The Walt Disney Company will layoff 6,700 non-union Walt Disney World employees as part of their announcement that they would be laying off 28,000 employees in their Disney Parks, Experiences and Products division.
The Disney Parks, Experiences and Products division includes Disney’s theme parks, Imagineering, and the Disney Cruise Line.
The Orlando Sentinel reports these non-union employees will be losing their jobs on December 4, 2020 right before the Christmas season.
Disney Vice President of Employee Relations Jim Bowden wrote a letter to the state of Florida explaining the decision to layoff the 6,700 employees.
He explained, “Due to the continuing business impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made the very difficult decision to reduce our workforce.”
As for the 28,000 people losing their jobs across the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products division, the chief of the division Josh D’Amaro revealed that 67% of the 28,000 people being cut are part-time employees.
D’Amaro wrote in a letter to employees that read, “It will take time for all of us to process this information and its impact. We will be scheduling appointments with our affected salaried and non-union hourly employees over the next few days.”
He added, “Additionally, today we will begin the process of discussing next steps with unions.”
The news of these layoffs comes after The Walt Disney Company’s Third Quarter fiscal earnings where they claimed they suffered “an approximately $3.5 billion adverse impact on operating income at our Parks, Experiences and Products segment due to revenue lost as a result of the closures.”
Disney specifically indicated that their Parks, Experiences and Products had a $1.96 billion operating income loss in their Parks, Experiences and Products division for the third quarter ending June 27, 2020.
They would go on to state that “Parks, Experiences and Products revenues for the quarter decreased 85% to $1.0 billion, and segment operating results decreased $3.7 billion to a loss of $2.0 billion.”
They explained these numbers saying, “Lower operating results for the quarter were due to decreases at both the domestic and international parks and experiences businesses and to a lesser extent, at our merchandise licensing and retail businesses.”
They went on to reiterate that “the total net adverse impact of COVID-19 on segment operating income in the quarter was approximately $3.5 billion.”
Maybe most interesting, amidst these layoffs, Disney also added a new “Inclusion Key” to their Cast Member training. Previously, there were four keys: Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency.
Disney explained the addition, “For more than 60 years, the Four Keys of Safety, Courtesy, Show, and Efficiency have provided a foundation for our culture and guided our renowned approach to service as we’ve welcomed Guests from all over the world.”
“As we keep moving forward and working together to drive meaningful cultural change, we are introducing Inclusion as a new key and will be rolling out the Five Keys globally across the segment,” Disney added.
The layoffs come after a rumor back in June indicated that The Walt Disney Company was going to experience massive layoffs and also indicated that even Chairman Bob Iger might be on the chopping lock.
Related: Rumor: The Walt Disney Company To Experience Massive Layoffs, Bob Iger On Chopping Block
The rumor came from user Pheneix on the WDW Magic Forums who explained, “The Walt Disney Company is about to experience some of the deepest layoffs I have ever witnessed in my adult life.”
Pheneix added, “What you are about to see from WDC will be shocking and it will permanently change their business forever. The bloat is about to be gone. The mediocrity that’s failed upward all our lives is about to be purged. A new company is emerging.”
These rumors would also be echoed by Disney heiress Abigail Disney, who claimed layoffs would be down the road after the company had previously furloughed thousands of people.
She wrote on Twitter, “Disney furloughed its workers because they intend to lay many of them off, but they didn’t want the bad publicity that would come with layoffs, so they chose to take the heat of two medium-sized PR hits, instead of one great big one.”
She went on to say, “Wait for it. Layoffs are coming. I don’t expect Disney to pay people who don’t work for them, nor do I expect them to employ people in excess of what they can afford.
What do you make of Disney’s layoffs? Do you think this is just the first wave in layoffs? Do you think more layoffs will be on the way?