Disney Just Announced They Are Laying Off 28,000 Employees
My heart just hurts for so many Disney employees right now. Disney has already seen its fair share of punches from the pandemic, with all of their parks having to close during this time of social distancing.
For six months, the company has hung onto thousands of furloughed employees, still providing them with healthcare benefits, in hopes that things would turn around, and they could come back to work at the end of this crises.
But, this is 2020, and like everything else in this Jumanji game of a year, the coronavirus crises just keeps going and going and going.
The Florida, Paris, Shanghai, Japan and Hong Kong Disney Theme Parks have finally been able to open with limited capacity requirements, but Disneyland California and Disney’s California Adventure have yet to reopen.
Not only that, the parks that HAVE reopened have seen dismal attendance. People are just straight up afraid to risk going back into crowds yet, even if Mickey Mouse is involved.
Just think about the loss of revenue that Disney has had to endure during this time of closure and uncertainty! It’s staggering!
As such, Disney has had to start layoffs, which isn’t something that ANYONE likes to hear.
28,000 employees across all of the Disney theme parks will be affected by this cut. Just think about that number for a second. That is a massive layoff!
As you can imagine, a decision of this magnitude is not easy. For the last several months, our management team has worked tirelessly to avoid having to separate anyone from the company. We’ve cut expenses, suspended capital projects, furloughed our cast members while still paying benefits, and modified our operations to run as efficiently as possible, however, we simply cannot responsibly stay fully staffed while operating at such limited capacity.
Josh D’Amaro, head of parks at Disney
67% of those layoffs were part-time employees, but a whopping 33% came from their full-time crew. I can’t even imagine, thinking your job is safe and secure, and then having the rug pulled out from under you. This is such a tough situation for everyone involved!
D’Amaro was quick to add, “We look forward to providing opportunities where we can for them to return,” so maybe there is hope for the future — although I know it is tough to see beyond what is immediately happening to all the employees that were released from service.
So, basically, if you know someone who was working at Disney, go easy on them, and maybe give them a virtual, socially distanced hug. They may just need it.
