Disney Reviews in Los Angeles, CA Area

Pros

Disney has an excellent benefits package and contrary to pouplar belief, compensates their management level employees very well from my experience. The prestige that comes from working at Disney is also a nice benefit.

Cons

Disney, like all fortune 500 companies isa very political place to work. The expectations are very high and there is very little room for mistakes.

Advice to Senior Management

There should be a greater effort to support the customer service component Disney is so famous for within the ranks of the company's internal employees.

Pros

Big company with a lot to learn if you take the initiative. All the 5 business units have a separate culture which is good and bad. Looks good on resume.

Cons

Need to to be able to play "the game" and be comfortable with office politics. Not much management training is available which leads to inadequate management and hurts the employees and culture overall. Not competitive in Salary. Disney is notorious for underpaying employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Offer more learning opportunities for employees and not just online learning webisodes. Management is very "Good O'l Boys Club" and not very diverse.
Provide more opportunities for employees to network within the Disney Company with other divisions -Offer Inter-Company networking events.

Pros

It's Disney! Who has never heard of Disney? Corporate HQ is a great place to work. Work-life balance is very important in the company, you may sometimes have to work 10-12 hour days but most weekends are yours to enjoy. Community service is an expectation of all Disney "Cast Members". People are very friendly and will do their best to help you in anyway. You get some unique perks like free Disney Park tickets and exclusive "backstage" tours.

Cons

Disney rarely hires people straight out of college. I'd say 90% of full-time employees have at least 3-5 years of work experience elsewhere before coming to Disney. So if you're an intern, don't work yourself too hard hoping to land a full-time position; it's very likely not going to happen. Also, the corporate HR dept is a huge pain to deal with. HR never returns calls or messages until you spend 3-4 weeks literally harassing them.

Advice to Senior Management

HR needs some serious restructuring in that they need to be more responsive to employees right away and not be lazy. Also, stop taking advantage of college students for the cheap labor only to give them little to no hope of a future career at Disney.

Pros

Great benefits; able to telecommute; talented staff

Cons

Bonuses are only for directors and above. Takes years to get a promotion, you must do the job for a year before you're considered for one. Employees become managers at certain levels, but do not receive the proper training.

Advice to Senior Management

Share the yearly bonuses with everyone, we all work hard. Make employees go through proper training before they become managers.

Pros

Excellent job content with a lot of opportunity to learn from some of the best in the business. The media industry is going through a lot of changes (with the advent of technology) and it is an exciting place to be be in if one is interested in and capable of riding the wave. The nature of the sourcing role with Disney allows you to work on various projects that keeps things exciting all the time. Lastly, job security (especially in this role) is one of the big perks especially in this economy

Cons

Disney is not the leader when it comes to compensation and rewarding performance, as a matter of fact there is significant room for improvement in that area.

Advice to Senior Management

While significant importance is given to customer by providing high-quality experience to their changing tastes, it is imperative you reward the employees who create this experience. Disney can significantly improve in that area

Pros

Decent benefits with flexible vacation time off , tho it depends on your department as all seem to have different goals from one another.

Cons

For me personally, working in Creative Services, the place felt rudderless with marketing executives frequently second-guessing their decisions ... thousands of dollars wasted as a result. Conflicting marketing strategies meant that you never knew how to approach a project.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire more seasoned marketing management with experience.

Pros

Great brand recognition. Coworkers are great....only because everyone shares the same misery. Easy place to move around....but it will be the same archaic bureaucracy depending on which group you move to

Cons

Poor leadership. Top heavy. Goals are unclear and often unrealistic. Executives have no idea what is going on at the lower level. Work long hours because leadership does not set out reasonable expectations.

Advice to Senior Management

Have better career planning and goal setting for employees so they can achieve and succeed. The company will not succeed unless their employees succeed. I notice goals are typically set once a year but are never followed up on for feedback and progress....so what's the point in setting them if no one is going to follow up and assess progress?

Pros

great brand recognition. great coworkers....only because we all share the same misery day in and day out. Easy to move around....but it's the same politics depending on which group you move to.

Cons

horrible leadership. unclear goals and unreasonable expectations. Executives do not truely understand the inner workings of the company; some of them don't even know how to us a computer.

Advice to Senior Management

Set clear expectations and set help set clear goals so employees can achieve. The company will not succeed if their employees are not constantly growing and developing.

Pros

As you might expect, there are a few great perks that come with working for Disney - theme park admission being the best. It is fun to be "Part of the Magic," at least for a while.

Cons

The "magic" wears off pretty quickly, so working for Disney can sometimes diminish one's high opinion of the Disney brand after a while. The culture is very hard-driving, with a lot of emphasis on face time and putting in long hours.

Advice to Senior Management

Communication has been a bit of an issue within my segment. Leaders seem to like to keep information regarding their vision for the departments and the company close to the vest. People are asked to complete projects before "officially" being assigned to them, which is confusing.

Pros

Opportunities to make friends- many clubs and intramural sports leagues to join. Mangement very competent. Many opportunites for leadership growth in co.

Cons

Hassle with costuming cast members

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to creative ideas.