme of things, especially when it comes to the treatment of the hourly ranks, you simply couldn't make up this level of management ineptness if you tried.
Cast (Away) Members
The more immediate question to be asked though is will there be any Cast Members left to work any new rides yet to be built? The infamously high turnover rate amongst Anaheim's hourly ranks we've told you about in the past has only gotten worse during 2006. Annual turnover rates have edged over 100% for some operational departments now, with the theme park Foods department now dealing with a turnover rate of 113% and the Outdoor Vending department reeling from a 125% turnover rate.
The Stores department, made up of all of those frenzied clerks dealing with maddening crowds at The Emporium or World of Disney at the end of the night, now has a 93% rate. And even the once glamorous Attractions department that used to pick the cream of the crop amongst the long line of applicants now has an annual turnover rate of 85%. These figures didn't get that bad overnight, we've been mentioning them for quite some time, and yet in just the last couple of months the TDA executives finally woke up to the crisis at hand and are now openly talking about it.
The answer to regular readers seems so obvious, doesn't it? Pay the Cast Members a bit more, and at least match the wages In N' Out Burger, UPS or Costco are offering, and then simply treat the hourly ranks with as much respect and dignity that the salaried ranks in TDA are given. Clean up and remodel the disgusting break rooms, fix the pathetic parking lot shuttle service, have the cafeteria cook a chicken cutlet that is actually edible, and provide reasonable flexibility to the schedules for young kids who are trying to go to college and work at Disneyland at the same time. If you had to try to corral 45,000 screaming tourists during the poorly engineered fireworks every weekend at Disneyland for 8 bucks an hour, you might appreciate a few simple pleasantries and professional courtesies from your employer, don't you think?
Yet in the grand tradition of too many modern Human Resources departments, nothing can ever be that easy. Instead of simply making the obvious fixes that anyone who was truly in touch with the situation could clearly understand need to be made, TDA is now undertaking a long series of "focus groups" and "fact finding missions" to try to "dig deep" into the alarming turnover rate. Interestingly, the TDA Human Resources department seems to have lost all of that similar information they gathered at some expense just a few years ago when they were trying to figure out why their hourly turnover rate had just hit the then shocking rate of 45%. Now that most hourly departments are at somewhere north of a 90% turnover rate, TDA's Human Resources group feels compelled to roll out an entirely new set of research to see if the answers are any different from five years ago when the turnover rate was only 45%.
To TDA's limited credit, they did just recently enact an emergency pilot program in regards to scheduling. The Casting Center is now offering part time positions to applicants who only have to work on Saturdays and Sundays year round, with no requirement that they increase their availability during the busiest weeks of Christmas, Easter Vacation or summer. In the past, the lowest level seniority Cast Members would need to be available at least five days a week during the peak holiday periods and in summer, with weekend availability only granted during the slow months. But for the next 90 days Casting will be offering weekend only positions that blow those decades old scheduling conventions out of the water. Current Cast Members aren't allowed to transfer into the new limited availability ranks, and as this just started last week in Casting that is news that is bound to frustrate current Cast Members. But at least there is one decision that was thought up outside the box when it comes to the horrific turnover rates.
Overall however, it's as if the big yellow TDA building was a living Dilbert cartoon here folks. In the grand scheme of things, especially when it comes to the treatment of the hourly ranks, you simply couldn't make up this level of management ineptness if you tried.