IT Workers at Walt Disney World

[mrte62]

At the end of October, IT employees at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts were called, one-by-one, into conference rooms to receive notice of their layoffs. Multiple conference rooms had been set aside for this purpose, and in each room an executive read from a script informing the worker that their last day would be Jan. 30, 2015.

Some workers left the rooms crying; others appeared shocked. This went on all day. As each employee received a call to go to a conference room, others in the office looked up sometimes with pained expressions. One IT worker recalls a co-worker mouthing "no" as he walked by on the way to a conference room.

What follows is a story of competing narratives about the restructuring of Disney's global IT operations of its parks and resorts division. But the focus is on the role of H-1B workers. Use of visa workers in a layoff is a public policy issue, particularly for Disney.

Disney CEO Bob Iger is one of eight co-chairs of the Partnership for a New American Economy, a leading group advocating for an increase in the H-1B visa cap. Last Friday, this partnership was a sponsor of an H-1B briefing at the U.S. Capitol for congressional staffers. The briefing was closed to the press.

One of the briefing documents handed out at the congressional forum made this claim: "H-1B workers complement - instead of displace - U.S. Workers." It explains that as employers use foreign workers to fill "more technical and low-level jobs, firms are able to expand" and allow U.S. workers "to assume managerial and leadership positions."


The document was obtained by Norman Matloff, a computer science professor at the University of California at Davis and a longtime critic of the H-1B program. He posted it on his blog.

Disney says its restructuring wasn't about displacing workers, but was intended to shift more IT resources to projects involving innovation. That involves hiring many new people to fill new roles. Prior to the reorganization, 28% of Disney's IT staff were in roles focused on new capabilities; after this reorganization, that figure was 65%, a source at Disney said.

"We have restructured our global technology organization to significantly increase our cast member focus on future innovation and new capabilities, and are continuing to work with leading technical firms to maintain our existing systems as needed," Jacquee Wahler, a Walt Disney World spokesperson, said in a statement.

Disney officials did not want to comment about the situation beyond that statement.

From the perspective of five laid-off Disney IT workers, all of whom agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, Disney cut well-paid and longtime staff members, some who had been previously singled out for excellence, as it shifted work to contractors. These contractors used foreign labor, mostly from India. The laid-off workers believe the primary motivation behind Disney's action was cost-cutting.

"Some of these folks were literally flown in the day before to take over the exact same job I was doing," said one of the IT workers who lost his job. He trained his replacement and is angry over the fact he had to train someone from India "on site, in our country."

Disney officials promised new job opportunities as a result of the restructuring, and employees marked for termination were encouraged to apply for those positions. But the workers interviewed said they knew of few co-workers who had landed one of the new jobs.

Employees said the original number of workers laid off back in October was more than several hundred. But the Disney source put that number lower, saying approximately 135 IT workers lost their jobs.

Disney has long used contractors at its IT operations in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., at a building called "Team Disney." Workers on visas were likely in use well before the restructuring. But in the period after the October layoff notifications, IT workers said they observed a marked increase in people they believe were new to the U.S.

It's difficult to determine how many H-1B workers, L-1 visa workers or contractor workers generally, were at this Disney site. Only a couple of workers asked the contractors where they lived or if they were on a visa. It was an awkward conversation and generally avoided. But one observation all of the workers recounted was the widespread use of Hindi.

Several of these workers, in interviews, said they didn't want to appear as xenophobic, but couldn't help but to observe, as one did, that "there were times when I didn't hear English spoken" in the hallways. As the layoff date neared, "I really felt like a foreigner in that building," the worker said.

In the Team Disney office, two of the contractors, HCL and Cognizant, had, in total, about 65 Labor Conditional Applications on file in the past year, according to records by MyVisaJobs.com for just that site. But there were other contractors working at Disney, as well, and it's unknown whether temporary workers on L-1 visas were used.

Disney Parks and Resort CIO Tilak Mandadi, in a leaked memo shared Nov. 10 to the IT staff, described the planned transition, told about the posting of new roles and explained the goal to deliver new capability. Disney's culture is to refer to employees as cast members.

The CIO wrote in part: "To enable a majority of our team to shift focus to new capabilities, we have executed five new managed services agreements to support testing services and application maintenance. Last week, we began working with both our internal subject matter experts and the suppliers to start transition planning for these agreements. We expect knowledge transfer to start later this month and last through January. Those Cast Members who are involved will be contacted in the next several weeks."

One of the laid off workers believed there were other ways for Disney to achieve its goals.

"There is no need to have any type of foreigners, boots on the ground, augmenting any type of perceived technological gap," said one worker. "We don't have one, first off."

Workers can be trained, because "once you are in the system and you are a learner, you are a learner for life in IT. You are going to constantly learn."

Kim Berry, president of the Programmer's Guild, said that "Congress should protect American workers by mandating that positions can only be filled by H-1B workers when no qualified American - at any wage - can be found to fill the position."

The use of H-1B workers to displace U.S. workers is getting more attention in Congress. In response to Southern California Edison's use of foreign labor, 10 U.S. senators recently asked three federal agencies to investigate H-1B use. But one agency, the U.S. Department of Labor, wrote back last week and told the lawmakers that large H-1B using firms "are not prohibited from displacing U.S. workers" as long as they meet certain conditions, such as paying each H-1B worker at least $60,000 a year..

[Butters]

And every time you experience a glitch in disneys system this is what we have to thank for it.

[Hammer]

This actually very common in most technology companies (I work in IT). I know many companies with a large percentage of contract workers, most who are H-1B workers. People on both sides of the aisle in Congress aren't willing to lose the financial backing of these corporations to change it.

[RunDMV]

Its bad enough when you squeeze your customers for every last penny. but, doing that to loyal employees is just wrong.

[Mrs Bus Driver]

Makes me think about selling my DVC membership. Might be time to start voting with my $$'s.

[SteveO]

Ok this all strikes me as a big bad bummer. And I'm in IT so it hurts me down to my core. While so many Americans are out of work or underemployed, Disney outsources IT? Ick.

[Mrs Bus Driver]

Isn't Disney supposed to be a family friendly company? What about the families of their employees? For a company that makes ridiculous amounts of profit, whose corporate heads live like billionaire kings, who then go and fire the very people that got them there. So much greed, I just don't understand it. These people have so much money they can't possibly spend it all yet they will fire good people to make their bottom line look a little better. Why? Just how big of a house do they need, owning how many things will satisfy them. I sometimes wonder if corporate executives in this country aren't just a bit insane. :soapbox: stepping down off my soapbox now

[baldburke]

Disney is no different than any other company in this aspect in that they are mindful of the bottom line.

[Biggeek]

I have been an IT professional for nearly 30 years working at everything from small manufacturing companies through Big 5 Consulting firms. I'm NOT defending the outsourcing.. I personally had two positions go offshore.. but that it is not actually the real issue here.

What actually strikes me about this article is how far behind 'The times" Disney is if they are just now beginning to fight through the Layoff / Visa issues. Most of the industry began fighting through those challenges more than ten years ago. For the most part a large portion of companies have worked through that and found an acceptable balance.. and in many cases it really was that entry personnel (those that excelled) rose to the top into other more complex and managerial roles.

The same thing happened in the 70s-80s with manufacturing jobs moving off shore to cheaper labor markets. This pushed many manual labor jobs into engineering and managerial roles then too..

The immaturity of what they are going through here is indicative of how conservative the Parks / Resorts org in Disney really is... and THAT is more likely the reason for the scalability issues and outages/lack of foresight we experience daily with Disney. They're playing catch up to industry. If this was all settled 5-7 years ago like most, they would have laid MDE onto a stable mature infrastructure with well trained personnel running it.

This is a (lack of) leadership issue that that originated 10 years ago.. but took until now to feel the ramifications.

[AgentC]

This actually very common in most technology companies (I work in IT). I know many companies with a large percentage of contract workers, most who are H-1B workers. People on both sides of the aisle in Congress aren't willing to lose the financial backing of these corporations to change it.

This. And even in non IT companies. I work on projects for a financial company. When I started the entire IT staff for our department was onshore. Now we have 3 core state side resources but the majority are off shore.

[firefan43]

Ive seen this before. It pretty much *****. And I hate to say it, but where I have seen this happen...it hasnt worked out well.

[Tekneek]

Disney is a business, and a ruthless one at that. They are ruthless with their employees, just like they are with their vendors and their customers. It is what it is.

[Angryduck]

This is one of those polarizing topics.

Is someone unhappy that Disney treated it's employees like this and want them to treat their cast better than just laying them off like that?

Is a person happy that less contractors are going to be used and that they will use in house, actual cast members now?

Are you happy that a different focus is being taken with this department and we hope something innovative and awesome will come out of it that leads to better experiences for everyone?

I daresay that something like this is so complicated, political and subjective that we cannot help but have different views.

Just some thoughts,

Duck. :)

[Lindsey]

My husband used to work for Disney in IT, and he worked in the Team Disney building. When the layoffs happened we heard about it right away. We still have friends at Disney, most of them in IT. When my husband still worked there, (10 years ago), Disney preferred to hire in-house when a higher position opened up, or hire someone who has worked within Disney before, and contract workers were only used for short-term projects. About 5 years after my husband left that started to change. First the hours got really long for IT workers, then bonuses were cut, then perks were cut, (like silver passes for your family), and then some layoffs started happening. My husband and I were considering moving back to Orlando, and work for Disney again, but our friends cautioned us not to. When this recent massive layoff happened we were stunned. We only have a couple of friends left at Disney now. Everyone we have spoken to has said that around 250 people were let go.

[Lindsey]

The New York Times published an article about this yesterday, (June 3rd), with more info. I've only posted a small snippet of it, if you want to read the full article do a quick Google search. ;)


From The New York Times: In late November, this former employee received his annual performance review, which he provided to The New York Times. His supervisor, who was not aware the man was scheduled for layoff, wrote that because of his superior skills and “outstanding” work, he had saved the company thousands of dollars. The supervisor added that he was looking forward to another highly productive year of having the employee on the team.

The employee got a raise. His severance pay had to be recalculated to include it.

The former Disney employee who is 57 worked in project management and software development. His résumé lists a top-level skill certification and command of seven operating systems, 15 program languages and more than two dozen other applications and media.

“I was forced into early retirement,” he said. The timing was “horrible,” he said, because his wife recently had a medical emergency with expensive bills. Shut out of Disney, he is looking for a new job elsewhere.

Former employees said many immigrants who arrived were younger technicians with limited data skills who did not speak English fluently and had to be instructed in the basics of the work.

[Hammer]

As I said earlier in the thread, this is a common practice at many companies, not just Disney. I read the article and it makes it sound like Disney invented this practice. I know of H-1B workers being used by Disney for almost 3 years, as one of the H-1 workers who worked for me decided he hated the cold and asked to be transferred to Florida by his contract company. They put him at Disney.

It is definitely a slanted article.

[mrte62]

As I said earlier in the thread, this is a common practice at many companies, not just Disney. I read the article and it makes it sound like Disney invented this practice. I know of H-1B workers being used by Disney for almost 3 years, as one of the H-1 workers who worked for me decided he hated the cold and asked to be transferred to Florida by his contract company. They put him at Disney.

It is definitely a slanted article.

A slanted article? Just because other companies do something, does not make it right. Iger is one of the people leading the charge to increase the use of these visas under the premise that there are not enough skilled US workers to do the job. Disney brought in 250 people to replace skilled US workers for no other reason then to save money, not because the workers were not skilled.

Wow, just wow......

[Hammer]

A slanted article? Just because other companies do something, does not make it right. Iger is one of the people leading the charge to increase the use of these visas under the premise that there are not enough skilled US workers to do the job. Disney brought in 250 people to replace skilled US workers for no other reason then to save money, not because the workers were not skilled.

Wow, just wow......

As I said, many companies do this, including Disney's competition, and they have been doing it for far longer. Those CEOs are with Iger leading the charge as well. Of course it isn't right and I wasn't saying it was. I say the article is slanted because it mentions only Disney, where there are many other companies that do this as well and there wasn't any mention of them.

[FamilyBand1]

This *****. While not all those who were fired LOVED Disney, I imagine most of them did. Seems to me that working at Disney is just a little different than working elsewhere. Do you think the foreign employees have the same excitement working at Disney?
Are ticket prices going down, now that Disney is saving all this money? (...he said, fully loaded with sarcasm)

[mrte62]

As I said, many companies do this, including Disney's competition, and they have been doing it for far longer. Those CEOs are with Iger leading the charge as well. Of course it isn't right and I wasn't saying it was. I say the article is slanted because it mentions only Disney, where there are many other companies that do this as well and there wasn't any mention of them.

I respectfully disagree. While Disney may be doing what other companies are doing, the CEO is part of a group lobbying Congress to extend the visa program allegedly because of the lack of skilled US workers. As we know, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Train the people to take your job (and make sure they do a good job or no severance) is despicable at best .....

[Tekneek]

The whole argument about H1-B Visa programs being necessary due to lack of domestic talent has almost always been a scam. The talent is available, they just do not want to pay them and would prefer to have someone over the H1-B Visa barrel. The employer has a lot more leverage on this employee than one who does not have their legal resident status connected to the job.

Any company that makes this argument, when it is known they sent highly qualified and high performing employees packing, should really be ashamed of themselves. "Norm for the industry" does not make it the ethical thing to do. It also indicates they don't mind lying to save a buck. If a company is willing to lie about the talent level of their employees, there is probably nothing they won't lie about.

[mrte62]

The whole argument about H1-B Visa programs being necessary due to lack of domestic talent has almost always been a scam. The talent is available, they just do not want to pay them and would prefer to have someone over the H1-B Visa barrel. The employer has a lot more leverage on this employee than one who does not have their legal resident status connected to the job.

Any company that makes this argument, when it is known they sent highly qualified and high performing employees packing, should really be ashamed of themselves. "Norm for the industry" does not make it the ethical thing to do. It also indicates they don't mind lying to save a buck. If a company is willing to lie about the talent level of their employees, there is probably nothing they won't lie about.

Completely agree. Truth be told, this is the reason I posted the article in the first place. I am not worried about other companies (on Intercot that is). I am concerned that there may be no limit as to what this regime at Disney might come up with to charge more and more and deliver less and less .... not to mention what they are dreaming up for there employees .... have a magical day...

[texas211]

Well, there again, isn't that every company's goal? Provide as little as possible, for as much profit as possible?

[Tekneek]

Well, there again, isn't that every company's goal? Provide as little as possible, for as much profit as possible?

If you have to be dishonest to make that buck, it is a problem. I wouldn't say that it is every company's goal. The survival of every enterprise is not dependent upon firing domestic employees and replacing them with cheap foreign labor.

[AndrewJackson]

Why is it assumed that these foreign IT employees are less capable or skilled than their American counterparts?

It's better than outsourcing these jobs oversees. In the case of H1-B visas, the local economy still benefits from the employees paying rent, buying gas, eating out, etc.

[Tekneek]

Why is it assumed that these foreign IT employees are less capable or skilled than their American counterparts?

It's better than outsourcing these jobs oversees. In the case of H1-B visas, the local economy still benefits from the employees paying rent, buying gas, eating out, etc.

I'm not assuming that. I'm saying that the claim H1-B Visas are required to address a skill shortage amongst domestic workers is almost always a lie. The truth is usually that the company does not want to pay for the domestic workers. They are simply not being honest. This is also not about Americans vs non-Americans. They opt for H1-B Visa workers over domestic workers, whether they are American or any other citizenship with legal resident status (green card).

[joonyer]

It's a global economy now, and Disney is a global company. The days of any country's labor force demanding and getting higher wages simply because they are native and local to that country are over. There's a worldwide market labor supply available now, and pricing yourself out of that market is not a good idea if you want to compete for jobs. It may not seem "fair" from a patriotic standpoint, but it's good business, especially for global companies. If there are other people who can and will do the job just as well for less $$ than you, why should an employer hire you instead? You better have some good reasons in today's economy.

[Tekneek]

I am not arguing about the fairness of it. I am arguing about the honesty of it. If you want an expansion of H1-B Visa programs because you're too cheap to pay workers that are already here, be honest about it. I realize the truth might be bad PR, but stand by your choices and be proud of them. If they are really the right thing to do, shouldn't you be loud and proud?

[AndrewJackson]

I'm not assuming that. I'm saying that the claim H1-B Visas are required to address a skill shortage amongst domestic workers is almost always a lie. The truth is usually that the company does not want to pay for the domestic workers. They are simply not being honest. This is also not about Americans vs non-Americans. They opt for H1-B Visa workers over domestic workers, whether they are American or any other citizenship with legal resident status (green card).

But someone else, not you, commented that Disney did this to offer less and charge more. "Offering less" implies that these H1B visa workers are less skilled, qualified, etc

[texas211]

Depending on the source, that could be true many times over. If in doubt, call "Bob" from ATT.. :)

[Tekneek]

But someone else, not you, commented that Disney did this to offer less and charge more. "Offering less" implies that these H1B visa workers are less skilled, qualified, etc

Indeed. I don't know how likely that is w/ H1-B Visa issues. I'd say it is very common when jobs are offshored completely.

[EtteDMS]

Several have cited that Disney's actions should not surprise us because businesses all over the country have been doing this for years. We know that. The problem is, we thought Disney was better. We held it to a higher standard. We never imagined that the company that told us, "When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true" would pull the American Dream right out from under its employees feet. We believed.

[Tekneek]

We believed.

I've been there and am in recovery. All of that is clever marketing meant to sell tickets, merchandise, and timeshares. It is absolutely nothing more than that.

[Butters]

Why is it assumed that these foreign IT employees are less capable or skilled than their American counterparts?

It's better than outsourcing these jobs oversees. In the case of H1-B visas, the local economy still benefits from the employees paying rent, buying gas, eating out, etc.

Working in IT for multiple companies all using h1-B visas I can say from experience they are less capable and less skilled then their U.S. Counterparts. They are not brought on for their skill set at ANY company. They are cheaper and companies don't have to provide benefits, along with the ability to quickly cut their contracts.

[Lindsey]

Working in IT for multiple companies all using h1-B visas I can say from experience they are less capable and less skilled then their U.S. Counterparts. They are not brought on for their skill set at ANY company. They are cheaper and companies don't have to provide benefits, along with the ability to quickly cut their contracts.

That is my husbands experience as well.

[Hammer]

Working in IT for multiple companies all using h1-B visas I can say from experience they are less capable and less skilled then their U.S. Counterparts. They are not brought on for their skill set at ANY company. They are cheaper and companies don't have to provide benefits, along with the ability to quickly cut their contracts.


That is my husbands experience as well.

It has depended on the contracting company they came from for their skill level in my case. I have had the least success with the workers assigned to my team from the company Disney is using, as well as another company whose workers are from the Ukraine area. I very much dislike the company that Disney is using as the workers aren't that good. Current company that management is using for my division (most other divisions still use the company Disney is using) the contractors are more solid in IT skills, at least the majority of the time.

I highlighted that last line as that is the trend for most major corporations, sadly.

[firefan43]

Why is it assumed that these foreign IT employees are less capable or skilled than their American counterparts?

It's better than outsourcing these jobs oversees. In the case of H1-B visas, the local economy still benefits from the employees paying rent, buying gas, eating out, etc.

Okay, Im sure this is going to make someone here mad....but I have to reply. I work in I.T. and watched my former employer lay off a couple hundred highly skilled developers, only to hire cheap Indian labor both here and abroad. The question of "are they less capable" isn't even a question. They were absolutely less capable. I am not at all saying they werent intelligent people, they were. They just lacked the education and experience that the people they were replacing had. I watched as that program at my company floundered, and the turnover rate for these imported employees was incredible.

On top of that, there was also the cultural problems. There were very few women working in that group, and those that did were treated horribly by their own countrymen. They didnt respect boundaries for anyone. Hygene was a problem. Theft was an issue. The men would use the womens washroom because they didnt think women deserved their own separate one.

The work ethic was appalling. They thought they had it made here, working for this huge American company, so they slacked off. Managers were constantly having to scold them for wandering around and chatting. They would surf the web all day, often to...um...NSFW websites (yes, at work). They didnt adhere to the rules for internet usage and would often find ways around our firewalls and security so they could go to Indian betting sites and find ways to watch cricket matches....resulting in a horrible amount of viruses and malware.

I have heard people defending the practice of "outsourcing", here and on other websites. I dont think anyone who works directly with these H-1B workers can honestly justify it once they see how awful the entire practice is.

[Stu29573]

People confuse Disney the company with Disney the man. The two have very little to do with each other, unfortunately. In the lean years after WWII, Walt Disney stated that he often stayed up all night trying to figure out how to create work to keep people busy to avoid layoffs. Clearly this loyalty was returned by most of his employees. Now....well, I guess loyalty is very "old fashioned."

[Tekneek]

People confuse Disney the company with Disney the man. The two have very little to do with each other, unfortunately. In the lean years after WWII, Walt Disney stated that he often stayed up all night trying to figure out how to create work to keep people busy to avoid layoffs. Clearly this loyalty was returned by most of his employees. Now....well, I guess loyalty is very "old fashioned."

Everyone that owns Disney stock and operates the Disney company are riding on the coattails of the brand that the Disney brothers worked so hard to create. Instead of trying to embody that same spirit and ideals, they treat it like an ATM and manage it with the only goal to shake more cash out of it over and over. Some will say, "Isn't that what every business exists to do?" I'd say there were many decades where the Disney company was not about that. It was about getting enough money to complete the next big thing (many times something that had never been done before).

[joonyer]

Everyone that owns Disney stock and operates the Disney company are riding on the coattails of the brand that the Disney brothers worked so hard to create. Instead of trying to embody that same spirit and ideals, they treat it like an ATM and manage it with the only goal to shake more cash out of it over and over. Some will say, "Isn't that what every business exists to do?" I'd say there were many decades where the Disney company was not about that. It was about getting enough money to complete the next big thing (many times something that had never been done before).

That sounds "romantic' and "nostalgic" to say that about Walt, and that's how we (myself included) like to remember Walt and the Disney Company from the early days. But the truth is, as always, somewhat more murky than that. While Walt was all about creativity and innovation, he was also very savvy when it came to managing the company's stock prices.

"Walt Disney Productions incorporated in 1938. The company issued its 6% Cumulative Convertible Preferred Stock to the public in 1940; its common stock began trading OTC in 1946; and the company listed on the NYSE on November 12, 1957. If you study the changes Walt Disney made to his eponymous company before it listed on the NYSE, you can see how he primed the company to increase in price and make sure the listing on the NYSE was successful. Walt Disney, his brother Raymond and their wives owned over 25% of the stock. These shares were later put into the Disney Family Voting Trust which held 46.8% of the common stock in 1959. Having such a large ownership of the shares, Walt Disney had every incentive to drive the price up."

The Disney Company did not become a giant in the entertainment industry by accident. Walt did it intentionally.

[DizneyRox]

Read Married to the Mouse if you want some perspective on how shrewd Walt really was. Disney (maybe more broadly the attractions) runs Florida...

[Stu29573]

Noone ever said Walt wasn't shrewd. He had to be. Heck, if you crossed him he could be pretty tough. However, he was about loyalty, and he expected (and usually got it) in return. Being shrewd doesn't mean being heartless.

[AndrewJackson]

Walt Disney trademarked his own name, and then made The Walt Disney Company start paying licensing fees to us it, much to the chagrin of Roy, and without Roy's prior knowledge. There's some old fashioned loyalty for you.

[Stu29573]

Walt Disney trademarked his own name, and then made The Walt Disney Company start paying licensing fees to us it, much to the chagrin of Roy, and without Roy's prior knowledge. There's some old fashioned loyalty for you.

True, but it was on lawyers' advice to protect his family from possible business liability. Probably a more apt example of Walt's business shrewdness in dealing with Roy was when he established Retlaw after Walt Disney Productions filed and won a lawsuit that prevented him from closing on property he wanted to purchase for Disneyland. The creation of Retlaw effectively removed the project from Walt Disney Productions (and Roy). Roy came around later, but there were always hard feelings. In fact, Roy wasn't an ardent supporter of the park until after it became a success (Walt actually got the first bank loan for it by himself). It just shows that if you were loyal to Walt and his ideas, he was loyal back. If not? Well, there are "workarounds." Loyalty has to cut both ways.

By the way, this is a very Middle American view. Another midwesterrner, Johnnie Carson cut off Joan Rivers completely when he felt she had been disloyal to him.

[AndrewJackson]

Backstabbing and loyalty can be very similar. ;)

[Stu29573]

Backstabbing and loyalty can be very similar. ;)

Opposite sides of the same coin, my friend...

[Tekneek]

That sounds "romantic' and "nostalgic" to say that about Walt, and that's how we (myself included) like to remember Walt and the Disney Company from the early days. But the truth is, as always, somewhat more murky than that. While Walt was all about creativity and innovation, he was also very savvy when it came to managing the company's stock prices.

The Disney Company did not become a giant in the entertainment industry by accident. Walt did it intentionally.

I know it sounds a bit "romantic", but I also see what Walt (and Roy) did in a different light. They really did take a lot of risk. They went "all in" on more than one occasion for the future of the company. Comparing the people at the top today to Walt/Roy is apples and oranges. Iger, Staggs, and crew take no serious personal financial risk as they change the company into an ATM.

[joonyer]

I know it sounds a bit "romantic", but I also see what Walt (and Roy) did in a different light. They really did take a lot of risk. They went "all in" on more than one occasion for the future of the company. Comparing the people at the top today to Walt/Roy is apples and oranges. Iger, Staggs, and crew take no serious personal financial risk as they change the company into an ATM.

You are right, they did take a lot of personal risk, as all entrepreneurs do. And they also made sure they got rich in the process, which is perfectly fine, good and moral. That's how it should be. Entrepreneurs create wanted/needed goods and services, and they deserve to get wealthy if their creation is successful. The big difference I see is that the current Disney Co. decision makers are not entrepreneurs; they are not creating anything new of significance. In that regard, I agree 100% with you. I will add though, that if they make a really bad decision, it will probably a serious impact on their personal wealth, as I suspect many of them at the top own serious quantities of Disney stock.

[Tekneek]

No doubt they have stock and may even be compensated in further options to some degree. However, they draw a substantial base salary that equals a lifetime of earnings for many people. Most of them have contracts with golden parachutes that would require them to do something criminal to be let go without a massive payment. Compared to the IT workers they pushed out the door, they are already set for life.

[Terra]

Read Married to the Mouse if you want some perspective on how shrewd Walt really was. Disney (maybe more broadly the attractions) runs Florida...

I have to personally concur with this. Honestly in the end, the people of yesterday and today are both pretty shrewd. At the same time it doesn't mean they can't mutually like making money AND making things fun and inviting for most of the guests. It doesn't make them bad people. [And to be honest, I'm pretty much a bleeding heart and fairly extreme in my view of "money". That said, I still maintain that Walt wasn't this "can't be touched upstanding and ethical in every single thing" as people romanticize him to be.
Yes he created DL for his daughters and family. And he also ran a business, and was a business man. And unfortunately sometimes decisions are made that do negatively effect our own lives.
I was just let go from my position simply because I had a Master's Degree and they were fearful that I was going to leave anyway. I didn't like it but I've dusted myself off and I have an interview at a new place tomorrow! I was let go just last Friday. It's business and no matter what, I can't take it personally. NO matter what name is on the company.

[Butters]

There must have been enough backlash over this... Disney has reinstated the layed off workers

[BrerGnat]

There must have been enough backlash over this... Disney has reinstated the layed off workers

I think it is more than backlash. Some senator said that they should be investigated by DHS for this.

Disney probably wants to make this all go away, and quickly!

[Hammer]

Actually, I believe the people reinstated were from the ABC group, not the people this article is about. The IT workers were let go in November.

Natalie is right in that they did this to make it go away by bringing this small group back. My question is, why isn't DHS doing this to all of the other companies who employ this practice?

[Tekneek]

Natalie is right in that they did this to make it go away by bringing this small group back. My question is, why isn't DHS doing this to all of the other companies who employ this practice?

I think the DHS angle was just hot air meant to produce news stories. Although, the Department of Labor is reportedly investigating both Tata and Infosys (vendors often utilized in these sorts of moves).

The more disturbing item is the possibility of a blacklist being circulated by Disney that prevents recently laid off workers from being placed with any vendors/contractors. If that turns out to be true, that is pretty horrendous.

[Hammer]

I think the DHS angle was just hot air meant to produce news stories. Although, the Department of Labor is reportedly investigating both Tata and Infosys (vendors often utilized in these sorts of moves).

The more disturbing item is the possibility of a blacklist being circulated by Disney that prevents recently laid off workers from being placed with any vendors/contractors. If that turns out to be true, that is pretty horrendous.

Interesting about Tata and Infosys, which are also used by the company where I work along with Cognizant (the company Disney uses). Will be interested to see what happens there.

Regarding the "blacklist" it is hard to produce solid evidence to prove those allegations, as many companies have been accused of this practice in the past.

[Tekneek]

Regarding the "blacklist" it is hard to produce solid evidence to prove those allegations, as many companies have been accused of this practice in the past.

There may be a smoking gun this time. Supposedly an agency revealed to someone that they were on the list. If there is a lawsuit, discovery is going to be a fun process.

[John]

Disney ABC Television Group has announced that it is reversing a decision to lay off about 35 information technology workers, Computer World reported. (http://www.computerworld.com/article/2934978/it-outsourcing/in-a-turnabout-disney-abc-tv-cancels-plans-to-outsource-it-jobs.html)

Two weeks ago, Disney ABC told the team of application developers that they would be losing their jobs, some at the end of July, and that their jobs were going to be outsourced to an IT contractor.

On Thursday, Disney ABC told the workers that plans had changed and they would retain their jobs. Some had already been training their replacements in "knowledge transfer" sessions.

The news comes after an announcement in October that saw the company lay off about 500 tech workers.

...

The company also offered a general comment about the H-1B program saying, "The Walt Disney Company makes minimal use of the H-1B visa program to meet very specific needs, in keeping with the spirit and letter of the law. If the program as currently implemented is subject to abuse, we support appropriate action to effectively remedy it."

One tech worker who would have lost his job told the magazine that the reversal was the result of a backlash over outsourcing at Parks and Resorts.

"They [Disney officials] want this to go away—right now," said an IT employee, according to Computer World.

Another worker speculated that in announcing the reversal of the layoffs, Disney was simply waiting until the negative press died down.

"Once our department learned of what happened to our Parks and Resorts colleagues, we held no illusion that our recognized knowledge and skills, company loyalty or work ethic would trump a bottom line," a Disney ABC IT worker told Computer World prior to hearing that the company canceled the layoffs.


Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/US/Disney-IT-information-technology-workers/2015/06/12/id/650263/#ixzz3dLSGBb9t

[magicofdisney]

I read this on NYT today. If I were those employees, I'd seriously consider looking elsewhere. I don't know how you'd have any semblance of job security after this. What a ****** situation to be in, especially if you love working for the company. :(

[NJGIRL]

As I said earlier in the thread, this is a common practice at many companies, not just Disney. I read the article and it makes it sound like Disney invented this practice. I know of H-1B workers being used by Disney for almost 3 years, as one of the H-1 workers who worked for me decided he hated the cold and asked to be transferred to Florida by his contract company. They put him at Disney.

It is definitely a slanted article.


I'm sorry but just because other companies do it, it doesn't make it right. It just brings to light that Disney doesn't care about their employees..... or anyone else for that matter.

This stinks!

[texas211]

I read this on NYT today. If I were those employees, I'd seriously consider looking elsewhere. I don't know how you'd have any semblance of job security after this. What a ****** situation to be in, especially if you love working for the company. :(

I 've been in IT for many years. Yeah, once that starts, time to go.

All this being said. I don't care, as long as when Pirates breaks down, they don't eat the tourists... :D

[DryCreek]

Well, I am not so good on keeping up with current events. This was only brought to my attention last week, when I mentioned that we may be heading back to WDW for our (well, my) Disney Fix. Since they still haven't reinstated all of the workers they laid off for lower paid foreign "talent", I have decided to use my power as a consumer to show my displeasure. So, no Disney trip this year, or until they show that they really DO support American workers - workers who spend their hard earned dollars at their theme parks and other venues. So, no Disney themed merchandise for Christmas this year (or for however long it takes), and I will make it a point to boycott any of their televised productions too. No ABC, and since I don't have cable, none of their other products will be watched either. Awhile back, after seeing how well compensated Bob Iger was during a declining year, I divested myself of any Disney offerings (yes, I checked my ETF's and MM's to be sure).
What they did is pure and simply....wrong. My wife has even suggested that I send a letter to their corporate office to let them know that they won't be seeing us there any time soon. I don't know if that would do any good though - but I still intend to follow through.

We even had a great reason to go this year. My wife's niece just moved down there with her boyfriend after he took a position at a restaurant in EPCOT. Both of them had just finished up courses at a culinary institute and took extra courses in restaurant management. We are pretty sure that her niece would also get a job somewhere as a cast member in the food service area.

So, those of you that are just as appalled as I am that they are doing this to their staff, what do YOU plan to do? Anything?

[DonaldDuck1117]

Nothing. I'll continue to go and enjoy the parks and buy my murchandise, and run their marathons. My wife and I are former cast members. We lived Disney. We've seen Disney from the outside and from the inside. We were treated exceptionally well and are currently trying to find positions back with the company.

It is unfortunate with the IT department but what are you going to do? That the the way corporate America is these days.

[joonyer]

Voting with your wallet is perfectly alright. But it takes very large numbers of people voting the same way to have much of an impact on a company as big as Disney.

[DryCreek]

Nothing. I'll continue to go and enjoy the parks and buy my murchandise, and run their marathons. My wife and I are former cast members. We lived Disney. We've seen Disney from the outside and from the inside. We were treated exceptionally well and are currently trying to find positions back with the company.

It is unfortunate with the IT department but what are you going to do? That the the way corporate America is these days.


Voting with your wallet is perfectly alright. But it takes very large numbers of people voting the same way to have much of an impact on a company as big as Disney.

So, just because I am one voice I should just stand there and wring my hands and not take a stand?

Well, at work I am known as a huge Disney Parks fan, and many have come to me to assist in planning visits. I am NO LONGER a Disney Parks cheerleader, and instead recommend other venues with more employee friendly policies. As far as trying to get "back inside the magic", I wish you luck. But, I would be leery about taking a position there if they've proven that they now find it easier to outsource jobs to unscrupulous contractors using loopholes in the H1B visa program. This "experiment" with the IT groups is just the beginning. If they think that they can get away with it in other areas, (food service, housekeeping, transportation, etc.) then they will. As the proverb goes about the camel getting his nose in under the edge of the tent......
All Disney has to do is manage their corporate image while this new management tool is being put into play for it to be successful. As long as there are people out there that don't care how they treat their employees (well, the treated me OK, bites to be IT though, etc.) then they've already won. Being a member of the IBEW lets me reach others through contacts and writing letters to the editors of our journal. I hope to raise awareness of this new trend to displace American workers.

[baldburke]

Maybe if Trump gets elected then perhaps he might make a push to get those jobs back in the US? He's expressed interest in getting manufacturing back in the US, maybe he'd do the same for service as well?

However if you think Disney is expensive now then be careful what you wish for. Disney, like other publicly traded companies is interested in doing what's best for the investor. Them shipping tech work overseas is all about the bottom line.

Are you going to avoid Johnson Controls, Pfizer and Baxalta as well? All have announced mergers in recent weeks that would displace their US headquarters overseas.

I'm all for buy American. I've never owned anything but a US car (Chrysler -- until merged to Daimler or Fiat, Ford or GM), but even they aren't all american. It's a tough proposition!

[joonyer]

So, just because I am one voice I should just stand there and wring my hands and not take a stand?

Absolutely not. We should all vote our conscience. Just pointing out that just merely "voting" doesn't win elections; "voting" with the majority of other voters wins elections. Right now, right or wrong, it appears that Disney is winning the "vote with your wallets" election by a landslide. But, as they used to say in Chicago, "Vote early and vote often"! ;)

[Tekneek]

Absolutely not. We should all vote our conscience. Just pointing out that just merely "voting" doesn't win elections; "voting" with the majority of other voters wins elections. Right now, right or wrong, it appears that Disney is winning the "vote with your wallets" election by a landslide. But, as they used to say in Chicago, "Vote early and vote often"! ;)

It isn't very popular to deny yourself something you can afford because you might disagree with some aspect of the way that business operates. Whenever something like that hits critical mass, you can bet it has either taken a tremendous effort to rally it or that business has really done something that the masses cannot find some way to excuse/accept/rationalize. The masses will contort themselves in any myriad of ways to not have to alter their existing behavior patterns (not a good vs evil thing, just a fact of human psychology).

[gsimpson]

DryCreek I applaud your decision. I've been going to Universal lately and found that after a multi-decade of skipping Uni I like it quite a lot, they've made a lot of improvements since Comcast came in.