I am on several mailing lists of my so-called competitors.
Earlier this week, I got an email from a goo-roo who has been drinking too much of the Disney PR Kool-Aid.
He was gushing over the fact that Disney won some HR award for how it treated their cast members over the past 8 months.
Now I would agree, that Disney did go above and beyond, trying to keep their employees financially whole.
- Bob Iger, its top executive, gave up his entire salary for the year
- Disney’s number two, Bob Chapek gave up 50 %.
- All other executives had their salaries cut by 20%.
- Employees were kept on payroll until the Federal government’s relief package (now expired) took over.
- Employees were then furloughed instead of terminated.
- Disney kept paying their medical benefits.
- When terminations finally happened this month, Disney was candid and open with those terminated
The first two on this list are a joke. Iger and Chapek make their money off of bonuses and stock options. Their salaries are a mere pittance.
People are out of work. 29,000 were cut last month. Many of them my friends.
One friend had spent 29 years working for the mouse as a support executive. She is now selling real estate (and if you ask me, she is much happier)
But this whole situation is not award worthy… Not by a long shot.
But there are lessons on how to treat employees. Not just during a crisis, but all of the time.
Keep everyone up to date on the situation. Communication here is key. No one likes being left in the dark. It just breeds contempt, sourness and conjecture.
When you do have to terminate someone, do it with dignity and respect.
If you have laid off employees due to a business downturn, do it with kindness. When things get better (and they will get better), you will need those highly trained employees back on the payroll.
Besides, it is the right thing to do.
