Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin to terminate 1136 employees

chriskbrownSep 24, 2020

I hate business travel - my kids think it is all fun. For me, it was basically hotel, gym, hotel - conference room all day and then dinner - then the email I could not do during the day. Remember going to the Upper Mid-west in Feb. with a wind chill of negative 15 where I never saw the sun most days. I looked at the expense report when I was done and wondered was it really worth it. BUT I will say that getting to meet people for the first time face to face, in an unstructured manner has paid large benefits. Making a face to face connection has immense value. It will come back, maybe not as much but it will come back. Humans are social beings and the invaluable need to look across from someone is important. I have an employee who works for me who I have not met in almost 3 years - I really want to meet him.

chriskbrownSep 24, 2020

Be interesting to see if business travel even returns 50% - pre-pandemic we were trying more Zoom/remote - post - pandemic I might rarely get on a plane. At least my last business trip let me hit up DL.

LilofanSep 22, 2020

Some "elite" people in my area laugh about going to WDW on vacation. They either vacation in Europe, Asia or not at all because some enjoy working and growing their net worth in many business ventures.

KamikazeSep 22, 2020

You're delusional if you think thats 'elite'. And 'taking your family' isn't business travel. Thats a vacation.

matt9112Sep 22, 2020

Oh that's who i meant...if you can take your family to disney world while "working" thats pretty elite to me 😅😅 i did not inherently mean millionaires or anything. Its sad all these jobs went poof but its probably more effective to use zoom etc anyway.

KamikazeSep 22, 2020

Yeah, you're wrong though. The 'elites' will still get their vacations. Its the average business traveler that won't have the option.

matt9112Sep 21, 2020

The reckoning has come....no more can privileged elites vacation on the back of shareholders for "meetings" Ok im kidding but honestly wanted to say that.

TrainsOfDisneySep 21, 2020

Do you think it can’t happen to you?

LilofanSep 21, 2020

Better get one's dental work and or other medical procedures done while one is still covered by company health insurance.

Frank the TankSep 21, 2020

It is definitely a tough situation for people that are just starting their careers. That personal interaction when the learning curve is so great in the beginning is critical. I'll admit as a mid-career professional, though, I couldn't ever imagine going back to the office 100% of the time ever again. I was already about 50/50 remote/commuting prior to the pandemic, which I think is a fairly optimal balance of getting the benefits of regular personal interaction while still being able to work-from-home for the rest of the time. At the end of the day, though, the most valuable resource that we all have is time and, as a parent living in the Chicago area, working from home means that I get back 2 to 3 hours of my day that I would have otherwise been commuting. So, if it's a choice been 100% in-the-office or 100% WFH, I'll take 100% WFH without question (even though I really do prefer the 50/50 split the best ). I know the media seems to be on a recent kick of trying to put out some contrarian stories about rising negativity about WFH (often including some quotes from those in the commercial real estate industry where workers supposedly "need" to come back to the office), but if you're looking at general employee populations across many industries, the reality is that it is generally *very* popular with employees and it can directly save office costs for employers in an economic environment where cutting expenses is a priority. It's one of the few situations where company cost-cutting actually aligns with employee satisfaction and retention, so it makes sense that a lot of remote working is going to become permanent. Separately, I'm in the consulting industry like some others here (ex-Big Four and ex-Big Law and now at a smaller consulting firm) and I see a lot of the trends that they have noted: sales people and consultants across the industry that were traveling 100% of the time pre-pandemic are now wondering when they'll ever travel again. My feeling is that the sales people put a huge premium on getting face-to-face interaction and they're going to jump on planes as soon as they're able to do so (which makes sense since personal relationships are critical in that area), but the consultants that actually deliver the services are going to see travel expectations reduced permanently. Clients are seeing that they can get the same project delivered without having to pay 25% extra to cover travel expenses, so they're increasingly going to take that 25% savings. The consultants might still travel to a client site for a small handful of key meetings, but they're probably not going to stay all week every week for months on end like they did in the past. Those consultants are the bread-and-butter of the expense account business travel industry, so that's going to be a significant long-term (and possibly permanent) hit to airlines and hotels in particular (as those are the people that are filling up seats and rooms Monday through Friday).

KamikazeSep 21, 2020

Yeah, see, thats the thing. We're so good at the coronavirus that we successfully dodged a second wave by just riding the first one directly into the second.

JoeCamelSep 21, 2020

gdrjSep 21, 2020

The worst is yet to come. As layoffs become terminations, as health insurance ends, as the virus 2nd wave comes at some point. Airline and tourist industry which relied on Federal money to keep things going will continue to struggle. For Orlando, many roadside hotels will shutter, as will restaurants, and the tens of thousands of jobs will or have gone away. But sure the worst is over. ( not directed as poster ).

SirwalterraleighSep 21, 2020

...I’m told that’s the most immersive thing ever.