Apparently Disney can justify the ridiculously low wages that they pay their park employees with a recent poll which shows Americans want fun from their jobs, not money.
According to Vacation Magic, an Interenet newsletter for members of the Disney Vacation Club, Disney Parks and
CareerBuilder.com conducted a survey focusing on "dream jobs." The
results claim that over 80% of U.S. workers aren’t working at what they consider their "dream job." I’m of the opinion that this is not news to most of us. The study went on to report that "fun, not money, is the key to
making employment dreams come true."
What
defines a dream job is surprisingly reminiscent of childhood wishes for
many workers," said Richard Castellini, Vice President of Consumer
Marketing for CareerBuilder.com. "Workers said they want to enjoy their
work experience, apply their talents and feel like they’re making an
impact. Having fun at work was the most important attribute of a dream
job for 39 percent of workers, which heavily outweighed the 12 percent
who said salary was most important.
While I would agree with this in theory, I would assume that most people surveyed answered with the belief that the money at said "dream job" would be enough to afford them at least a modest level of living.
For a company constantly criticized over it’s low wages this seems an interesting survey to conduct and glorify, even going so far to label it as part of the Million Dreams campaign. Obviously most Disney park cast members are choosing the fun, but let’s not rub their noses in it.
But is it _really_ that much more fun than other jobs to make up for the difference in pay?
My experience as a WDW CM is much too old to be relevant these days (1990 College Program), but I know that I always replied to the frequent remark, “It must be so much fun to work there!!” with “I enjoy it, but it is a real job.” I did have fun, but it was by no means all play and no work; I earned every penny of my paycheck each week. And I had a relatively cushy job of working in a gift shop.
Does Disney want people to believe that it will be this fun-fun job? Will this not backfire when most people quickly realize that (A) it is a real job and (B) when Disney talks about “expectations” it means it? I know I appreciated the fact that our recruiter did not sugarcoat the jobs and I was not really surprised. (Of course, I went to work there never having been a guest, so I only expected a regular job; I was actually in for a treat, not a let down.)
Growing up in Anaheim, I’ve had many friends that have worked at the Disneyland Resort, and it’s not a fun place to work. Really, there are reasons why the place has the nickname Mouschwitz. Especially since Disney instituted its ‘presenteism’ policy, few people have really wanted to work at Disneyland. Every single friend of mine that has gone to work there has become nothing but cynical and jaded about the park. For this theory that fun is more important than pay to work, the job actually has to be fun.
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