Read and React #4

It’s been five months since I started working for the Walt Disney Company and to be honest, I’m starting to feel jaded sometimes. I got used to answering a bunch of same questions over and over during shifts at Magic Kingdom like; why we don’t sell beer at Magic Kingdom, why we can’t refill their resort mugs, why we close early during holiday parties, why is the menu so expensive, where is the bathroom, ATM, smoking area, charging station, attractions such as Space Mountain and Mine Train even though they are right in front of the said attraction, what is mac and cheese, why is there no microwave, why is your magic band touch point not working, where is Gaston or other face characters – even though it says on the mydisney app, park map, and events guide the meet and greet hours, what time is the 3 o’clock parade, what time is wishes, where can I see the fireworks and lots of very unique questions. I always try to maintain a happy and kind demeanor when approaching guests who asked questions like this to avoid misunderstanding.

In the article, “Why Do Employees Stay? A Qualitative Exploration of Employee Tenure” by Self and Dewald, both authors talk about full time employees’ common characteristics regarding tenure and retention with one company. They basically did a research study about full time employees in a restaurant setting who retain their post for longer periods of time and avoid a restaurants employee turnover. A turnover in a restaurant business cost a lot of money for business owners. Most managers are trying to change their way of interviewing potential employees and avoid the ‘halo effect’ or a biased impression of how managers think about a potential candidate. Also, hiring managers use key factors like realistic job description, maturity or sense of responsibility, friends work, and financial need to work as a guideline that help distinguish potential long term employees.

In comparison to the Walt Disney Company leaders, coordinators, trainers and even human resource department create ways in spreading magic to their cast members and keep most of them happy. As far as human resource goes, they created a very detailed job description in the company’s website to become an employer of interest for qualified applicants. Another example are the leaders of my current work location creates a monthly gathering for all Stands East cast members like bowling or parties and still maintain a professional and fair treatment at work. In spite of this, management cannot keep all full time cast members happy and I am a witness to some negative feedbacks coming from disgruntled full timers. An example is scheduling because they change the scheduler and that particular cast member is messing the full timer’s schedule. Most of them are getting evening shifts and the morning shifts are being given to some CP’s. This particular incident creates animosity towards cast members and CP’s and sometimes it affects how some guests perceive some full timers facial expression resulting to a heated argument. I have learned that two seasoned cast members quit since June because of some misunderstanding. I just hope that they fix this soon to preserve the magic to all cast members and retain current and potential long term cast members.