I never had the opportunity to trail a manager because most of the time, we are really busy as housekeepers. We are always trying to make sure our rooms cleaned and our guests are satisfied and it mostly takes up the whole day of our shift already. We also don’t often have a lot of contact with our manager except for at the beginning of our shifts and at the end when we give in our keys and hand in our keys back unless there was a problem with a guest that needs a manager to step in, but I would say, housekeepers have a lot of responsibilities individually even when we are not managers ourselves. When guests have complaints, they will definitely come up to housekeepers and complain. Part of a manager’s role is to take care of guests, and so do housekeepers as well.
I know as a housekeeper manager, they are not only required to make sure their housekeepers are keeping up with the cleanliness of the rooms, but also to make sure their guests are enjoying their stay here.
I have had quite a few opportunity to network. I attended a housekeeping town hall where all current housekeepers and custodial gather together to meet and talk with housekeeping managers or even executive managers to talk about our feelings towards our roles. I noticed a lot of managers started out from the bottom, such as being a CP and worked their way up top. It takes a lot of hard work to become a manager but Disney always have people observing and looking out for potential managers everywhere so if the person is working hard, they will definitely take notes.
One of the housekeeping managers in the resort I work in started from a front desk position for one year before being promoted into a manager! It was definitely impressive because she was able to be promoted within such a short time. Then after working as a front desk manager, she was able to transfer to housekeeping manager. In fact, a lot of managers here at Disney, have had experience working as a manager for various different departments even if they have never had any prior experience within that department before; Disney is always moving their managers around for opportunities and experiences.
Attending events, recognition, remembering all your managers first name AND last name is definitely helpful with networking, as well as collecting their business cards.
I still remember on the first day of my training, my CP manager in my resort told me, “A lot of front desk managers started out as housekeepers.”
Fiona Deng
Housekeeper
Caribbean Beach Resort
I agree with you. Many managers i have meet were CP’s and worked up through hard work and dedication. I have noticed they usually move the managers around alot which is really essential because they are able to do more and have more opportunities. Meeting managers in a department you are interested is really good for you because they can explain first hand how you can work up to that position. Also one manager from the disney cruise line has told me that leaving the company and building up your resume and returning back with more experience will also help you in the long run because it shows dedication and hard work. Also when you return you can give them a different perspective which always helps.
Disney is great in providing networking opportunities. The fact that they have promoted so many people from within proves that they support the notion of networking to build a stronger employee base. Make sure to make time to attend more of the networking events they offer.