The DL Glass Ceiling

Being a former CM (see my credits below) I still have many connections in the park. Just before I wuit, my manager came up to me and told me that they wanted me to sign up for Emerging Leaders...their Manager Boot Camp. They did this to all of the TL Leads. Some of them signed up for it...a couple not for the first time. After these classes they make you mini managers. Well, after the last class went through the training and classes, they applied to be managers...only to hear that all of those positions were filled by people outside of the company. The people I have talked to are extremely angry. Several have put in their two week notice. Some leads have already quit. So they have hit their glass ceiling. And they wonder why people won't stay forever.

After being in Attractions for almost 17 years (10 as a working lead), I came to the conclusion recently that I am going no where in my department. I'm not sure that a future in theme park operations is what I wanted anyway, so right now I'm focusing my efforts into transferring to a backstage role, hopefully in facilities. I definitely want to stay with company, having invested 17 years already. So, yes, there is a glass ceiling at the park. Sometimes you just have to move around a bit to find an opening to crawl through. :)

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I think this is all horrible. :( We pay lots of money to DL for AP's and our vacations there. I think the CM's deserve SOOOO much more than they are being given. The CM's are a HUGE part of what makes DL what it is today, and yesterday. The CM's make or break an experience and even with the low wages...far more of them are outgoing and friendly and wonderful.

I personally want to thank you for being there for us...past and present. Thank you for making DL truly the happiest place!

I think Walt was one of the few businessmen who valued his employees. It is too bad that ethic has been abandoned.

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Originally Posted by Fantasmico!

I think Walt was one of the few businessmen who valued his employees. It is too bad that ethic has been abandoned.

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I agree with you. I work for a VERY large corporation and the employees mean squat to the folks in the ivory towers. It's pathetic.

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Originally Posted by Fantasmico!

I think Walt was one of the few businessmen who valued his employees. It is too bad that ethic has been abandoned.

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Even for years after Walt...Disney mainly promoted from within...greatly valuing the experience of those that "grew up" on the unique Disney way of doing things. Some folks from the outside were always brought in for a fresh look at things now and then. But they usually never put those people "in charge" right off the bat. Most of the top decision makers were always "home grown" individuals whose fantastic talents and disciplines were fine-tuned and developed by first hand experience, mentoring, and trial and error right in the trenches.

Disney used to teach others how to do things, and outside companies used to pay top dollar for Disney's secrets to success. Now days Disney seems to have lost or cast out much of that hard-earned knowledge and expertise of their unique ways, and instead welcomes "textbook experts" more and more...probably because of the homogamy they often bring with them.

Ah yeah....stores.

The last round of people who wanted to do Emerging Leaders in my neck of the woods and elsewhere were all sent back to being leads after their little stint in TSA land.

Being a TSA is just a way of saying you're a manager, unofficially and you can be made just a lead at any notice.

But getting back to the point, they did this round's version and when the people applied for manager positions, virtually everyone didn't get it with the exception of 1 or 2. They kept very few that were TSAs.

Silly thing is that when they hire someone from the outside to do their managerial work most of the time they don't know what they are doing. Not that Disneyland is the hardest thing to understand, but sometimes it takes knowing it from the ground up to comprehend it all.

I don't know what Disney does anymore, but all we know is that when they hire from the outside they have to shell more out in salary and training in comparision to keeping things in-house. They talk about giving "opportunities" but it's not always the case.

Go figure, the Disney way.

Is that how you keep the good ones?

There are very few managers that people still like and respect. The rest look at Disney as just some job.

That's why I haven't yet tried for it myself, not thrilled at the type of people they want in management, and I certainly wouldn't want to be a part of that type of crowd and mentality.

Bye.

Indeed. It was quite interesting during the 50th, with the 'class of ...' nametags and seeing all these suits walking around with 'Class of 2004' and 'Class of 2005' which clearly means they were hired in from the outside. They got themselves a fancy degree and worked at a furniture store or something, so, your hired! That CM who has been there for 15 years and know the magic and position like the back of their hand? Bah! They should have thought about that before they became a cast member! Back to your register! Back to your load belt!